“Still, more people in the loop.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
The thought that anyone would pity her like she pitied Sandy or Cassie sickened her. “And you think that logic is going to wash away the emotion? The lone detail that separates me from Vicky and the others is a winning hand of cards.”
“You’re the lucky one.”
“Right.”
Despite a dozen years, the Shark could still play back the video of that last girl and feel the bitter disappointment of losing her. By the final round of games that year, he’d been on such a winning streak that he never considered losing as a possibility. The old man believed he was invincible and didn’t need Lady Luck. He would play and kill for as long as he wanted. And then, the other player laid down his winning hand of cards. The odds of a royal flush were so distant that he thought at first it was a trick of his mind or cheating. But he regulated the cards and the games carefully and knew the other player hadn’t cheated. Lady Luck had allowed him to rise to the top, and then she sent him crashing to the earth with the turn of a few cards.
The other player, instead of looking elated, was clearly relieved.
The Shark raised a trembling hand to his gray hair and, nodding, said, “The girl lives.”
He could have killed them both. He had the power. No one would have known. But the rules were the rules. Lady Luck determined which girls he could kill and which he could not. And if a man didn’t honor his personal creed, what was he worth? So the girl and the gambler left.
Days after their release, he returned to the tables in a legal casino, determined to test his luck and Lady Luck’s devotion. But when he sat at the table, he was on edge, thinking and rethinking every hand, actually fearful he would lose again. He folded the hand. Walked away. The next game was the same. And the next.
He’d lost his edge.
Lady Luck had turned her back on him.
Then the docs told him that his heart had turned to shit. They told him to give up his cigars and the booze and maybe he’d have a few crappy years of watching his strength fade away.
But the craving to kill burned inside him just as it had when he was a young man, and he was determined to savor these last games. Now that his days on this earth were dwindling, he had nothing really to lose and everything to gain.
The Shark sat back in his chair, staring at the lights of the city below. He’d lived most of his childhood on the streets, fighting and scrapping for every bite of bread. The streets had pounded him, bloodied him, and done their best to destroy him, but he had climbed up out of the hole.
He’d muscled his way out of so many scrapes, but he wouldn’t escape death. It was coming. But he’d be damned if he’d waste away in a chair, cowering. He’d spent too many years living on the edge, risking and winning.
It wasn’t enough to play more games and kill more women. He needed more risk. That’s why he’d sent Riley the video. He knew she’d take it to Shield or the cops and that the search for him would intensify. His heartbeat jacked up a notch.
The first two girls were little more than bread crumbs in a trail that would lead Riley to him. Now it was Lenny’s turn to play his last part.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Monday, September 19, 9:00 a.m.
Riley pushed through the front doors of the hospital, tensing the moment the antiseptic smell hit her nose. She’d been to the emergency room enough times to take statements from victims. Eight years on the force should have made it easier, but it didn’t. The smells of the hospital always reminded her of her mother’s last days and the long, difficult visits she and her stepfather had made to her bedside.
“Please, Mom, don’t leave me,” she whispered once in her mother’s ear. “Don’t leave me alone with him. Fight for your life.”
But her mother simply smiled and brushed the hair from her eyes. “You’ll be fine. He’s a good man.”
“He’s not good. He’s sick.”
Her mother closed her eyes. “You’re wrong about him.”
Riley rode the elevator to the seventh floor and paused at the nurses’ station to show her badge. “I’m here to see Jo-Jo. How’s she doing?”
“Awake, but moving slow. She was watching television a few minutes ago.”
“Thanks,” Riley said. “Do you have any update on her family?”
“No. She gave us a number, but no one answered. I’m not sure it’s legit. She’s barely said a dozen words.”
“Okay.” Down the hallway, she pushed into the room to find the girl sitting in her bed, remote in one hand, a cast on the other. She stared at the television, switching channels as if nothing really mattered. The plate of food was at least half-eaten. A good sign.
“Jo-Jo.”
