Free Heart of the Witch by Alicia Dean Page B

you do if your wife was brutally murdered? What would you do if the light of your world wound up looking like this?"
    Phil slid the first photo away, revealing the one underneath. The same woman was there, except now she wasn't laughing. She was bloody and mutilated. She was naked and exposed, her pale flesh covered in burns and stab wounds.
    Whiskey and coffee churned in Nick's stomach, threatening to make a dash for the floor. "Where the fuck did you get a crime-scene photo?" he asked. His voice was as shaky as Phil's hand holding the picture.
    "Doesn't matter." Tears fell shamelessly down Phil's cheeks. "All that matters is that you stop him before he does this to another woman."
    Nick stared at the photo, unable to take his eyes away. He didn't know if he could stop the sonofabitch. But he knew he couldn't say no to Phil. He knew that no matter what, this case was his. He had failed at too many things in his life and lost everything that mattered. If he ever wanted to look at himself in the mirror again, he had to do this and had to do it right.
    He sighed and nodded slowly. Phil had accomplished his goal: Nick wouldn't stop until he or the Tin Man was finished.
----

Chapter Thirteen

     
    "You ever think about popcorn and coffee?"
    Nick looked at his tenant, Marvin the accountant, and wondered not for the first time what the hell the guy was talking about. "What about popcorn and coffee?" he asked, rubbing a hand over his face.
    "Why do they both smell better than they taste?" Marvin grimaced as he took a sip from the mug.
    "If you don't like coffee, then why are you drinking mine?"
    Normally, Marvin's visits were only a mild annoyance. Today Nick had to restrain himself from pulling out his Beretta and pistol-whipping the guy's skinny ass. Nick had just been heading out to see the Skyler woman when Marvin popped in. He could have told him he was leaving and to just come back later, but he'd actually been relieved at the delay. Now he was beginning to rethink that.
    Marvin shrugged. "I don't know, something to do?"
    " You may not have anything to do, but I was just leaving," Nick pointed out.
    The accountant's eyes widened, and his eyebrows disappeared into his bushy hair. "A case? The Tin Man, or a different one?"
    "How the hell do you know about my Tin Man case?" Nick hadn't meant it to come out so sharply, but he was one wrongly chosen comment away from a psychotic episode.
    Marvin's look of excitement changed to one of hurt. "I hear things." He shrugged. "What, was it a big secret or something?"
    Nick lit a cigarette. Marvin hated smoke. Nick hoped he'd hate it enough to get the hell out.
    It didn't work.
    "You know, I could help you." He sat forward in his chair, his pale brown eyes snapping with eagerness. "I could, like, go in and ask somebody questions or something. Nobody would ever guess I was a private eye by looking at me."
    Marvin wore his usual worn-out Nikes and a cheap gray sports coat over a ratty Def Leppard T-shirt. Nick wanted to tell him that no one would even guess he was employed , but he'd hurt the guy's feelings enough for one day. "If I come up with anything I need your help with, I'll give you a yell."
    Marvin's grin spread across his face, dimpling one pasty cheek and then the other. "Promise?" Apparently he hadn't heard the emphasis on if .
    "Yeah, I promise."
    "Thanks, man. I'll be right down the hall." Then Marvin left, waving smoke out of his face.
    Nothing was left to keep Nick from leaving, too. Nothing except the dread of seeing her again. Ravyn Skyler. Even worse than the dread was the anticipation. That was what really had him worried.
    The candle store smelled even better than it had the first time Nick was there. Before, the air had been heavy with some kind of berry scent. Today it smelled like cinnamon.
    The blonde, who he'd learned was Ravyn's sister, Sorina, greeted him when he entered. "Hello, sir. What can I do for you?"
    He couldn't stop his gaze from wandering around the