Color Blind Read Online Free PDF Page A

had a knack for finding that one button, then peeling down to the raw nerve until it was exposed and vulnerable.
    It might be a dangerous tactic, but at least once the enemy was inside, she’d have a chance to take a swing at discovering and pushing his buttons.
    •   •   •
    “B ack so soon, Doctor?” Isaac asked as Jenna came in. “After the first five minutes I assumed you were waiting for backup.”
    Astute . “Is that why you paired up, Isaac? Backup? You don’t strike me as the type to need backup.”
    “Aha, Dr. Ramey. Need and want are two very different things.”
    Jenna settled in the chair across from the killer, crossed her legs, and leaned toward him. “Fair enough. So did you need backup or want backup?”
    Isaac rose from the wooden chair an inch and slammed back down at the same time he hit his hand on the table. “Now, that’s why I like you, Dr. Ramey. You didn’t assume that because I corrected your statement, it meant I wanted rather than needed backup.”
    His wild eyes settled, calm confidence replacing the excitement.
    Still no answer to the question. Let’s try this a different way . “You don’t like assuming, and yet you assumed I was holding out for backup. We have different sets of rules?”
    Of course, she already knew that answer. Isaac was a sociopath, and all sociopaths, be they Ted Bundy, Jeffrey Dahmer, or Jenna’s own mother, shared certain traits. One of those traits: they always played by their own rules, rules that set double standards—one standard for only them, and another standard for everyone else.
    Isaac seemed to know where she was going. He nodded emphatically, mocking and humming his agreement. “Grandiose sense of self, feels the rules don’t apply. I’ve heard this a time or two.” He winked. “Yes. Agreed. I assume things about people. I’m typically smarter than they are.”
    Jenna didn’t doubt it. Still, she’d heard it from plenty of monsters, and many times. Overestimating their intelligence was where they went wrong. Play to it. “What are my rules, if you don’t mind my asking?”
    Isaac cocked his head, studied her for a moment. Finally he said, “Both. Wanted and needed.”
    A reward for asking the right question. His pupils were dilated. He liked her.
    “Am I right to assume my next question won’t get an answer?”
    “Phone call yet?”
    Jenna glanced at her watch. They couldn’t hold him forever without that call, but the hell if she had to give it to him without having some clue why he wanted it. Hank and his team had to be here by now. “Who’s your phone-a-friend, Isaac?”
    “Who’s the first person you ever saw as one? A color, I mean,” Isaac countered.
    Jenna pushed away from the table, stood. Always the damned colors. “Let me see if I can find a timetable on that call for you.”

T hadius Grogan’s knees creaked as he rose from the recliner. He snapped the dusty hardcover shut and tossed it on the pile of other books and magazines decorating the sofa. Concentration was about as likely right now as America electing Pee-wee Herman to the presidency by write-in vote. Reading about the life of that poor girl kidnapped at ten and kept for six years as a sex slave couldn’t hold his attention, even if it was in the interest of reminding him how very much worse Emily’s situation could’ve been. Howie Dumas would be letting him know the latest on the case any minute now.
    Not like he’d been able to read since “it” happened anyway. Leastways, not anything for enjoyment. For the past five years he’d stuck tight to pieces about unsolved murders, burning the suspect images into his mind in case maybe, just maybe, he’d see one on the street and could help someone like himself. Worst-case scenario, he picked up a book like this one and pored over the crimes, thanking God at least Emily’s killer let her die the same day and not after years of torture.
    Small consolation. Em was in vet school at the Florida