Possession Read Online Free PDF Page A

memory. The feel. The smell. And, most of all, the sense of utter peacefulness it had given him.
    And then it was gone. J’s fingers tightened slightly over his arm. Without thinking, Kiel placed his other hand over hers to help steady her nerves. It was like holding a warm rose.
    Slowly they walked down the narrow hallway, passing the second bedroom and bath, until they reached the back bedroom. It was pitch black, but Kiel could see his way as clearly as if it was daylight. J, of course, wouldn’t know any difference. They paused in the doorway as if he instinctively knew she would hesitate there.
    He kept his eyes on her face, on the expressions he saw flit across her skin and the surface of her eyes. She flinched twice, and her smooth skin appeared to grow paler.
    Suddenly she took a step back, and her fear was a taste of acid that jolted him. “Kiel. It’s still here,” she whispered hoarsely.
    “What’s still here?”
    “That thing.”
    “What thing?”
    She turned, pulling and tugging on him. “Get me out of here,” she begged. “Get me out of this place! We gotta go!”
    He ventured a quick look back at the now sterilized bedroom before taking her back into the living room, but it wasn’t enough. J had to be removed to the hallway before she stopped shivering. This time he didn’t think twice before putting an arm around her shoulder.
    Warm summer days. The hint of jasmine in the air. Bright blue skies and clouds shaped like animal crackers.
    Kiel had never wanted to bury his face against a woman as badly as he wanted to at that moment. Bury himself along her soft skin and hold her. Protect her.
    Lifting her face, J sniffed loudly and pulled out a tissue from her pocket to blow her nose. “I’m sorry,” she apologized in a low voice. “It got to me back there.”
    “What got to you?” Sam asked on the other side. They were leaning against the hallway wall, just outside the apartment.
    “The way those people died.” She looked over at Sam. “The room may have been cleaned and disinfected, but you’ll never be able to remove the taint that will haunt that place forever.”
    Giving her shoulder a little squeeze, Kiel gently asked, “How did they die, Miss Laurent?”
    Her face went even paler. “They were stabbed to death. No. More like punctured to death. Afterwards, their bodies were shredded. That one man, the one you found inside the closet, he didn’t die until he was torn apart.”
    Both men felt shock go through their systems. Kiel believed he was long past feeling anything, but her words, and the feel of her shudder beneath his hand, gave him an overpowering sense of revulsion.
    “The weapon, Miss Laurent. Can you give us a clue as to what was used as the weapon?”
    Good old Sam. He looked ready to spew, but he was determined to find out the specifics.
    “A-a piece of, umm, a piece of metal. About this long.” She held out her hands approximately eighteen inches apart. “Round, like a pipe, but without the hole inside. It was solid, like a gigantic piece of spaghetti. Oh, and it had curves on it. Grooves. If I felt one, I would recognize it.”
    Kiel wracked his brain for a weapon fitting her description. Of course, it was highly possible the killer had used an unorthodox weapon. Something other than a knife or tool.
    “Can you tell us anything about the killer?”
    “Yeah. You’re not going to like my answer, either.” Taking a deep, ragged breath, J told them, “The man you’re looking for is dead, just like you, Detective Stark.”
    * * * *
     
    God, she felt dirty. Filthy, slimy dirty, right through to the marrow of her bones. At any moment she felt as if she was going to heave, and it was by sheer force of will that she kept her lips pressed tightly together and prayed she didn’t. Otherwise it would make her appear weak in front of these detectives. It would make him think the worst of her. Like maybe she wasn’t cut out to do this kind of work. That she was no better