Page 29 of Wicked Ways
Okay. He had a point there. “I’m going to help Cain. I will find Paul, because if I don’t, if we don’t, the guy will just keep killing.”
“Look, Miranda, I get that the guy faked his death and he’s been preying on women—”
Ah, so that was the story he’d been told while she’d been stuck in the hospital? That Paul had faked his death?
“—but you can just leave this alone. This isn’t a job for you. You work with kids. You don’t chase criminals.”
She hadn’t, not until this criminal had literally walked right through her living room door and come after her. “This time I do.”
Cain watched the exchange between them, eyes intense.
“Let the Bureau gang handle it.” A pleading tone had entered Sam’s voice. “They can afford a little spilled blood. You can’t.”
Well, not much more, anyway. She opened her mouth to reply—
But Cain beat her to the punch, saying, “You’re looking for him, Deputy Michaels. You started searching after the first attack, and you’ve been working nonstop to find Roberts ever since then.”
Her eyes widened at Cain’s statement, but she wasn’t particularly surprised. Beneath his I-don’t-give-a-damn persona, she’d found the real man sometimes cared too much. “Sam?” He was a good deputy, a little too lax with the pretty women, a little too slow to break up the occasional bar fight at Pete’s, but he didn’t let abusers walk. He took down killers, and men who hurt women and children—well, he’d always seemed to make a special point of putting them away for as long as he possibly could.
His gaze didn’t meet hers. “I don’t want you gettin’ hurt, Miranda.”
The sweet but tricky bastard. Her lips parted in surprise. He’d been deliberately downplaying his concern, telling her she had nothing to worry about, when he’d been out there tracking the vampire.
Of course, he didn’t know Paul was a vampire, but...
“Those deputies sure got to the scene fast last night,” Cain pointed out.
Her eyes narrowed. Yeah, they had. Who had even called them? The FBI agent?
A small shrug from Sam. “Some of them might have been stationed in the area.”
Ah. Now she got it. The deputies had been close because they’d been keeping an eye on her. When they’d heard the gunshots, they’d swarmed the scene.
Sam’s gaze lifted and finally held hers. “Even with my men and the Bureau team, you weren’t safe. This is way out of your league, and you need to pull out of this mess before you wind up with something one hell of a lot more serious than just a flesh wound.”
“I know you’re worried.” Her voice was calm, something that required a serious effort. “But I’m not just going to back off this thing and go hide.”
“You’re a computer teacher, not—”
“I’m one of the women he chose. He came looking for me. Tried to kill me. And he’ll do the same to others.” She shook her head. “I’m not going to stick my head in the sand and pretend I’m not involved. I will help Cain stop him.”
She saw the fury that hardened Sam’s expression. He surged forward and jabbed his index finger into Cain’s chest. “Then you damn well need to keep a better watch on her, because if she gets hurt again, I’m coming after your ass.”
Cain didn’t look particularly worried. One black brow rose.
Sam grunted. “Now let’s get the hell out of here—”
“Because we’ve got a killer to catch,” Cain finished softly.
* * *
They’d just left the hospital when Cain got the call from Santiago. Apparently, Paul Roberts hadn’t just snuck off into the night to lick his wounds.
He’d stopped at Pete’s, the busiest of the local bars, picked up a visiting co-ed named Christie, and killed her in the back alley.
Sonofabitch. The news of the woman’s death hit Cain like a punch in the gut.
His fault.
