Don't Look (Pike, Wisconsin #1) - Alexandra Ivy Page 0,16

to witness my splendid achievement. It wasn’t ’t like the first time. Or even my second time. I wasn’t nervous. Or lost in my fury. No. I was calm. That’s the only way to truly savor my justice.

Sherry hadn’t changed, Rudolf. She was just as revolting as ever. Ah, but she tried to hide it. She pretended to be confused when she saw me. Then she acted as if butter wouldn’t melt in her vile, nasty mouth. Like she could make me forget her sins.

Then there was her fear.

The magnificent fear that was so thick in the air it seeped into my skin. I can still smell it.

My only regret is that I didn’t wait for her to wake. It would have been sheer perfection to watch the life draining from her eyes. The bitter old cow.

But practice makes perfect. And I already have my plans in motion.

Tonight, I’ll meet with my prey. She has no idea she has been selected to participate in my . . . Hmm. What should I call it, Rudolf? It’s not a game. Perhaps a quest. Yes, I like that. My quest for vengeance.

She believes she’s meeting the man who she’s been chatting with online. People are so gullible. I put up a profile with the picture of some handsome jerk, and presto. She couldn’t wait to be lured away from her family.

I’m going to take my time punishing her.

I promise you, it will be epic as her crimson blood stains the pure white snow. Life spills from warm to frozen. Don’t look. The pain is gone.

Randi with an i not a y parked her vehicle in the empty lot behind her flower shop. It was nearly ten o’clock, but no one would question seeing her flashy red car. Over the past few years Randi had discovered more and more reasons to linger at the shop. Anything was preferable to dealing with her daughter who’d gone from a precious baby to an obnoxious teenager, and her husband, who spent their time together bitching about the money she spent. As if it was her fault he’d stayed in his job at the paper mill instead of finding a position that could do more than pay the mortgage. If he thought she was going to live in squalor and wear clothes from a discount store, then he was even dumber than he looked.

Switching off the motor, Randi shivered. The snow had started to fall, filling the night with swirls of white. Sometimes it felt as if she was being smothered. Not an avalanche, but a slow, relentless blanket of suffocating snow.

She had nightmares about it.

How had her life come to this?

Once she’d been the most popular girl in Pike. She’d been dazzlingly pretty with her long, dark hair and big green eyes. And so sexy the boys would beg just to walk next to her in the hallway.

She’d assumed her position as homecoming queen would last forever.

Instead she’d married her high school sweetheart and had a baby before she’d even turned twenty. Since then her life had been on a downward skid straight to the gutter.

Okay, maybe it wasn’t the gutter. It was worse.

It was obscurity.

Squaring her shoulders, Randi climbed out of her car and scurried toward the back door of her shop. She’d deliberately chosen this location to meet her mystery man. She might be horny, but she wasn’t stupid. This was her territory, and not only did she have a security system, but she also had a loaded handgun in her office. If she got any hinky vibes, she was going to shoot first and ask questions later. She could always claim the stranger broke into the shop and she had to defend herself.

Reaching the door, Randi experienced a flutter of excitement. Her mystery date had been fascinating when they’d chatted online. Charming, funny, and properly appreciative of her opinions. A man who knew how to make a woman feel special. She desperately hoped he was as good up close and personal as he was on the computer.

“Please don’t let him be a loser,” she whispered, fumbling for her keys.

At the same time, she felt a strange prick on the side of her neck. She reached up, grabbing the object protruding just above the collar of her coat.

What was it?

She tugged it loose, then held it toward the nearby security light. She frowned at the silver tube. Where had that come from?

“Hello, Randi,” a voice drawled, but Randi didn’t turn her head to see