Free Humidity Rising (Romantic Suspense) by Amelia Rose

away.
    “Liza? What …? How …?” He couldn’t form a conscious thought at the sight of her standing there with the longest, thickest knife that he recognized as coming from Kristi’s kitchen.
    Before he could react, Liza shot forward, snatched Janie, and pulled her down the hall. She turned the child so she faced Wes, and now Kristi, as she appeared in the door. She placed the razor sharp edge of the blade against the child’s throat.
    She looked him square in the eyes. “First, I slice up the little brat, then your precious bimbo. Then it’ll be your turn.”
    Liza began to draw the knife across Janie’s neck and Wes felt something in his mind snap into action. He leapt at her. The next thing he knew, Liza was underneath him, trying to remove the knife from where it was stuck in his left shoulder. That was odd. He hadn’t felt it strike him. Still didn’t feel any pain.
    He heard Kristi scurrying behind him. “Janie? Look at me, sweetie. You’re gonna be okay. It’s not that bad. Come on. Let’s get you bandaged up.” Then the bathroom door was closed and he heard the lock engage as he pinned Liza to the floor on the opposite side of the hall.
    He reached for her head, grabbed a fistful of hair, and slammed her head into the floor. Her eyes went glassy, and it gave him a moment to reach for the knife in his shoulder. It was almost out when he heard her stirring. With a final yank, he released it just as she sprung up, hitting him hard enough to send him and the knife flying back toward Kristi’s bedroom.
    She was upon him before he could locate the knife. That’s when he saw that it was in her hand again, coming down for his throat.
    He twisted to the side, throwing her off balance, and she rolled a few feet back down the hall. As he regained his feet, she also stood and lunged at him.
    “You did this to me!” she screeched but something in her voice was off. She’d completely lost control of her faculties, that much was obvious, but it didn’t explain her tone. He didn’t have time to analyze it, either. She was coming at him, knife held high above her head.
    He stumbled backward, into the bedroom, trying to stay on his feet long enough to gain some kind of advantage over her. That’s when it came to him what he should do. He pretended to trip and fall then immediately rolled toward her, knocking her off her feet, and sending her reeling, face down, into the carpet. The knife flew from her hand, landing somewhere under the bed.
    Nimbly regaining his feet, he set upon her, knocking her head into the floor again. The carpet softened the blow only marginally, but it was enough for him to search for the knife. He hadn’t found it before she came to her senses again, but he was ready for her, and shoved at her chest.
    That’s when his brain recognized what was wrong, but not before it registered that several of the candles had fallen over.
    This wasn’t Liza! There was no softness he expected to feel where her breasts were located. But who …?
    “Andrew? Is that you, Andrew?”
    “So, now you know. Liza was my twin sister and you killed her. Twice!”
    “What do you mean, I killed her twice? I never harmed her.”
    “You killed every ounce of love she had for you. Then you shot her outside the Pizza Playground.”
    “I did no such thing. She was obsessed with me! And I never pulled the trigger on the gun!” He paused, catching his breath. He stared hard at Andrew’s face. “Wait a second. How did you know about Pizza Playground?”
    Andrew stood, his breathing labored, but couldn’t straighten completely. “When I got home from my job drawing blood at the county clinic, she’d taken her last sleeping pill. It wasn’t enough to kill her, but it was enough to make her want to die.”
    He wiped his face, smearing the makeup and giving him a freakish appearance. “She told me all about it, then went to get a razor blade to slit her wrists. That’s when I decided to make you pay for what you