A Perfect Darkness Read Online Free PDF Page A

perched on the coffee table in front of him.
    She tried to stay calm and not look too concerned about the stalker who’d been about to eviscerate her. The stalker who’d looked at her like he would die for her. She caught herself leaning toward Cyrus as though she could hear the words faster if she were a few inches closer.
    â€œHis name is Lucas Brown. He’s been on their radar for some time now in connection to fourteen brutal murders. All cute brunettes in their late teens and early twenties.” He gave her a look that added, Like you.
    â€œCute?” she said. “I’m definitely not his type.”
    He crossed his arms in front of him as though accusing her of using sarcasm as a barrier. “The murders he was suspected of were scattered all over, so there wasn’t any solid connection. The FBI tracked him here. He started acting erratically, and they figured he was on the hunt. They had to wait until he made a move, which he did by breaking into your apartment. If they hadn’t been here…well, I don’t even want to imagine.”
    Why did that seem so…not right? “How come there’s been nothing in the news? Lots of scandals and all manner of scumbagism, but nothing about this major serial killer the FBI apprehended.”
    â€œScumbagism?” His eyebrows quirked. “Do you know the kind of public outcry there would be if it was discovered a suspected killer had been in their midst and no one was warned? Of course, if they’d been warned, Lucas Brown would have fled, and they wouldhave had to start all over again. The FBI is keeping this low key. The important thing is that it’s over.”
    â€œWhat about Lucas?” She swallowed hard and pushed out the words, “Is he dead?”
    â€œSig 229 in the neck will do it every time.” He studied her. “It’s what he said that’s got you a little freaked out, isn’t it? About you being a…what? Outsider?”
    â€œIt wasn’t that so much as what he said about my dad’s death.”
    Cyrus pressed his fingers together. “All that stuff he told you was a load of bull manufactured by a sick mind. Brown has a history of psychiatric problems, including psychotic schizophrenic. Paranoia. Nonsensical ramblings about spies and phone taps.”
    He gave her a sympathetic look. “I know you always had trouble believing what your father did. Me, too, for a while. But he had psychiatric problems of his own. Not like this Lucas guy, but deep depression. Remember the nightmares that sent him screaming out the door?”
    She shivered. All too well. “He dreamed people were in his head trying to kill him.”
    They both grew silent for a moment.
    Finally Cyrus said, “Sweetheart, he loved you very much. At the end, he just wasn’t thinking straight.”
    That’s what hurt so much. She’d grown up believing he hadn’t loved her enough to push on, to get help. She believed she wasn’t good enough to live for. “No matter how depressed he was, he had a five-year-old daughter who loved and needed him. It never made sense that depression would take away his sense of responsibility. If I wasn’t enough to live for…okay, take your life. But at least make arrangements foryour kid. And leave a suicide note.” She looked into his eyes. “You would have told me—you’d tell me now—if there was more to my father’s death, wouldn’t you? My dad who showed me the stars and then shot himself where he knew I’d find him. The dad who said he loved me and then left me!” Anger washed into her voice.
    Cyrus leaned forward, bracing his arms on his thighs. “Did Lucas imply he was murdered?”
    â€œNot exactly. That would explain Dad’s behavior, though.”
    And his glow. She hadn’t known what the colors meant then, and thought the glimmer of violet blue meant despair. Years later