Part 8 (2/2)
”She said that as she was leaving she heard the killer say something about how Jackson had hurt his sister.”
Yes, I should have killed her.
”Then we have Neil.” She walked away from the balcony's ledge and began to slowly pace back and forth. With each step, the bottom of her gown slid against the balcony's marbled floor and her heels clicked. ”What I found intriguing was that Cupid never killed-”
”I'm sorry.” Wrinkles crossed his forehead. ”Why are you calling the murderer Cupid?”
”It's something that I do. I label the wrong-doers that I report on by whatever I think motivates them.” She continued to pace. ”It helps me stay detached from the person. If I know the killer's first and last name then I start thinking about who they are and where they come from. . .it all takes me out of the hunt-”
”Hunt?”
She stopped pacing and stared at him. ”You interrupt a lot. Let me just go over Neil's death.” She gulped in some air and then returned to the topic. ”For the other two murders, Cupid didn't kill the survivor. Thomas's daughter and Jackson's prost.i.tute.”
She went back to pacing. ”All evening while I got dressed, I kept wondering, why, over and over, would Cupid kill Neil's mistress, but let the other females go? Why not let the mistress go like he did with the others.”
Asher leaned back onto the balcony's ledge. ”I don't know. What do you think?”
”Cupid doesn't just murder people,” she argued. ”He has a clear, precise reasoning for why he takes lives. All three men were rich. All three considered harmful to females in some way. Thomas probably hurt his daughter. Why would a kid still claim that to her friend privately after her father's already dead? Because she's still dealing with the trauma of it all, that's what I think.”
Diana sort of hit the air as if she was giving a low high-five to an imaginary person in front of her. ”Thomas's prost.i.tute said that Cupid said something about him hurting his sister.”
”But we don't know if Thomas actually hurt his sister.”
”It doesn't matter. All that matters is that Cupid thought that Thomas hurt his sister.” Her pacing picked up, the gown swoos.h.i.+ng along the floor and lifting a little with the wind. ”Here we go again. We have a rich man that is doing something wrong to a female. Now go to Neil.”
She stumbled for a second as if even thinking about her ex-husband was hard to do, like she was close to doubling over, if she didn't try to walk on. ”Neil was married to me for several years. I'd caught him cheating many times. He also was emotionally abusive. I'm not saying that I'm this battered women. There are many wives all over the world that have been dealt evil husbands. And besides, some of it was my fault.”
Perplexed, Asher tilted his head to the side. ”How was anything Neil did to you, your fault?”
”I stayed.”
”Most abused women do.”
”I doubt that.”
”Trust me. It's the truth.” The sight of his father slamming his mother into the floor flashed through Asher's mind. He ran his fingers through his hair and knocked that image away. ”Never blame yourself for the cruelty of a man.”
”Still, I stayed with him, and that's not the point-”
”Why do you think you stayed?” Asher raised a blonde eyebrow. ”Did you love him?”
She exhaled. ”I stayed. That's all that is important to this situation. Regardless, Neil is another rich man that's hurting a female. So why would our serial killer hurt his mistress too?”
”Why do you think?”
”Cupid must have believed that the mistress was guilty too. She was his secretary on a small community of an island. She would've known that Neil was married, and could care less to sleep with him.”
”That still doesn't explain why you call this man Cupid.”
”Or woman.”
He stifled in a chuckle. ”Excuse me?”
”I still haven't decided if Cupid is even a man. Sure, we have witnesses that say otherwise, but I never rule anything out until the end. One thing is for sure, Cupid feels a certain need to protect females from harmful men. These are planned and researched kills.”
Asher had no more words.
He was too busy being caught up in Diana. Back and forth, back and forth, she threw out ideas and thoughts without any fear of what it could do to her. Energy s.h.i.+fted around her. Things sparked in the air, or maybe it was just his imagination. Her face brightened with each rant. Eyes glittered with courage.
Luckily, the balcony door was closed, and the rest of The Cove's patrons dined inside, listening to smooth jazz and sampling on delicious food. They didn't hear the facts. No one would spread the news about his murders and get people's eyes opening a bit more.
Luckily, he still didn't think Diana was in danger of knowing his secret, that he was the killer, and thus in danger of dying right there on that balcony, in that lovely empire halter gown that fell to the floor.
Luckily, he didn't like to kill women.
Luckily, something inside of him urged to not kill her.
Luckily, she's so d.a.m.n beautiful.
”Have you told all of this to the police yet?” he asked.
”No.” She ran her manicured fingers through her hair. ”Being a nosy reporter I don't actually have a good relations.h.i.+p with the police. I've been charged unrightfully for tampering with witnesses and evidence. I need something that I can really bring to them. I do have one friend there, now. I won't go to him with my thoughts until I have more supporting evidence.”
”What about the two witnesses you talked to?” Asher asked.
”In the end, I won't be able to use either one of them.” She turned around and walked back in the other direction. ”I won't mess with Jackson's daughter. She's been through enough. And I'm sure that the prost.i.tute that I talked to this afternoon has probably fled and is several thousand miles away from the island.”
She better be, if she's smart.
”And although I told my one friend in the police center about my own possible meeting with Cupid, I don't think he believed me. Why would he?” She ceased with the pacing. ”I barely saw him. Truthfully, I'm not even sure he was even in the room when I. . .well. . .when I walked into the kitchen where. . .he'd probably been killing my husband right there.”
She hugged herself tighter. ”I felt something in that room. It was thick and hot and cold at the same time and. . .”
”What?”
”Alive. Electric.” She covered her face with both hands. ”I'm sorry. I know I sound insane. Besides, I haven't slept. Tonight was a mistake. I'm surviving off of my fifth cup of coffee. We should probably do this again.”
Asher got up from the ledge, not liking where the conversation was now going. Funny how when she'd been slowly revealing him as a killer it had rattled him, but her possibly leaving . . .that f.u.c.king outraged him.
”Maybe, The Cove is exactly what you need.” He took his time walking to her as if rus.h.i.+ng her way would cause her unease. ”Let's get you some food, an appetizer or if you have enough energy the five course meal I had planned for us. There's dancing inside and amazing music. They only hire the most celebrated artists.”
”I'm sure they do, but this Cupid thing and everything else-preparations for Neil's funeral and-”
”Let's have you sit down.” He captured her hand. It was warm against his skin as she curled her fingers around his. Energy sparked wherever she touched, shooting wickedness up his arm and down into his groin. ”Let me take care of you. If you're even too tired to walk, I'll lift you up and carry you in my arms.”
In that moment, he crouched down to get ready to pick her up.
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