about the dangers of walking the streets after dark, but nothing would come out. My tongue simply wouldn’t work.
Damn! Whatever Aaron gave me was sure doing a number on me. I couldn’t utter a word.
Now I was pissed!
Uncle Aaron was so going to get it. In fact, I just might go so far as to have him arrested for pulling such a dirty trick on me.
It was one thing not to be able to walk right. That happened all the time whenever I had a few too many margaritas, but I couldn’t even talk, and that was something I wasn’t used to.
This woman was in danger! I was sure of it.
Sure enough, she turned down one of the alleys that would cut through to the pier. A moment later, I saw a dark figure follow her.
I willed my legs to move faster, but still felt as if I were walking through two feet of mud.
Her screams ripped through the night, which managed to send my heart into overdrive.
If I could just get to her, maybe I could save this one.
I did make it to the alley, but a little too late. Her screams had already died away.
He was leaning over her, slashing and ripping.
Strangely, I could see what he was doing, but I couldn’t see who he was. The thick - churning fog seemed to conceal him, as if by design.
And then he turned toward me. I couldn’t see his face, but I knew he was facing me.
He’d sensed me watching him.
Suddenly everything went black, and there was a crazy ringing in my ears.
Was this it?
Was my time up like Julius had hinted?
The darkness was gone and I was completely enshrouded in some kind of strange purple light. That’s when I realized I wasn’t dead at all, just half asleep. The light I was seeing was the light of predawn.
My first thought, aside from smashing my annoying phone, was that I had to apologize to Uncle Aaron.
I’d been so judgmental, though no one would ever know it but me. Still, I felt bad.
With my eyes still not working correctly, I leaned over to grab my phone. At this time of the morning, I wasn’t even going to bother with a polite, hello.
“If this isn’t a call to warn me of some kind of impending apocalypse, I’m hanging up.” I croaked into the phone.
“Sorry Izzy, but work calls.” Tim was contrite. “They found another victim. Ayden wants us at the scene as soon as possible.”
The haze of sleep lifted abruptly and my nightmare came back to me with such clarity, I was sure I’d somehow witnessed the latest murder while I slept.
“She’s a prostitute … and she has long auburn hair. It happened in another alley off Anchor, right?”
“I don’t know what color of hair the victim has, but she was discovered in one of the Anchor Avenue alleys,” he informed me.
“Okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can,” I told him before ending the call.
Sighing, I crawled out from beneath the blankets, cringing as soon as the chilly morning air hit my skin.
People had a tendency to get murdered at the most inconvenient times. It couldn’t have happened in the afternoon, when I was already dressed and it was warm. Nope, that would make life too easy for Izzy Cooper, and anyone who was living on borrowed time, shouldn’t have things that easy.
I was half tempted to throw on my robe and slippers and just go to work in my pajamas, but when I imagined Ayden’s reaction to such unprofessional conduct, and Sheriff Bourne shaking his head, wearing that amused but not surprised, expression on his face, I changed my mind.
It was already tough enough getting the townspeople to take my position as an FBI agent seriously, showing up in my pajamas was very likely to make that situation even worse, plus I might even get fired.
So it was off to my closet for some clothes, and then a quick pit stop to pick up a cup of coffee.
I really needed one of those quick brew coffee pots, the kind that brewed one cup at a time.
That was something to put on my shopping list.
To compensate for having such a terrible memory, I’d recently decided that throughout the week,