face was chalk white. Her lips were parted, and she struggled to speak. Another weak moan came from her.
“Call nine-one-one,” Joel barked at Chloe. “And don’t you dare leave this room!”
She shoved the gun back into her purse even as she grabbed for the phone. “Why can’t I leave?”
“Because she’s still alive. Because I’m holding my fucking fingers inside her to stop her from bleeding out. Because the attack happened just minutes ago. If it had happened longer than that, she would already be dead. That means the bastard is still here.”
Chloe took a step toward the doorway even as she dialed nine-one-one.
“Don’t,” Joel snarled at her. “Don’t you face him alone. Stay with me. Don’t make me choose between protecting you and saving her.”
She put the phone to her ear. “I thought we agreed last night that I could protect myself…”
“Chloe…” Joel warned.
“Nine-one-one, what is the nature of your emergency?”
The killer was out there. Could be close. Had to be close. Dammit. Chloe slammed the bedroom door. Locked it. Secured herself in that room with Joel and the victim. “A woman has been stabbed.”
“Barely missed her heart,” Joel called out. “Profuse bleeding. Victim is in shock. Pulse rate is—”
“She’s very bad,” Chloe added. “There’s a lot of blood and we think the attacker is still somewhere close by. So if you could please send help very, very quickly, that would be appreciated.” She rattled off the address. “Thank you.” She swung back around toward Joel.
The woman—Judith—stared at up him. Tears streamed on her cheeks.
“Stay with me,” Joel urged Judith. “You’re going to be fine, you understand me? Stay with me.”
Blood was on his hands. His wrists. His forearms. The blood was everywhere.
Chloe swayed. Her breath panted out.
The blood was everywhere because Joel had put his fingers into the vicious stab wounds on Judith’s chest.
Wake up, wake up! A scream echoed in Chloe’s mind. It was a mistake! I want to take it back. I want to—
“Chloe!” Joel thundered. “Chloe, I need you!”
She blinked.
Joel was there. Joel and all the blood.
“Wh-what can I do?” Chloe managed to ask.
Chapter Twenty
The stretcher burst out of the house.
Cedric grabbed Chloe and hauled her to the side. Judith was on the stretcher. Joel was straddled on top of her—working furiously and calling out orders to the paramedics as they wheeled Judith and Joel toward the back of the waiting ambulance.
Chloe’s breath came faster as she stared at Joel. She tried to ignore the stickiness on her fingers. The blood that wasn’t dry on her yet.
The back doors of the ambulance were slammed shut. The siren screamed.
The ambulance raced away.
“Why were you here?” Cedric asked softly.
Another car had just arrived on the scene. A way too obvious black SUV. Surprise, surprise, Agent Richardson shoved open the driver’s side door.
Someone was always late to the party.
“Chloe.”
She glanced at Cedric.
“You’re very pale. You’re not going to pass out on me or anything, are you?”
Her chin notched up. “Absolutely not. I can’t believe you’d even suggest such a thing.”
“Right.” He paused a beat. “Why were you here?”
“We were following a lead.”
Richardson was slithering closer.
“What kind of lead?” Cedric wanted to know. He caught sight of Richardson and shifted a bit closer to Chloe.
“Judith was a former librarian for—”
“She was the high school librarian for the championship winning Pirates, right, Chloe?” Richardson inserted, voice as nasally as ever. “And you thought she could tell you about the men who’ve been killed.”
“The thought did cross my mind, yes.”
“You’re slow.” He shook his head at her. “I was here yesterday talking to her, and, hate to break it to you, but she had nothing to add to our investigation. The dead men didn’t exactly hang out in her library.”
“Well, considering that someone came in today and tried to shove a knife in her heart,” Chloe returned as frost slid in her voice, “someone must have thought that she did have something to add.” She raised one eyebrow. “Perhaps you simply didn’t ask her the correct questions. You’ve done that before, you know. Asked the wrong questions. Made the wrong assumptions. And innocent people paid the price.”
Cedric whistled.
She knew that whistle was a warning to her. He was trying to tell her to watch herself before she went too far. But she wasn’t in the mood to heed warnings. Blood was on her hands. It was sticky and cold now, and it reminded her far too much of things that were better left forgotten.
“Ah, Chloe…” Cedric had pulled out his trusty notepad.