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The Killing Edge
Heather Graham
Chloe Marin was lucky. She was just a teenager when a beachside party mansion turned into a bloodbath.According to authorities, the killers were later found dead in the swamp. Chloe's not so sure. Ten years later, as a psychologist consulting with the cops, she gets drawn in to the disappearance of a swimsuit model. Everyone assumes the girl ran off for some fun in the sun—everyone but Chloe, who's been visited by the model's ghost.Someone else is interested in the dead girl: Luke Cane, a P. I. investigating the disappearance for her father. Chloe and Luke barely trust one another, but they agree on the important things—they will bend the law to catch these killers, and there is an undeniable attraction between them. When another mass murder occurs, Chloe's beginning to think her presence is no longer a coincidence….
Praise for the novels of Heather Graham
“An incredible storyteller.”
—Los Angeles Daily News
“Graham wields a deftly sexy and convincing pen.”
—Publishers Weekly
“If you like mixing a bit of the creepy with a dash of sinister and spine-chilling reading with your romance, be sure to read Heather Graham’s latest … Graham does a great job of blending just a bit of paranormal with real, human evil.”
—Miami Herald on Unhallowed Ground
“A haunted mansion, a crazed killer, and plenty of romantic tension … will give readers chills while keeping them guessing until the end.”
—RT Book Reviews on Ghost Moon
“The paranormal elements are integral to the unrelentingly suspenseful plot, the characters are likable, the romance convincing, and, in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Graham’s atmospheric depiction of a lost city is especially poignant.”
—Booklist on Ghost Walk
“Graham’s rich, balanced thriller sizzles with equal parts suspense, romance and the paranormal—all of it nail-biting.”
—Publishers Weekly on The Vision
“Heather Graham will keep you in suspense until the very end.”
—Literary Times
“Mystery, sex, paranormal events. What’s not to love?”
—Kirkus Reviews on The Death Dealer
Also by HEATHER GRAHAM
NIGHT OF THE VAMPIRES
GHOST MOON
GHOST NIGHT
GHOST SHADOW
NIGHT OF THE WOLVES
HOME IN TIME FOR CHRISTMAS
UNHALLOWED GROUND
DUST TO DUST
NIGHTWALKER
DEADLY GIFT
DEADLY HARVEST
DEADLY NIGHT
THE DEATH DEALER
THE LAST NOEL
THE SÉANCE
BLOOD RED
THE DEAD ROOM
KISS OF DARKNESS
THE VISION
THE ISLAND
GHOST WALK
KILLING KELLY
THE PRESENCE
DEAD ON THE DANCE FLOOR
PICTURE ME DEAD
HAUNTED
HURRICANE BAY
A SEASON OF MIRACLES
NIGHT OF THE BLACKBIRD
NEVER SLEEP WITH STRANGERS
EYES OF FIRE
SLOW BURN
NIGHT HEAT
And a new adventure begins
PHANTOM EVIL
A Krewe of Hunters novel
THE KILLING EDGE
HEATHER GRAHAM
www.mirabooks.co.uk (http://www.mirabooks.co.uk)
For family and friends in south Florida who make me glad that Miami has always been home, especially Graham, Franci and DJ Davant and my brand-new little nephew—
Mr. Davant at this moment!
And for Victoria Sophia, Alicia and Bobby Rosello—and Anthony Robert Rosello!
PROLOGUE
Silver.
It was the color of the night, of the light of the full moon seeping in through the open drapes in the living room.
As he entered carefully, mentally calculating the floor plan of the house, he marveled at the brightness of the night.
He stopped and stood over a sleeping young man, then hunkered down and studied the boy’s face. So young, bathed in a buttermilk glow, the silver of the night muted, warm and gentle.
He placed a powerful gloved hand over the young man’s mouth, then slit his throat, his sharply honed knife moving as smoothly through flesh as the fastest Donzi speeding through a calm sea. It wasn’t half as easy as it appeared in movies to slash a throat. Even with a knife as sharp as his, it took effort. And talent.
He had the strength, and he had the talent.
