Slither Read online

  Slither

  Bernadette Gardner

  Rihana has seen a lot in five years working as a psychic for the NYPD, but the murder of a freelance reporter makes her question if she really wants to continue her law enforcement career.

  The dark vibe she gets from this case is nothing new, but the main suspect, sexy, enigmatic tattoo artist Heath, leaves her heightened senses burning. She can read him like a book—and she can see his innocence but she can’t prove it. His feral sexual thoughts make her insane with need and her desire for him jeopardizes her job and the investigation.

  When she learns the truth about the man who can strip her soul bare with a glance, will she give up everything she knows to flee with him to a safer world? Or will she become a psychic killer in order to destroy a ruthless assassin and put an end to her lover’s exile?

  An Ellora’s Cave Romantica Publication

  www.ellorascave.com

  Slither

  ISBN 9781419924682

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

  Slither Copyright © 2010 Bernadette Gardner

  Edited by Briana St. James

  Cover art by Dar Albert

  Electronic book publication February 2010

  The terms Romantica® and Quickies® are registered trademarks of Ellora’s Cave Publishing.

  With the exception of quotes used in reviews, this book may not be reproduced or used in whole or in part by any means existing without written permission from the publisher, Ellora’s Cave Publishing, Inc.® 1056 Home Avenue, Akron OH 44310-3502.

  Warning: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. No part of this book may be scanned, uploaded or distributed via the Internet or any other means, electronic or print, without the publisher’s permission. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000. (http://www.fbi.gov/ipr/). Please purchase only authorized electronic or print editions and do not participate in or encourage the electronic piracy of copyrighted material. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  This book is a work of fiction and any resemblance to persons, living or dead, or places, events or locales is purely coincidental. The characters are productions of the authors’ imagination and used fictitiously.

  Slither

  Bernadette Gardner

  Dedication

  This one is for everyone who asked for Heath’s story. Enjoy!

  Acknowledgements

  A heartfelt thanks to JB for reading and rereading and rereading and…

  Trademarks Acknowledgement

  The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of the following wordmarks mentioned in this work of fiction:

  Jell-O: Kraft Foods

  Chapter One

  The smell of death greeted Rihana Daniels even before she could flash her ID at the officer stationed at the door of Tanesha Wain’s apartment. The patrolman, first on the scene judging by his slightly green pallor, flicked a bloodshot glance over the laminated card and badge and hastily lifted the yellow crime scene tape, which had been stretched over the threshold. Tucking her ID back into her jacket pocket, Rihana ducked under the flimsy barrier and came face to face with Detective Nathan DeYoung, the man who’d called her out on this rain-soaked Friday evening.

  “You’re late.” DeYoung was a man of few words, most of them negative.

  “Traffic on the Cross Bronx was a bitch.” Rihana rarely made excuses for herself. Most of the time she didn’t need to. For the past five years, her work with the NYPD had always been exemplary, or, to hear DeYoung tell it, unfailingly adequate.

  “The body is over here.” The detective executed a graceful about-face in the cramped area of Wain’s living room. He skirted around a cluttered coffee table, an ancient-looking wing-back chair and an overflowing magazine caddy. Four people hustled to clear a path as he moved. Two rain-slickered homicide investigators, a crime scene photographer and a harried-looking CSI scrambled and scooted to avoid having DeYoung dress them down for being in his way. Clearly this was his domain and everyone knew it. They deferred to his sour-lipped, broad-shouldered presence and behind his back they kept their grumblings as quiet as possible.

  Rihana followed DeYoung through the apartment. Unlike the others already assembled, she attempted to keep her observations to a minimum. She wasn’t here to inspect blood stains on the carpet—and she hoped to God there weren’t any—or to search for suspicious fibers on the victim’s clothing.

  She was here to listen and to feel.

  “Tanesha Wain, single white female, age twenty-five. Freelance journalist and part-time bartender at a place down the street called The Dock. None of her friends or colleagues have had contact with her since Wednesday—”

  Rihana held up a hand to silence DeYoung’s narrative. “You told me all this over the phone.”