The girl looked over with a left eye black-and-blue and swollen shut. Her lip was split, and there was a nasty cut across her neck. “I’m Riley Tatum. I came to see you a few days ago, but you were out of it.”
“You’re a cop?”
“That’s right.” She moved toward the bed, pulled up a chair, and sat. “How did you know that?”
“I’ve seen you around talking to the girls.” Jo-Jo shut off the television. “I know what happened to Vicky. I saw it on the news. They didn’t say much, but I knew it was her.”
“She was a good friend?”
“Sorta.”
“Why did Jax Carter go ballistic on you? What happened?”
She smoothed her hand over the rumpled fabric as if erasing the wrinkles would bring order to her screwed-up life. Her tone was laced with anger as she said, “Why don’t you ask him?”
“I have. But you know Jax. He’s not a chatty guy.”
Jo-Jo studied her for a long moment. “Where is he?”
“He’s out on bail. But don’t worry. You’re in a lockdown ward. He can’t get you in here.”
“He’s going to be looking for me. He’ll finish what he started when I get out.”
“He won’t. I’ll see to it.”
Jo-Jo shook her head, absently plucking at her blanket.
“Are you willing to press charges against him?”
Jo-Jo rolled her eyes. “No.”
“We’ve charged him with a half-dozen crimes that have nothing to do with you. But that won’t hold him long.”
Absently, she scratched the bandage holding her IV in place. “You’re the one that chased him into the woods, aren’t you?”
“That’s me.”
“Why would you do that? Nobody chases Jax.”
“That would explain the shocked look on his face when he saw me coming over the crest of the hill. He’s used to getting his way, but so am I.”
“But why did you do it?”
“I saw the surveillance camera footage of him beating you. Nobody deserves that.”
Her brow knotted. “You went after him because of what he did to me?”
“Aren’t you worth it?”
“That was stupid. I’m nobody.”
“When I watched that video, I saw a kid. A kid that could be anything she wanted to be if she had a chance.”
“A chance? I’ve about as much chance of getting out of this life as I do winning a million dollars.”
“I can’t get you a million dollars, but I’ve a few chances up my sleeve for a better life.”
Tears glistened. “How can I have a chance? I don’t have family and the one guy that was nice to me just about beat me to death.”
“I know places where you can go. Good people who can take care of you. It’s not hopeless.”
“You make it sound easy.”
“You and I both know it’s not easy, Jo-Jo.” She sat back. “What’s your real name?”
“Everyone calls me Jo-Jo.”
“I didn’t ask you what everyone calls you. What’s your real name?”
She plucked at a stray thread on the sheet. “It’s Melanie.”
“Melanie. That’s pretty. Melanie, what’s your last name?”
r /> “Don’t call me that name. She’s not me anymore.” She shook her head. “I can’t have you calling my family. With them, it’s worse than Jax.”
“So the number you gave the hospital is false?”
“Maybe.”
“No judgment. Be nice if I can tell the nurse she can stop calling. I’m not calling anyone. I just want to know who I’m talking to.”
“Melanie Lawrence.”
“How old are you? And let’s not start with eighteen.”
She lifted her chin a notch. “Fifteen.”
“Okay,” Riley leaned forward, “Jo-Jo, how did you know Vicky was the murdered girl?”
“Because Jax and Darla sold her to this weird guy.”
“Weird how?”
“Most guys don’t want the girls for more than an hour. But this guy insisted he have Vicky for the weekend. And he kept harping on her brown hair and how her look was perfect.”
“Her look?”
“This guy, Kevin, wanted a girl with brown hair. Jax brought us both to show, but Kevin said I was too skinny. Too hard looking. Too blond.”
“Vicky was new to the streets?”
“Yeah. She’d only been working a few weeks. Did Kevin kill Vicky?”
“We’re waiting on the DNA tests, but that’s my bet.”
“When she didn’t come back, I told Jax he had to do something. He got pissed. That’s when he started wailing on me.”
“And then you stabbed him?”