Love Lies Bleeding by Remmy Duchene (carter reed txt) 📕

through the car leaving a strange whistling around them. The plan was complete in Leo's head. He was going to find Daniel. He was going to make the ass pay for going anywhere near Anderson. When he was finished, he was going to throw the motherfucker in a cell and see to it personally they threw away the key. Afterward, he would visit him every year, just to remind him what he lost.

At Daniel's house, he knocked on the front door. There was no need to break in and scare Mary. The door creaked open slowly and he arched a brow before glancing back at Byung and Isha. He would have told them to stay in the car but he knew that wouldn't have happened. A stench he would know anywhere wafted from the house. It was the smell of rotten flesh that had been sitting around for too long. His heart began racing again, painfully crashing into his chest. He felt his hands shake slightly and he forced it to stop. Frowning he reached for his gun. "Stay here," he said. "I mean it."

They both nodded.

"I'm serious!"

They nodded again.

Moving through the door, the foyer of the medium-sized family house was a royal mess. There was a faint stench. The pictures were pulled from the wall and laying in broken frames on the floor. Dirt was strewn all over the floor from broken flower pots with the flowers dead. There were patches of smudges on the wall he hoped was only dirt. Further in, water was leaking from the wall. He began his search with the bedrooms. One bedroom was empty; there wasn't even a piece of paper in it. The other was covered with glass jars filled with love-lies-bleeding plants. Leo felt sick.

The third bedroom was locked, so he sent his foot through the door and pushed open with his shoulder. There were pictures of Jazmon with all the other victims. There was a picture of Leo kissing Anderson in New Jersey.

"He was following us…" He yanked the picture from the wall and shoved it into his pocket. Taking another look around the room at the picture-covered walls, Leo continued to the laundry room then turned toward the living room. The sofa cushions were ripped apart and lying on the floor with dirty footprints over them and every piece of furniture was overturned. The dining room was in a worse state, for the glass stable there was smashed and all the chairs ripped apart. The stench was even stronger there. Even breathing through his mouth was a problem—it was so overpowering he couldn't stop coughing. By the screen door there was the buzz of flies and Leo knew what he'd find. Stepping forward he stuck the gun back into his holster and brought a palm up to cover his nose and mouth. He hunched beside Mary's dead body and shook his head.

"Daniel what did you do?"

He took a moment to go through the scene. He dug through the mountains of paper on the desk in the office and finally found something about a guesthouse they invested in. Taking evidence from the scene was frowned on but he just couldn't help himself. He couldn't just sit around and wait for the guys to get there for a dead body. When he was through, he walked back to where Byung and Isha were.

"Who's dead?" Byung asked.

"It's not Anderson," Leo replied, his voice cracking with relief.

"Who is it?" Isha pressed.

"Mary."

Isha gasped and turned her face into Byung's shoulder. The man held her tightly against him but he was frowning deeply. "I found this," he handed Byung the photo he'd yanked off the wall.

Byung made a face. "So he's been following you around."

"Yeah. But he didn't have to follow us to Elmont. I told him I was going."

Leo pulled out his cell phone. Since Isha couldn't touch the body without her kit, he called for the forensic team, being sure to ask someone to bring everything Isha needed. The next call was to the captain.

"Heron."

"Captain. It's Leo."

"Kim! What's going on?"

"You're going to want to get over to Daniel's place. There's something you need to see."

"Leo…"

"It's Daniel. He's the serial killer we've been after."

"That makes no sense."

"Tell that to his dead wife and Anderson Williams. Look, just come over to his place, all right? I won't be here, but forensics and Isha will be. He took Anderson and I'm trying to get him back before it's too late."

"Son of a bitch."

"My sentiments exactly. I'll see you when I see you."

After hanging up, he stood there silently for a moment. He wasn't sure why but he couldn't move yet. Leo finally turned to look at Isha. They slipped into another conversation, rebuilding the plan since the first one was an obvious bust. It seemed lately he spent more time planning than actually getting things done. Sirens could be heard in the distance. He wasn't sure why they were running loud—perhaps the captain told them to. "We're going to leave you here," Leo said.

Isha shook her head.

"Isha—you'll be fine. Backup is coming, so you won't be alone. He won't come back here, especially if its crawling with cops. We know the longer he's out there, the less chance we have of finding him alive. You won't be alone. Do this for me… please."

She nodded and pulled herself from Byung's arms. The first squad car pulled up out front followed by a large forensics truck. The officers jogged up to them and Leo began telling them what was happening. Isha hurried down to the truck to suit up.

"What about me?" Byung asked.

"Stay here. I can move better alone. Isha will help you get home once they're finished."

"Be careful," Byung told him.

Leo nodded and hurried away from the crowd. When he eased into the front seat of his car, the rage in him was pulsating behind his left eye. He was going to get Anderson back and he knew the perfect place to start.

Chapter Seventeen

Leo should have