  He offered her a sardonic glance over the damp shoulder of his brown rain coat. “I guess I did. You tell me the rest.”

  Rihana sighed. She hated the dead body cases most. Why couldn’t tonight have been stolen cars, smuggled drugs or plain old breaking and entering? These days every time she heard DeYoung’s gravelly voice, she developed an instant headache, which made interpreting her psychic visions even more difficult. “Give me a little space. Where is she?”

  “Other side of the bed.”

  Rihana steeled herself and plunged headlong into the room the detective had led her to. Wain’s bedroom was a study in beige from the generic, low-pile carpeting to the throw pillows on the neatly made bed. Shades of oatmeal, fawn and sand competed with each other for blandness. Maybe the woman had been color blind. There wasn’t a scrap of contrast anywhere in the room.

  A dark head popped up from behind the bed as soon as Rihana crossed the threshold and she halted with a gasp.

  “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you.” Andy Sullivan, from the coroner’s office, unfolded his lanky frame and stretched to his full six feet. He offered a latex-gloved hand then realized his faux pas. “Sorry. How have you been, Ms. Daniels?”

  “Fine, Andy. Can I have a few minutes in here?”

  “Sure. I’m done. Placed T.O.D. at some time around six-thirty p.m. on Wednesday. Can’t fix cause yet.”

  “Thanks.” Rihana uttered the word before the full realization of Sullivan’s announcement set in. Tanesha Wain had been dead for two days. That explained the murky depths of the stench permeating the apartment, relieved only marginally by the wisp of a breeze from the open bedroom window. Someone must have chanced breaking crime scene protocol in order to provide a much needed supply of untainted air.

  Sullivan gathered his equipment bag and sidled around the end of the bed with an apologetic half-grin. Rihana waited until he’d cleared the room. She took note that DeYoung was hovering by the doorway, probably watching to see if she tossed her cookies before or after her reading.

  She avoided taking a deep breath and inched forward for a cautious peek at the body. Heaven help me, Gramma Essie. I don’t know how much longer I can do this.

  The young woman lay curled on her side, her fists clenched near her face like a gloveless boxer. Fortunately she was fully clothed in stylish black jeans, a pretty yellow cardigan over a white blouse and brand new high-top sneakers. She wore a gold bracelet around one slim wrist and a butterfly-shaped barrette in her dark brown hair.

  On first glance, she might have just been sleeping, though her position was not that of a body in a state of repose. Rihana allowed herself a closer look at the woman’s waxy skin. Her eyes, once blue perhaps, had clouded over and her lips were slate gray. The odor of death became unbearable in close proximity to the body and after only
a second, Rihana had to back up.

  She closed her eyes. Visual observations were overrated. Sometimes the less she saw with her eyes, the better.

  She set her feet wide apart on the boring carpet and locked her knees. Canting her head toward the ceiling, she tried to raise her nose above the stench of decay. It only took a moment for her to slip into the trance-like state her Gramma Essie called the quaking.

  Everything slipped away, layer by layer. The sounds of muted conversation from the living room faded along with the street noises drifting up from four stories below. DeYoung’s disapproving essence dissipated, as did the odor of death.

  In a moment, Rihana stood in a shadowy version of the apartment. Visual details were sparse. She saw the bed, the nightstand, the window and a figure huddled on the floor. Tanesha Wain’s frightened eyes were black in this colorless world. Her lips stretched wide in a scream and she threw her hands up to ward off an attacker who appeared as nothing more than a hulking figure in the dark.

  Rihana fought off the icy tingle of fear that climbed up her legs heading for her stomach. She shifted her body to get a better look at the murderer who had reached long arms toward the woman on the floor. It was a man. The shape of the shoulders told her that much. A hawkish nose created a sharp, unpleasant profile. Heavy brows shielded his eyes. All black and smooth like that of a cat burglar, his clothing bore no significant details. Clearly, though, he wasn’t here to steal anything. Wain’s gold bracelet attested to that.

