Deadly Dreams Read Online Free PDF Page A

surveyed the spectacle. The near-orgasmic exultation from seeing what’d he’d wrought. “It might be part of his signature.”
    Something shifted in the detective’s expression, leaving it impassive. “Signature. You’re a profiler, then?”
    She rose, scanning the area. “All of Raiker’s investigators are trained in profiling, too.” Memory of the dream skated along the hem of her mind, and she sought to gather it in, to examine the details more closely.
    That had been the last thing she’d been thinking of when she’d wakened from it this morning. Although she had art supplies in her bedroom closet, she’d gotten out of the habit of keeping an easel in her room with fresh drawing pencils and paper to sketch the visual elements.
    The dreams had been gone for months. She hadn’t missed them.
    And although Risa was far from accepting this one as anything more than a subconscious mind bump, it was second nature to try and wring any useful information from it that she could.
    If it were the victim’s death alone that had so satisfied the watcher, a gun or knife could have been used with far less effort. Her shoulder throbbed, as if in agreement. No, his pleasure had been linked to the particular type of death he’d arranged. The flames had driven him delirious with delight, and he’d stayed as close to them as he’d dared.
    Like there was an affinity there. Not just a murderer, but also one who chose fire deliberately because it satisfied a need inside him.
    “It has to be death by fire,” she said finally. “And he needs to watch.” To experience it, deriving a sort of vicarious thrill from its kiss of heat on his naked flesh. One of the crime scene investigators was photographing the area. Another was sketching it. Two others appeared to be waiting for direction from McGuire. “What’d the crime scene techs turn up in the other two deaths?”
    “No wallets, but IDs were left nearby.” When she turned to him, brows raised, he said, “Yeah, just far enough away to be sure they weren’t destroyed in the flames. Whoever the son of a bitch is, he wants to make it easy on us.”
    His jaw was clenched, and Risa suddenly realized there was more going on here than a killer choosing arbitrary targets.
    “So you’ve established a pattern in the victimology?”
    Nate’s face was a grim mask. “Pretty hard to miss. If this one follows the same pattern, we’ll discover the victim is either currently on the job or he used to be on the force.”

Chapter 2
    Nate raised his brows at Risa’s shocked silence. “So if you have any ideas, I’m all ears. I figure Wessels is grabbing at any straws he can and that’s why you’re here. I don’t put a whole lot of stock in profilers—”
    “I’ve got more experience than—”
    “But you used to be a cop,” he went on grimly. “Maybe a more than decent one, if the chief is requesting you. So if your instincts haven’t been destroyed by all this profiling crap, maybe you have something to offer. I don’t mind admitting that so far we’ve got jack shit.”
    He seemed to have a knack for igniting her temper and disarming it in the next moment. It’d be difficult to recall the last time she heard a cop confess to a lack of direction in a case. So in the end, she ignored the slam embedded in the invitation. “You do like off-the-cuff assumptions, don’t you?” He’d made a similar demand of the ME, with a discernible lack of result. “Fine. You’re likely looking for a male. They make up eighty percent of arsonists, and those odds jump significantly when you figure in the statistics for serial homicide. Since the victims don’t seem to be chosen at random, the offender may be motivated by revenge.”
    Justice had been a long time coming. The snippet from the dream flashed across her mind. Ignoring it, she continued. “The manner of death will be specific to his signature, rather than his MO. The use of fire means something to him emotionally,