I froze. "Chip!" The word was distorted by the gag.
"That's me." He nodded, a smirk spreading across his face.
Everything crashed down on me. I closed my eyes and shook my head, as if it would snap me out of this nightmare. But when I opened them, the Bayou Butcher still stood in front of me.
I was about to be his next victim. My body convulsed, doing everything possible to try to get free of the ropes. I screamed with fear and anger, the two mixing as I pulled and tugged, ignoring the pain as the ropes sliced deeper. Luke watched, the corners of his mouth turning up as I struggled until I couldn't catch my breath. The entire time, his hand rested in the same place, feeling my heartbeat.
"As I'm sure you've figured out, Caroline, this isn't my first rodeo." He hitched a thumb toward a tray of knives laid out neatly a few feet away.
Tears streamed from my eyes as I silently pled with him to let me go.
"Oh, it's too early for tears. I haven't even begun yet." He stepped back and roved my entire body with his gaze. He cocked his head to the side. "See, I'm used to a certain type of woman. Hookers. Rough sorts. You, though. Look at you. Smooth skin. No nasty sores or pockmarks. Not a mark on you. You take care of yourself. A perfect blank canvas."
I shook my head.
He nodded in response. "Accept it, Caroline. I've been watching you. I know your roommate is gone. He won't be back until next weekend. I checked. No one will even know you're gone."
He pulled my phone out of his pocket. "I already texted Terrell to let him know you'll be staying at your mom's place this weekend. So even if he does come home, he won't expect to see you. I'll keep on texting him now and then, until Monday when I dump your body and the phone, too."
It was true. Everything he said. I would be missing for the whole weekend before anyone really got suspicious. Terrell wouldn't send out an alarm until I didn't show up to work on Monday. My tears burned. I'd be long dead by then.
Luke reached back and grabbed a knife, twirling it in his palm. I couldn't tear my eyes from the movement.
"I admit." He chuckled. "I shouldn't have chosen you. But the moment I saw you, I knew I had to own your soul. I will, when I'm done, you know? I'll own you. First, I'll make you scream. I'll decorate your skin with my art." He tossed the knife in the air, the light glinting off the smooth surface before he caught it by the hilt. "Then I'm going to get a taste." His eyes went to my pussy, and I did everything I could to close my legs. I couldn't. I was bare and open to him. "And then I'm going to slit your throat and collect your blood for some later indulgences of mine. The rest you don't need to worry yourself with. Suffice it to say, no one will ever suspect poor, sweet Luke of having anything to do with your disappearance. No one saw me. Just some nondescript man in a baseball cap, if that."
Terror seeped into every cell in my body. My breaths were sharp and shallow. He was going to kill me. I had no escape. I struggled again, my body refusing to give in even though I knew all was lost. When my muscles ached and my hands and ankles went numb, I crumbled, hanging in the dead air.
"I saw it." He smiled and walked to me before putting the tip of his blade at my nipple. "Right then. You just accepted it. I can smell it when they do. When they realize everything I've said is true." He ran the knife lightly down my breast, the stinging pain putting everything else into sharp relief. "Look at me, Caroline. Keep looking at me." He drew the blade to his mouth and licked my blood from the silver metal. "Let's begin."
Chapter Twenty-two
WASH
I had tried Caroline's phone a dozen times on my way back to town. No answer. I finally gave up and called Toby to see if he knew what happened to her after the autopsy.
"I don't know where she is, but I can assure you that you've royally fucked up with her." Toby's voice was stern.
"What?"
"She was upset. Said she's going to put in her notice today, and I know you're the reason. What did you do?"
"Shit." I gripped the steering wheel until my knuckles turned white. For a split second that morning, I'd thought I'd heard someone in the hallway when Trent was giving me his fraternization lecture. It must have been Caroline, and she'd likely heard the part about how I agreed to fire her. But if she was upset, she must not have heard the rest. Fuck.
"She didn't give me details, but you need to fix it, asshole."
I stomped the accelerator even harder. I had to get to her, to explain. "Do you know where she is?"