Weddings Can Be Murder Read Online Free Page B

darkness. Another crash echoed close by. The hall ended at a heavy metal door that stood ajar. He gave the dark room a quick overview, tightened his grip on his gun, then stepped inside.
    Raspy breaths filled the darkness. Feminine breaths. Not that being female made a villain less vicious. Carl believed in equal opportunity. Hell, he’d been confronted by some pretty scary broads. And he wasn’t just referring to Mr. Logan in that pink nightgown.
    Sucking air into his tight lungs, he listened, hoping toget a fix on the person in the room, hoping even more they didn’t have a fix on him.
    After blinking, his eyes became a tad more accustomed to the darkness. He made out what he thought was a woman crouched beside a table. The sounds of her breathing grew intense—hyperventilating intense. Following the raspy sounds came whimpers, soft crying. He inched in. Smelled a flowery scent. Nice . His gut told him this wasn’t a villain, but another victim.
    Which meant someone else could be in the room.
    He shifted his gaze around. Too dark, so he depended on hearing. Finally, semi-satisfied he was alone with only a crying, perfumed female, he knelt in front of her. “Ma’am, I—”
    She charged him, and her head slammed into his abdomen. Like most of her gender, she was a hardheaded little twit. Carl landed with a thump on his back. The hyperventilating, sweet-smelling individual—definitely a woman—fell right on top of him. Soft curves and breasts pressed against him. For just a second, he let himself enjoy it.
    But all good things must end, and this one did as soon as all that softness started hitting, kicking, and clawing. Fingernails raked his jaw. Her knee shot up between his legs. Thankfully, she missed his balls and only connected with his thigh.
    He caught her by one shoulder. “Stop! I’m the poli—I’m here to protect you.”
    She stopped. He heard her inhale, backed by a sighlike whimper. But then came a scuffle from behind them and a loud squeak of metal on metal, followed by an even louder clank. It took Carl about two seconds to realize what had happened.
    Someone else had been in the room.
    That someone had shut the heavy metal door.
    That someone had set the bar on that fucking heavy metal door.

    “Shit!” He pushed the woman off. On his feet, he felt his way to the door, and sure enough, it was shut.
    Sure enough. It was locked.
    Sure enough. They were royally screwed.

Chapter Five
    As soon as he set the lock, Tabitha’s murderer took off down the hall. He didn’t breathe until he got to the front room, until he left the darkness and saw the blood. Lots of blood. His heart continued to race. His mind, however, calmed.
    He walked by Tabitha’s body, loving how the red appeared against all that white. White carpet. White suit. She wasn’t wearing a wedding dress, but the color was right. He loved how red looked against that pristine brightness. Blood against virgin white. A shame he hadn’t brought his camera, or a bouquet of flowers to set beside her.
    He circled the wedding planner’s body, humming “The Wedding March” to keep the laughter from echoing in his head. Tabitha wasn’t a bride. He hadn’t wanted to kill her, hadn’t needed to kill her the way he needed to kill the others. Just as he hadn’t needed to kill the other one. But…
    His gaze shot down the hall. It had been too dark to recognize her, but he’d checked her hand. No ring. She wasn’t one of his brides. But had she seen him shoot Tabitha?
    Probably. That meant he needed to kill her, as he’dkilled Tabitha, because Tabitha knew or thought she knew. She hadn’t figured out who was doing all the killing, but she’d told him her suspicions. He was proud of how he’d scoffed. Sometimes he really fooled people. They thought he was normal. Tabitha had thought he was normal. She’d even slept with him…but she’d have slept with anyone.
    He stared down the hall, humming. He would pretend she was a bride. Too bad he