Chapter 2
Her statement sparked a storm of agitation among the surrounding cops.
“What nonsense are you spouting?” A young cop shot back, his face flushing with indignation. “You’re a convict! How dare you slander us?”
“Slander?” Adelina chuckled softly. “You’ve only seen the body, but you’ve missed how the killer is using it to send you a message.”
She pointed to the victim’s wide–open eyes.
“There’s something in her pupils.”
Everyone froze in stunned silence. The coroner hurried forward with his tools.
Minutes later, his face turned chalk–white.
“Captain Alvarez, there really is something in her pupils!
“It’s a sequence of numbers… etched with micro–engraving technology.
“The numbers read… 9527.”
Every head turned toward Adelina.
9527 was Adelina’s prison identification number! The killer was communicating directly with her!
Franco’s heart plummeted like a stone. He seized her wrist in a vise–like grip, squeezing so hard it felt like her bones might shatter.
“You know the killer?
“What’s your connection to that guy?”
Adelina stared into his bloodshot eyes, brimming with suspicion and fury, and couldn’t help but find it bitterly amus- ing.
Three years had passed, and he hadn’t changed a bit. Whenever trouble arose, his first instinct was always to doubt her.
“Want to know?” She wrenched her arm free, her lips curving into a bitter smile. “Beg me.
“If you can muster some sweet words and plead nicely, I’ll tell you exactly who that guy is.”
The air thickened with shock.
The idea of asking the ice–cold captain of St. Louis’s finest to beg a prisoner was unthinkable!
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Chapter 2
“Adelina!” Franco ground his teeth. “Don’t push your luck!”
“Push my luck?” Adelina’s laugh was sharp as glass. “Captain Alvarez, have you forgotten? I’m just a lowly inmate now. I have no obligation to help.
“If you want me to spill, show some sincerity.”
Adelina regarded him calmly, as if he were a stranger to her.
Franco felt an invisible fist was crushing his chest, stealing his breath.
What he hated most was this facade of hers. He hated her eternal poise and how she always shut him out of her world.
“Fine.”
Just when everyone braced for his explosion of rage, Franco agreed.
Then, under the shocked stares of his officers, he bowed his head, cleared his throat, and gave a small bow, his voice deep and measured.
“Adelina, our investigation has hit a wall, and we desperately need your expert insight.
“Can you tell us now?”
Franco looked up at her, his eyes swirling with anger and reluctance, but beneath it all lurked some kind of fear even he hadn’t recognized.
A
He feared the truth she might speak, dreading its weight.
Adelina froze. She hadn’t expected him to yield so readily.
For a fleeting moment, she felt disoriented, almost wondering if his compliance stemmed not from the case, but from…
The thought was absurd, and she immediately shook off the ridiculous notion.
Whatever had existed between them was long gone.
“I don’t know who he is.” Her voice turned cold as steel. “But I do know who his next target will be.”
Franco’s head snapped up.
“Who?”
“The next one will be someone who could drive your entire department into a frenzy.”
With that, Adelina turned on her heel and walked away.
“Take me to see her.”
She hadn’t named names, but Franco understood instantly who she meant.
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