Page 13 of The Raven
Blood dripped from his nose, a small trickle turning into a waterfall fromboth nostrils. When he coughed and blood sprayed from his mouth, I stood, grimacing, and not wanting to get his blood on me.
A wave of peace crested through me as life drained from his eyes.
Two down, four to go.
The GhostOf Raven Blackwood
The Cop
Instead of getting someverymuch-needed sleep, Iwas sitting at my breakfast bar poring over files I’d read at least a hundred times. If not more.
I knew Raven’s case better than I knew the back of my hand, andeven without the document titled,‘victimology,’I knew Raven didn’t have any biological siblings, let alone an identical twin sister. Yet, I scanned the documents in hopes that I would find something I’d missed every other time I’d gone through the paperwork; otherwise, I was going to have to admit something I didn’t want to.
I was seeing the ghost of Raven Blackwood.
Because the more I thought about it, the more convinced I was thatthe woman I’d seen outside Boogie’s apartment, and later hiding in the shadows of my kitchen, was Raven.
I would have recognized her anywhere.
I scrubbed my hand down my face, debating if I should call my doctorto ask for a psych evaluation, when my phone rang from beside me. Not bothering to check the caller ID, I answered it on the second ring. “Roberts.”
“Detective Roberts, it’s Carly,” the soft, familiar voice said at the endof the line. “I’m returning your call. We haven’t heard from you in a while.”
I slumped in my seat as guilt rushed through me. Work had kept me busy oflate, even before Boogie’s death.
“Yeah, work’s been…” I trailed off, ignoring the hint of accusation inCarly’s tone. It was none of her business why I’d been avoiding calls. “Are there any updates?”
“I’m afraid not.”
Of course there wasn’t. There wasneverany news.
I sighed. “Right. You’ll let me know if-”
“If anything changes, I promise you’ll be the first person we call.”
I nodded even though she couldn’t see me before muttering mythanks and hanging up. Less than five seconds later, my phone rang again. This time, I checked the caller ID.
Nick.
“Yeah,” I said as a way of greeting.
“Boss.” The solemnness of his tone instantly told me hewasn’t phoning with good news, and a lump of dread landed in the pit of my stomach. “There’s been another murder. Another Viper.”
“Who?” I asked, standing and heading to my bedroom to change out of theT-shirt and sweats I was wearing.
Shit.
Things were going from bad to worse.
“Zachary Wright.”
“Ziggy,” I replied, wedging the phone between my ear and shoulderso I could use both hands to put my pants on. “Same MO as before?”
“No, I don’t know what the fuck happened to him, but it isn’t pleasant.Looks like every single one of his blood vessels exploded within his body or something,” Nick replied, a grimace in his voice.
A trickle of sweat ran down my spine.
What the fuck?
