Die For Me: A Novel of the Valentine Killer (For Me 1)

Dane shook his head. Valentine was talking now. That was what they wanted. Step one was a success. As far as Katherine was concerned, never gonna happen. They’d keep the guy talking. Maybe break through that wall of ice he was using for protection, and then he’d slip up. Give them a clue to Ross’s or Maggie’s whereabouts.

The door opened behind him. Dane didn’t glance back over his shoulder. When a snake was about to strike, you damn well didn’t look away. Everyone knew that lesson. Every. One.

Footsteps shuffled toward him. Slow.

“Where is she?” The captain’s voice. Weak.

Fuck. “You shouldn’t be here, Harley.” The captain still should have been in the hospital.

“Heard…you brought him in…had to come see…the others told me…on the way…can’t find…my Maggie…”

He’d never heard the captain sound so lost.

“She was crying for him when I left her,” Valentine said.

The captain sucked in a pained breath.

The guy had just damn well confessed to hurting Maggie, but Dane knew he had to push for more, so he said, “That’s bullshit. You put duct tape over your victims’ mouths. You don’t let them talk or cry or beg.” Maybe the guy didn’t have her. Maybe—

“I let Evelyn talk. When you got there, did you see duct tape on her mouth?”

No, there hadn’t been any duct tape on her.

“She confessed to killing Savannah Slater and Amy Evans.” He exhaled slowly. “Such a troubled woman. Dr. Knight was so very broken.”

And you’re not?

“Where is…Margaret?” Harley’s hand closed around Dane’s shoulder. Dane let the guy haul him back.

But then…

He never expected the captain to move so fast. In an instant, the captain had his gun out and the barrel shoved right against Valentine’s head. Dead center in the middle of his forehead. “Where is my girl?”

It seemed as if every cop in the room had stopped breathing. Except for the captain. His breath sawed in and out. In and out. Heavy and too hard.

Dane’s hands were in the air. Frozen. “You don’t want to do this, Harley.”

“He told me…I did…nothing.”

Dane took a cautious step toward the captain. The guy’s body was trembling.

“I let you…get hurt…all those…years.” The gun dug deeper into Valentine’s forehead. “I won’t…do nothing now.” His finger was squeezing the trigger. “Where is she?”

“If you kill me, she just dies a slower, more painful death.” Valentine’s voice was mild and even. He’s taunting Harley.

Harley’s face crumbled. Dane lunged forward, grabbed the gun, and pushed the captain back.

“Good job, Detective,” Valentine murmured. He didn’t look even a little worried. “There just might be a hero in you yet.”

Pull the trigger. The temptation whispered through Dane’s mind. One quick pull, and everything would be over.

His gaze held Valentine’s. Do it. The challenge seemed to be right there, but that didn’t make any sense. Valentine was fighting to get the death penalty off the table. So why would he also be pushing for death-by-cop?

“Bring Katherine Cole in here, now!” Meadows yelled. He pointed his finger, a shaking finger, at Harley. “And get the captain out of here.”

Smith and Forrest were only too happy to comply.

Dane didn’t move. He wasn’t sure he could. Shoot the bastard.

“Detective, you need to step back,” Meadows told him.

Yes, he supposed that was what he needed to do.

“Want to pull that trigger, don’t you?” Valentine whispered to him.

“Yes.” His own voice was just as soft. The captain was gone. Only Dane, Mac, and Meadows were in that room.

“Making a deal with him will be a mistake,” Mac rasped.

“And if I don’t,” Meadows said, “then a man I’ve known for twenty years will probably eat his gun before the night’s over.”

Yes, Harley would.

More footsteps were heading toward them. Not heavy this time. Light.

Valentine’s nostrils flared, as if he were drinking in a scent.

“Dane?” Shock coated Katherine’s voice.

Because he had a gun at Valentine’s forehead.

“She’s seeing you for what you are,” Valentine told him with a flash of that maddening grin.

Jaw locked, Dane stepped back. He shoved the gun into the empty holster under his left shoulder.

“Ms. Cole,” Meadows began. “I’m very sorry to bring you in.”

“Don’t be sorry.” Her gaze swept the room. Lingered on Dane. Didn’t even glance at Valentine. “What has he done?”

There wasn’t time for sugarcoating. No time. No point. “Two people are missing. Valentine says he has them.”

She finally glanced at Valentine. “Do you?”

His eyes changed, flashing with an emotion—and not that smug confidence he’d shown since coming to the station. “Yes.”

“Who did you take?” she asked as she made her way to stand at Dane’s side. Her shoulder brushed his arm.

Valentine’s gaze darted down. Narrowed as he studied the point where they touched. Another emotion. Anger.

Katherine was definitely the man’s trigger. But they’d known that all along.

He just hadn’t wanted to use her again. He’d wanted the nightmare to be over for her.

“The marshal.” Valentine’s shoes rocked back and forth on the floor. “That bastard should have protected you—it was his job. Instead, you almost died in that café when Evelyn drugged you.”

“That wasn’t Ross’s fault. He didn’t know that Evelyn was a threat. He was supposed to protect me—from you.” Katherine’s voice was quiet. As calm as Valentine had been before. Before she came into the room and the guy lit up like a Christmas tree.

Valentine licked his lips. “You’ve changed, Kat.”

Her eyelids lowered as she pressed even closer to Dane’s body. “Who else did you take?”

Valentine exhaled, as if annoyed. “Margaret Dunning. The police’s captain’s spoiled bitch of a daughter.”

“Watch your mouth,” Mac snapped.

Valentine couldn’t seem to look away from Katherine. Dane stepped forward and deliberately put his body in front of hers.