She whimpered and went limp beneath him, half-naked, his to have just like Brooke would be soon.
Brooke would moan his name.
He tried to close his eyes and picture Brooke; she came to mind so easily.
“Please stop.”
The whispered words overflowed with fear and a desperate plea.
They weren’t in the right voice. They said the wrong thing.
And when he looked down all he saw was the wrong woman.
“You’re not Brooke!” Rage exploded through his system, then he punched her in the head with the knife handle again to shut her up. Her whimpering was ruining this for him. Blood ran down her face, mixing with her tears. The rush washed through him again seeing her bleed. She screamed in pain.
He liked that. A lot.
“Hey, what are you doing?”
He hadn’t heard the jogger run up on them. She stumbled through the bushes and stopped short.
“Help me,” the girl beneath him rasped.
Fuck!
He had to get out of there. He jumped up, grabbed his open pants together, and ran.
No one else was around. He kept to the shadows, fumbling the zipper up on his jeans as he rushed to get away. He pulled the black mask off his head as he rounded the corner of one of the buildings. His heart raced with fear. He slowed his pace to match that of the few students walking the path from the rec center building to the quad and tried to settle his rampaging thoughts. He’d almost had her. Frustrated, he smacked his fist into the side of his thigh.
Since things didn’t work out with his date tonight and he needed something to soothe him, he’d swing by Brooke’s place, see if he could catch a glimpse of her returning to her dorm from the library she studied at nearly every night.
He missed her.
He was almost ready to have her.
Chapter Thirty-One
Brooke answered her cell phone without looking at the caller ID. “Hello.”
“Miss Banks, this is Detective Radnor. San Antonio police. We’ve spoken a few times about your case.”
“Yes, Detective. How can I help you?”
Brooke stood on her dorm steps. A wave of fear shot through her. She turned, looking behind her, searching the faces for anyone watching her. She couldn’t help the reaction anymore. When not in her room, she always felt like someone was watching now. Even though no one walking past or sitting on the lawn beyond seemed to take any special interest in her—but he was out there. Watching. Waiting. Biding his time. For what, she didn’t know. And the not knowing was making her crazy paranoid.
“There’s been a series of attacks on campus. The first two girls, though drunk, got away after a minor assault and brief strugglewith their attacker. Last night, the girl wasn’t so lucky. The assailant had a knife. There’s no other way to say this—”
“He raped her.” The words came out as a whisper but they were no less ominous.
“No. But only because a jogger interrupted him right before…”
She filled in the blank in her mind.
“He said something interesting to her.”
“What?” She didn’t really want to know.
“You’re not Brooke.”
