Her Fatal Valentine, Part 3

If you’re just joining us, you should know that Not Your Usual Suspect authors are treating our fans to an eight-part mystery round robin. It started on February 4, so it’s easy to get caught up!

We continue our Valentine mystery round robin with Part 3 of Her Fatal Valentine by Janis Patterson

“Well, what do we have here?” A tall, indubitably male form filled the door to the kitchen.

Lauren stared, unable to believe her eyes. Not him. Not here, not now.

Not again.

Lauren looked down slowly, almost hoping that Kyle would sit up and laugh, gleeful that he had pulled off another practical joke on her. He did crazy things like that sometimes, but never anything this realistic.

But this was real. Kyle was really dead. That was real blood.

And the man in the kitchen door was coming closer, a sardonic smile on his face. Lauren wished she could just run away, but her feet wouldn’t move.

“Come back to see your handiwork?” he asked in slow, measured tones.

“Hello, Detective Carter.”

“Interesting to see you here.” He stopped just beyond the dark pool of Kyle’s blood. A solidly built man, he looked as if he had once played football. His hands were large and slightly scarred, and they kept clenching as if he wished to reach out and grab her. “You’ve even beaten the crime scene guys.”

“Who did this?” Lauren was dismayed at how shaky her voice was. “I don’t want to be here.”

“But here you are,” the detective said, and extended a hand to her. “And I want to talk to you.”

With ease he stepped around the crimson pool and pulled Lauren to the edge of the porch.

“You’re hurting my arm,” Lauren said.

“Just want to make sure you don’t run away,” he returned easily, but released her arm. “Now what are you doing here?”

“Kyle invited me to dinner. He said we were going to celebrate tonight.”

“Celebrate what?”

Lauren shook her head. “I don’t know. He said I’d understand when I got here.”

“So you’re the one he laid out all the flowers for.”

“Flowers?”

“Yep, and a fancy table service too. And you’re sure you don’t have any idea why?”

Lauren shook her head. The thin wail of a siren sliced through the night. It clawed at her nerves.

“I’d like to sit down, please,” she said tightly and made a move toward the house.

Detective Carter grabbed her arm. “Sit on the steps. I don’t want you contaminating my crime scene.”

Obediently Lauren looked down, only to see the bloody impression her shoes left on the concrete. Kyle’s blood. Her shoes.

Her control broke and she began to scream. Kyle was dead and Detective Carter believed that she had killed him. He just couldn’t believe she had killed anyone – not again.

So who killed Kyle? And why? Why does the detective think Lauren might have killed him? What is their history together? Has Lauren killed before? Keep checking back with Not Your Usual Suspects blog to find out!

 

Our Valentine mystery round robin continues with Part 4 of Her Fatal Valentine by Jean Harrington on Monday, February 11