The boy made a slight gurgling sound, but that was it. Two feet away, crashed out on the floor, a young woman slept with her hands curled around a throw pillow. She hadn’t heard a thing.
He stepped closer to her.
His overwhelming impression as he stood there was of gold, the color of her hair.
He dispatched her to a more glorious world with swift, cold calculation, then paused to take a good look at her face. He held still for a split second, then told himself to move on. He had not yet achieved his objective. Of course, he wasn’t working alone, but still… .
He couldn’t trust anyone else not to screw things up. Not to mention that he was the one with a mission.
He paused again, going dead still. Silence. The house was filled with silence. It was time to make his point before finishing the mission. He dipped his gloved finger in the dead girl’s blood, then walked over to the wall, writing quickly so he could finish while the blood was still wet and glistening. There was still so much to be done.
A cloud slid over the moon, bringing pitch darkness in its wake, a blackness that ruled for a few breaths of time.
Black.
How apropos.
Because black was the color of his soul.
Red.
Dark, rich crimson.
The color spilled, deep and thick, over the white marble flooring.
At first, hidden beneath the king-size bed in the master bedroom, Chloe Marin was aware only of the richness of the color.
She was so frozen with terror that she couldn’t comprehend the meaning behind the flow, only the fact that it was red.
Time had no meaning, either. She didn’t know if she had wakened just a few seconds ago, or if a dozen minutes had ticked away. She’d heard something, some sound, as she slept in the beachfront mansion, and though it was enough to wake her up, it hadn’t scared her in the least. After all, the housekeeper was sleeping somewhere on the property, as were the two live-in maids, and there were at least twenty young people scattered around the house, ranging in age from sixteen to twenty-one.
David Grant, a big, burly football star, had passed out on the sofa downstairs, she knew. And Kit Ames, his girlfriend, had claimed the floor nearby. Even if it meant sleeping on the floor, Kit wouldn’t go far from David. She protected her turf with more ferocity than most of the players demonstrated on the field.
But then something, something too elusive to identify, had alerted her, as if her every sense had been attuned to the night. She’d sensed movement somewhere in the house. Not the natural movement of those who belonged, those who had been invited in. It was subtle, as if she had heard the slithering of a snake moving through distant grass.
She was sharing a room with two of the other girls, and at first both of them had appeared to be sleeping peacefully. But then she’d realized something was wrong, though she couldn’t explain how she’d known it. She’d tried to wake Jen Petersen, but Jen had been so deeply asleep that she hadn’t responded to her urgent whispers. She’d had more success with Victoria Preston, who’d just begun to rouse, when she had seen the man enter the room. He’d been all in black, wearing what looked like a black dive suit, including a tight hood that covered everything but his eyes and mouth. He hadn’t seen her or Victoria but had gone straight to Jen and stared down at her for a moment. Then, before Chloe could move, he struck.
She tried not to scream and clamped a hand over Victoria’s mouth. Jen’s bed was close to the door, so to get away they had to make it to the bathroom connecting their room to the bedroom next door. Amazed by how quickly her mind was working in the midst of panic, she grabbed Victoria’s arm and dragged her into the bathroom, slamming the door behind them.
Victoria started screaming then, and Chloe shoved her out into the hall. As Chloe started to follow, someone closed the door from the outside, leaving her no choice but to retreat to the other bedroom.
There was more than one stranger in the house, she realized.
More than one killer.
The bedroom door started to open as someone began dragging a body in. A big body.
Chloe quickly plunged under the bed.
The full moon suddenly burst through the clouds, spilling oyster-shell white light across the room through the gaps in the drapes.
That was when she saw red.
Crimson. Spilling across the floor.
Dripping from above her. From a body on the bed.
She tried not to scream and waited, listening. They were barely discernible, but she could hear footsteps. She stared into the room from her hiding place and saw that the killer wore clear plastic freezer bags over his feet. And his dive skin, appropriate for the balmy waters of Florida and the Caribbean, was sold by the thousands in the area.
Two killers, one in this room and one next door. Or were there more? Had Victoria made it down the stairs?
