Free HEARTBREAKER by Julie Garwood

couldn’t stop herself from interrupting him. “You wrote down a man’s confession? You can’t do that. It’s against the rules, isn’t it?”
    He held up his hand to stop her. “I know what the rules are. I’m a priest, remember?”
    “You don’t need to snap at me.”
    “Sorry,” he muttered. “Look, I’m just edgy and I’ve got a hell of a headache, that’s all. This guy . . . all the while he was talking to me, he was making a tape.”
    She was astonished. “He recorded the conversation? Why would anyone want to tape his own confession?”
    “He probably wanted a keepsake,” Nick suggested.
    Tommy nodded. “So anyway, he must have gone right out and made a copy of the tape. We know it isn’t the original because of the whirling sound in the background,” he explained. “He dropped the copy off at the police station. Can you believe it, Laurant? He just sauntered inside and left it on a desk.”
    “But why would anyone go to so much trouble?”
    “He wanted to make sure I could talk about it,” he explained. “It’s all part of a sick game he’s playing.”
    “What’s on the tape?” She waited for him to answer, and when he hesitated, she demanded, “Tommy, just spit it out for heaven’s sake. It can’t be as bad as you’re making it sound. What did the man say that was so upsetting?”
    Her brother pulled his chair closer to hers before he sat down again. Taking both of her hands in his, he said, “This man told me he’s planning . . . he wants . . .”
    “Yes?”
    “He’s going to kill you.”

CHAPTER 5

    L aurant didn’t believe him, not at first anyway. Tommy recounted what the man had said to him in the confessional. She didn’t interrupt, but with each new detail she could feel her body stiffen. For a second or two, she was actually relieved that she was the target and not her brother. Tommy had enough to deal with now.
    “You’re taking this awfully well.”
    Her brother had made the remark in an almost accusatory tone of voice. Both he and Nick were waiting for her to absorb the information, watching her intently as though she were a butterfly trapped under a glass.
    “I’m not sure what to think,” she responded. “I don’t want to believe it’s true . . . what he said.”
    “We have to take the threat seriously,” Nick cautioned.
    “This other woman he talked about . . . Millie. He told you he killed her a year ago?” she asked.
    “He bragged about it.”
    A shiver ran through her. “But was her body ever found?”
    “He said he buried her deep, where no one will find her,” Tommy answered.
    “We’re running the name through VICAP,” Nick interjected. “Their computer system stores information on unsolved homicides that have been reported. It looks for possible matches. Maybe we’ll get a lucky break.”
    “I believe what he told me. I think he did kill that poor woman. He wasn’t making it up, Laurant.”
    “Did you see him?” she asked.
    “No,” he replied. “I ended it when he told me you were his next victim. I jumped up and ran out.” He paused to shake his head. “I don’t know what I thought I was going to do. I was pretty shook up.”
    “But you didn’t see him? He had already gone? How could anyone move that fast?”
    “He hadn’t left.”
    “He cold-cocked him,” Nick told her.
    “He what?” she asked, unfamiliar with the term.
    “He knocked me out,” Tommy explained. “He was waiting for me and he got me from behind. I don’t know what he used, but I’m lucky he didn’t crush my skull. I went down hard,” he added. “And the next thing I knew, Monsignor was leaning over me. He thought I’d passed out from the heat.”
    “My God, you could have been killed.”
    “I’ve taken worse hits playing football.”
    Laurant made Tommy show her where he’d been struck. When she touched the lump at the base of his skull, he winced. “It still stings,” he said.
    “Maybe you should let a doctor look at