Killer Among Us Read Online Free

lonely she was. She talked to
Geoff and customers at work but when she went home she had no one
for company other than Sassy.
    She raised her face to the sun, letting its
strong rays soak away some of her sadness. It was late when they
started back, and Sassy was restless. She kept moving in the tote,
and barking at people who passed by. Sophie knew it was because
they had stayed too late at the park and Sassy was hungry and
irritated but it didn’t make it any easier to hang onto her. At one
point she leashed her and tried walking her to see if that would
calm her down, it didn’t so she put her back in the tote where she
wriggled and yowled until they reached home.
    She fed Sassy and immediately afterwards the
canine curled up in her bed and went back to sleep. Sophie peeked
into her almost bare cabinets, looking for some dinner for herself.
Her kitchen was very small and so was her appetite so she had taken
to buying food on a day-to-day basis. Her cabinet held a packet of
Ramen noodles, a can of ravioli and a pound cake. The fridge had an
overripe avocado, a cup of pudding from her lunch the day before
and salad that had turned brown and limp.
    Giving up she took her keys and purse and
headed out into the darkness to buy food.
     
    ***
    Kane had given in. In his bedroom he toweled
his just showered body off and then dressed in black jeans, a black
t-shirt and his boots. He didn’t pack a bag for the club, telling
himself that all he wanted to do was watch, he had not ever picked
up anyone he didn’t know for casual play and he didn’t intend to do
so then. He just needed to reconnect, to be around others like
himself.
    He headed out, walking down the darkening
avenues, enjoying the smells of the city. He had grown up in
Austerlitz and had always longed for the excitement of the city. He
had never been sorry about the move; there was something about the
pulse of life there, something so raw and vital that it called out
to him.
    A young woman with a shaven head and tight
leather leggings strolled past him, her perfume making a sharp and
momentary exclamation in the air. Traffic gnashed and slowed and
the man at the stand selling roasted nuts waved a hand at him,
bringing the smell of sticky honey and almonds his way.
    Neon bounced and wavered, from the doorways
of restaurants people called out to each other, yelled at taxis or
simply let the warm and scented air out into the night. Men in
business suits carried on conversations with each other and
tourists stood gawking past the hot white lights blazing from the
storefronts to the expensive merchandise within.
    People drifted in huge shoals, and he let
himself be carried along. His thoughts refused to coalesce and he
didn’t force them to, he just walked and enjoyed the city.
    The club was inside a large warehouse that
had been converted for its use over a decade before. The door was
small, discreet, tucked into a wall. There were no visible signs
that anything was going on in there. He rang the bell and
waited.
     
    ***
    Sophie had decided to treat herself so she
had her dinner in a small and quiet Italian restaurant where the
helpings were huge and the bill reasonable. She pushed her plate
back, eyeing the scraped clean surface a bit regretfully. The
vegetable lasagna had been bursting with flavors she had never had
before: ricotta and zucchini and tarragon, the bread had been warm
and crusty and the salad crisp and tasty. She drank the last of her
coffee and paid her check, leaving a generous tip for her waitress,
who smiled at her in thanks.
    Out on the street she found herself
confused. She had been walking a bit aimlessly, and the restaurant
was not on a street she was familiar with. She went down a nearly
deserted side street, came into a dead end and backtracked her way
back to a major avenue that she knew.
    She had turned down a smaller street and was
nearing home when she saw him.
     
    ***
    He had made the kill three hours before and
he was weary and ready to