Beautiful Maids All in a Row Read Online Free PDF Page B

in the same situation. I can’t. But I do know
you.
You were my best friend for years. No, more than that. We have been through war together. I know you, and I know this: You
are
a fighter. You are stronger than you think. You just need to be reminded of that. So I’m here to give you a chance to be you. The
real
you.” He picked up the files, holding them to my face before smacking them down again. “The best of the best are on this, but I know we’re missing something.
I
know it.
There are women in danger who need your help. They will die unless you step up. You’re the best, something I have
never
doubted for a second, even now. This psycho is out there, and he won’t stop until
we
stop him. Help me.” He pulled out a business card from his pocket, tossing it on the files. “My cell number’s on there. I have to leave tomorrow morning. I hope to hear from you. If not, goodbye, Iris. I wish only good things for you.” With that, he picked up the briefcase and walked out without the files. I didn’t follow. The front door slammed seconds later. He was gone.
    I looked down at the fucking files taking over my coffee table with Luke’s white business card standing out against the brown folders. Just their presence in my home turned my stomach. I knew what was in there. Evidence of the brutality of man. Women, raped and tortured. Women whose last minutes on this planet were filled with terror and pain, their bodies torn apart simply for one man’s sick gratification. I didn’t need to see that. I’d seen it hundreds of times. Hell, I’d
lived
it.
    With one sweep of my arm, the files crashed to the floor. Pictures flew out like a fan unfolding. I quickly glanced away. I could not,
would
not look at them.
    No.
    I flopped back down in my chair and turned toward the television. It was a news report about the Woodsman. Of course. I reached for the remote, but it wasn’t on the armrest where I normally put it. Which meant…I bent down and spotted it next to one of the loose pictures. With that, my fate was sealed. I’d done it.
    I looked at her fucking picture.
    Justine Romy was barely recognizable after floating in the Rappahannock River for days. Her skin was the color of snow, with bluish veins scattered over her face like the roots of a tree. Her eyes and chunks of her skin were torn out. Food for very lucky fish. Her auburn hair was a tangled mess of leaves, twigs, and mud, and her mouth was open, as if trying to speak. I wished she could; it would have made our jobs a hell of a lot easier.
    “Jesus,” I whispered. I’d barely known her, but I felt rage spreading through my body as I gazed at her battered face. I could see her as she had been: a beautiful, smart woman with her whole life ahead of her. She’d never see her son graduate or get married. She’d never get to play with her grandchildren. She’d never make love again. She’d never heal another body. There would be no more trips to the movies, no more Christmases sitting around the tree. And
he
was out there walking the streets, having dinner with friends while she was lying on a cold metal slab in some morgue. It was just so unfair. And I was an expert on unfair.
    Fuck.
I couldn’t help myself. I never could. I picked up the file and began what I promised myself I would never do again. I set out to catch a monster.

Chapter 4
    It was a little past one in the morning when I knocked on the door of room twelve at the Half Moon Inn. I heard shuffling inside, the thump as his feet hit the ground, and finally footsteps. The door opened and Luke stood in an undershirt and NYU sweatpants, his eyes half closed and blinded by the light in the hallway, and his orange hair wild from sleep. I resisted the urge to smooth his cowlick. I wasn’t ready for any type of physical contact with him. I didn’t even want to be three feet from him.
    “Sorry I woke you,” I said, not at all sorry I woke him. He’d intruded in my life, so it was only right that I