  He wasn’t here for her either. He barely touched her. His aim wasn’t to cause pain and he hadn’t been looking for sexual gratification. Beyond that, though, his motives were not apparent.

  Reality blurred for Rihana while she watched the formless figure menace Tanesha. A scream echoed, bland like the natural colors of the room, passionless. She was dead before the sound left her lips and there was nothing Rihana could do to save her.

  With a sharp, startled intake of fetid air, she lurched forward. Hands outstretched, she caught herself on the edge of the dark wood bureau and retched once before regaining her composure.

  DeYoung was instantly at her side, though not to offer assistance while she struggled to hold her body upright after the shock of watching Tanesha Wain die. “Well?”

  “Give me a minute…”

  One shallow breath left her feeling slightly more stable. The second one reminded her that breathing was something best done as far away from a decomposing body as possible.

  Without apology, she pushed past DeYoung and stumbled out of the bedroom. Like a dog hoping for scraps, he followed on her heels.

  “What did you see?”

  The man was a badger, all sharp teeth and unpleasant insistence on instant gratification. Rihana let her shoulders droop, wishing she could throw herself on Wain’s bland sofa and kick off her shoes. “I saw a man, about your height, but not as…bulky. I couldn’t get details of his features except they were strong, pronounced. He’s thin, ethnic but not dark-skinned. He killed her quickly.”

  “How?”

  “I didn’t see that. It was over too fast.” Thank God. Beyond those few moments of abject terror before her death, Tanesha hadn’t suffered…much.

  “Can you get more?”

  “I can once she’s processed. Andy will give me an article of her clothing, and I can take impressions from that.”

  DeYoung nodded. “Release the body.” He barked the command and both Andy and the CSI scurried back into the bedroom. A commotion at the front door cut off any further useless conversation.

  The patrolman lifted the crime scene tape for a plainclothes officer. Carl Brogan strolled into the apartment, his black coat swirling behind him like a superhero’s cape. He scanned the room with eagle eyes, absorbing every detail, before he settled his piercing gaze on Rihana.

  “Did Miss Psychic Hotline solve the case yet?”

  “Fuck off, Brogan.” Rihana would have given him the finger, but her vision had left her too weak to expend that much energy. Her body felt like a wet rag, just hanging from her bones. She wanted to go home and recharge before she tackled any remote viewing for the case and the last thing she needed was Brogan calling her names like a jealous adolescent.

  “I don’t have time for this, Brogan. What have you got?” Fortunately, DeYoung’s distain extended to everyone who worked in his precinct. He didn’t play favorites.

  “The vic’s employer came through with a name for us. She was working on an article for some rag mag called Flash and she had an interview scheduled with some uptown tattoo artist on Wednesday afternoon. It coincides with the notation in her appointment book. The guy’s name is Gyland. Heath Gyland. He was probably the last person to see her alive.”

  “And he is where?”

  “I’ve got someone picking him up now. We can meet him for questioning in an hour.”

  “If he cooperates.”

  “It’s always fun when they don’t.” Brogan’s wolfish grin made Rihana shiver. Or maybe it was just the aftermath of her vision. She was always cold afterward. Looking into the past was like visiting the grave, but it beat what happened to her whenever she tried to see the future.

  “Last person to see them alive is usually the first person to see them dead.” DeYoung delivered his remark with an oily sense of amusement. In his mind, he’d already solved the case. This tattoo artist was the perp, or so he wanted to believe. Rihana almost wished it was true. A neat resolution to a murder case would be a pleasant change of pace for her and it might even lead DeYoung to crack a smile. Something in the back of her mind told her it wouldn’t be that way with this one though. Nothing was ever neat in this city.

