Beg for Mercy Read Online Free PDF Page B

two aren’t mutually exclusive. You should know that by now, Megan. And he’ll never admit it out loud, but I think Sean has finally come to terms with his guilt. And even though I don’t agree with how the state wants to deal with it, I respect Sean’s decision.”
    “Sean is
not
guilty,” she said through clenched teeth. “And if he really believed it, if he remembered something after all this time, he would tell me.”
    “Would he? Your brother is very protective of you. Maybe you don’t know him as well as you think.”
    “I know Sean better than anyone,” she snapped, and disconnected the call.
    But as her car flew down the highway, an ugly thought emerged from a dark corner of her mind.
    Was it possible she could have been wrong all this time? Was it possible she was as self-delusil as the press, the police, hell, most of her friends had painted her?
    No.
She mentally yanked that sprout out by the roots and poured cyanide on it to boot. Yes, the evidence was damning, as Brockner had said. But from the beginning,she’d always thought it too damnin
g
. Too neat, too tied up in a convenient bow for the police.
    Her brother was smart, ex–Special Forces, trained in covert operations. She believed that if Sean wanted to murder someone, he wouldn’t have been nearly so stupid about it.
    Too bad no one wanted to listen to her theories. Not even the few people she should have been able to count on to at least hear her out.
    A vision of hot, dark eyes turning cold, lips full and red from passionate kisses going tight and mean. She tightened her grip on the steering wheel, shoving Cole’s image out of her head. Even thinking of him made it hurt to breathe.
    No time for wallowing. No time to spare even one conscious second of thought on that asshole.
    Unconscious… that was another story. Megan had long ago ceded control of her dreams, in which Cole Williams popped up more frequently than she’d like, in scenarios that left her alternately sobbing with heartbreak or burning with unfulfilled desire—in pain and unsatisfied either way she sliced it.
    In real life, Cole didn’t want to listen to her theories—no one did. So be it. Megan knew in her soul that Evangeline Gordon’s real killer was still out there. Lurking like a dark stain, a creeping shadow no one could nail down.
    She just needed a break. A tiny shred of something to point her in the right direction. As her Honda ate up the miles between Walla Walla and her apartment in Seattle, Megan whispered up endless prayers, for something, anything, a single clue. Before Sean got what he wanted and it was too late for them all.

Chapter 3
     
    H e moved the TV a few inches to the left and studied the screen. Still not quite right.
    He reached up to the bookshelf where he’d positioned the camera in the trailer’s cramped bedroom and tilted it slightly down. He checked the TV again.
    Perfect.
    Blood rushed to his groin and a smile stretched across his face. At this angle, the camera displayed the bed from headboard to footboard, close enough to capture every detail but with enough vertical and horizontal clearance to make sure no heads or other body parts would be cut off from view.
    He would be able to see everything.
    He squatted in front of his laptop, which was connected to the camera and placed one shelf below. A few keystrokes and they were rolling, the computer recording everything about to be displayed on the screen.
    Time to retrieve the talent.
    She was huddled against the wall, long, black hair spilling over her face as her head lolled forward. He reached out a gloved hand and tilted her chin up. Her eyes were dark, lazy slits that showed no recognition of where she was or what was about to happen.
    He hefted her onto the bed and positioned her against the pillows. He did a quick check to make sure the camera had a clear view of her face. He adjusted the latex cap on his head, grimacing as it pulled at his close-cropped hair.
    It was hot and made