“Are you the Oakland Nightstalker?” she asks, and I can’t help the immediate laugh that curls out of me.
“What?!”
“It makes sense,” she reasons. “The killings abruptly stopped ten years ago. Then, they resurfaced two years ago. What they didn’t realize was that you were killing, you were just killing off your usual MO. Because you were killing women who looked like me.”
Her wit has me grinning. “Figured me out, have you?”
“Not even close,” she replies, turning into my side again. “So, are you?”
“If I tell you, I’d have to kill you,” I joke.
She scoffs. “Wait, that would mean…”
My eyes grow heady with excitement, my mouth curling in a grin she can’t see as she works it out.
“You were on the side of the road to kill that night.”
“Mm, there’s my smart girl.”
Her slight gasp at my words is faint, but I catch it.
“You would’ve killed me,” she realizes.
“You killed me first.”
“Well, I gave it a good shot. No wonder you’ve been so angry.”
“You’re the one that got away.”
“You did say that.” Her intellect is part of the reason I’m so obsessed with her.
“Have you been looking into me, pretty poison?”
“I was. Not for myself. For a college student in town who needed help with a paper on a serial killer. You were her focus.”
“Good to know they’re still talking about me.”
I know she has so many burning questions, but she’s trying her best to keep them to herself.
“So, is Allison also a target of yours?”
“No.”
“But she was with me. She also got away.”
“Greer, go to bed.”
“She was the one who said to leave. I would’ve called for help. Shit, I would’ve gotten you caught, wouldn’t I?”
“If you think I’ve never dealt with police, you’re delusional.”
“Why is it you haven’t come for Allison?”
“Greer.”
“Killing her would’ve isolated me, honestly. I have no one other than her…”
Rage spilling over like a boiling pot, I growl. Lifting off the bed, I lay her back, pressing her into the mattress. “She doesn’t fucking matter.Youmatter.”