  “I’ve got to wrap up here.” DeYoung dismissed Brogan with a nod toward the door. “Relieve Ferrano, will ya? I don’t need him puking in the hallway again.” He turned to Rihana. “Can you pull yourself together and meet me at the station to welcome the perp?”

  “He’s not a perp yet, he’s only a person of interest.” Rihana chose to focus on DeYoung’s Freudian slip rather than his condescending—though accurate—assumption that she needed to “pull herself together”.

  “Tomato tomahto.” DeYoung shrugged and Brogan released a quick, barking laugh as he lumbered toward the door. “Bring your tinfoil beanie for this one and all your charms and whistles. If this is the guy, I want him in lockup tonight.”

  Rihana didn’t comment on the beanie remark. Brogan had set DeYoung off, and if she hung around, both of them would probably end up in a competition of psychic jokes within a few minutes. If she hurried, she could, in fact, swing by her apartment and grab a warding stone or two to protect herself from the ill feeling she usually picked up after a second trip to the quaking on any given day. Too much time spent in the in between left her in a bad way, but it paid the bills and, according to her Gramma Essie, it was Rihana’s destiny to use her gift, side effects be damned. She’d inherited the sight from her paternal grandmother and she was honor bound to use it. Poor Tanesha Wain deserved justice. Rihana would help get it for her, even if it meant putting up with men like Brogan and DeYoung who thought she was nothing more than a starry-eyed flower child, despite her sterling record of accurate psychic predictions over the years she’d served the NYPD.

  Rihana jammed her icy hands into her jacket pockets and slipped out beneath the tape when Ferrano lifted it for her. She didn’t say goodbye to DeYoung or even to Andy and she felt bad about that, but the younger man would understand. A crime scene really wasn’t the place for pleasantries.

  She did say a silent goodbye to Tanesha Wain, though, as she rode down four flights in the stiflingly hot elevator. She said a little prayer that maybe for once Brogan was right and the man who’d watched the pretty young reporter die was already in custody.

  * * * * *

  Heath Gyland smiled in satisfaction as the distinctive petals of an orange tiger lily took shape beneath his hands. A few more strokes and the image would be complete, an intricate design on the upper ar
m of the woman who lay in his tattoo chair.

  “I’m thinking of a rose on my other arm, something in fuchsia,” she said, her voice low and dreamy. She was clearly enjoying the sensation of the continuous, high-speed needle pricks as Heath added the final highlights to the flower he’d drawn on her skin. “Can you do fuchsia?”

  “I can do any color you like.” The lie pinged his conscience a bit, but he dismissed the accompanying stab of guilt. He could, in fact, create almost any color for any design his clients wanted. The lie was implied though…that he would be around to provide another image for this client or for anyone else.

  Another day, maybe two, and he’d have to put his life in Manhattan behind him, abandon SkIntense, the shop he’d built almost eight years ago, and move on. To what, he had no idea.

  He shook away the melancholy brought on by the prospect of once again walking away from the half-finished framework of a life and forging into the unknown. After spending more than three quarters of his life this way, he probably should have been used to it.

  He applied the last stroke, the last dot of color, then sat back and shut off the motor that powered his state-of-the-art tattoo needle. His client smiled, her eyes bright with a curious mixture of pleasure and pain.

  “All done?” she asked.

  “Yes. I’ll get you a mirror.” He reached behind him and retrieved a hand mirror that would allow the woman to see every nuance of the design, which now wrapped around her shapely biceps.

  “It’s gorgeous! Perfect. Omigod, do you think if I came back next week you could add a snake to it?”

  Heath raised a brow and smirked. The twin serpents that coiled around his own forearms and rested their black and crimson heads on the backs of his hands inspired a number of his customers. Over the years, he’d developed a reputation as an expert in snake designs, while his partner, Darq Stone, specialized in dragons and creatures with wings. “I’m sure I could, if that’s what you want. Why don’t you take a little time to get used to this first?” He’d considered telling customers he was planning to leave, but since he couldn’t answer their inevitable questions about where he was going, he’d decided to say nothing at all.