Maximum Guilt (Hidden Guilt Book 2) Read Online Free Page A

Karen.
     
     
     
     
     
     
     
    Chapter 3
     
    Miranda lay down on the couch to take a nap. I was glad she decided to crash there. I was hopeful that Stacy had left something that could help me track her down behind. I went upstairs to my room to see what I could find. I scoured the room for her laptop, but she must have managed to grab it. There were clothes and other things I needed to rid the room of before I would feel comfortable bringing Miranda back into the fold, so to speak. I didn’t want her to hurt any more than she already had. She’d definitely been through more than enough.
    Miranda’s return was bittersweet. Having her back was an answered prayer, but in return, I’d lost my little princess. I heard my cell phone ringing on the table.
    I reached down to answer. “Hello?”
    “David, it’s me, Wilcrest.”
    “Hey, Cap. What’s up? Tell me you found Karen and its over.”
    “I don’t even know where to start, David. I got some boys over at Stacy’s . . . you know, Lisa’s place trying to get a bead on where she’s run off to. So far we’ve come up empty-handed. I mean, we’ve found a lot of things here but nothing that indicates where she may have run off to.”
    “I have some things to clean up here while Miranda is resting. I’ll be another hour or so here then I’ll be over to help.”
    “I got even more bad news for you, David. One of the officers called in a possible homicide. I haven’t been out to check on it yet. If I had to guess, Stacy left a going-away present for us. The vic is almost an exact match to Karen. Height, size, weight—”
    “I got it,” I said, cutting him off. “Goddamn it, I got it!”
    Was Stacy just reminding me who she was and what she was capable of? Or maybe it was Karen. I felt directly responsible for her kidnapping in more ways than one. In bringing Stacy into our lives and our home, I’d allowed her to be in this position. With all the murder cases I’d worked, all the years of experience, there should’ve been no way that could happen. But I’d allowed her beauty and sexuality to cloud my judgement. I was overlooking things that a detective with half my experience would have noticed. Sometimes we overlook the most obvious things. Stacy pushed all my buttons; she played me. They say love is blind, but I guess lust is, too.
    “I gotta run, Cap. I’ll see you soon.”
    “Wait, David. One more thing. There’s a new case that’s probably going to need your attention—as soon as we find Karen, of course.”
    Like I really needed one more thing right now, especially another case to solve.
    “Whatcha got?”
    “Well, John Blake— the John Blake—turned up dead last night. Both hands sawed off along with . . . that. Yes, that . Someone calling herself the Widowmaker. Smeared some of his blood on the wall, threatening there’d be more to come. Quite a bloody mess she left behind. Doesn’t feel like a random murder scene.”
    “Everyone knows Blake loved strippers and strip clubs. He try to stiff somebody? Maybe a pimp or bodyguard take him out and use some Widowmaker moniker as a cover up? Where’d they find the body?”
    “Motel. Manager called it in. Of course the room was paid for by Blake in cash.”
    “We download security videos?”
    “Already did. Got nothing. We see a girl walking in but can’t tell anything else about her. The footage is too grainy.”
    “Blake at a strip club last night?”
    “We asked around, but all the nightclubs said no sign of Blake all week.”
    “Doesn’t mean he wasn’t there. Doesn’t mean he didn’t meet her at one before, either. That’s probably where the connection was initially made. Send some boys over to his favorite clubs. See what they can turn up. Gotta be a girl who Blake spent a good amount of time with somewhere. Heartbreakers is one minute away from my house. I’ll take that one. Call me later.”
    It wasn’t uncommon for me to be juggling multiple cases at once; actually, it