And the victims…the women…all with dark hair like Ivy.
“Cameron?” Ivy’s voice shook with shock.
Cameron’s face hardened. “You’re the one who looked so good in blood. Remember that day at your…your grandfather’s old PI office? That guy with the knife had cut you…you bled and bled…so beautiful.”
Bennett felt Ivy tremble beside him.
The sirens were louder. The other cops would be there soon. The nightmare would be over.
With more bodies left to bury.
“I killed for you,” Cameron said as he gazed up at Ivy. “You hated your father. He was always in your way. Always controlling you. I told him that I would take care of you, that he could step back, and you know what he said? To me?”
Bennett wanted to pull the trigger more than he wanted his next breath.
I’m the cop. I’m supposed to hold back.
But…
That bastard had hurt Ivy.
“Your drunken ass of a father told me I wasn’t good enough for you. That I couldn’t have you.” Cameron’s stare cut to Bennett. He smiled. “I was better than him. I hadn’t left you. I never would. So I just…I eliminated the problem between us.”
“You shot my father,” Ivy whispered.
“I put him out of his misery!” Brutal words.
“And all those women?” Bennett asked him, sickened. “Did you put them out of their misery, too?” He had a feeling there were so many dead bodies out there, courtesy of Cameron.
Cameron’s face hardened. “I killed the first one when Ivy told me our night together had been a ‘mistake’, that it wouldn’t happen again. Because we were such good friends.”
“You sonofabitch.” Ivy took a step toward Cameron. “I didn’t love you. I never loved you. I loved Bennett! It was always him!”
“No!” Cameron shook his head. Hard. “He didn’t love you! He screwed with your head. It was me, it was—” He lunged toward her.
Bennett shoved Ivy to the side and he fired his weapon.
Cameron’s body fell back.
“It wasn’t you,” Bennett said flatly. “Not even close, asshole.”
Ivy glanced back at him. He could feel the blood pooling down his back, and his knees were getting weak. He threw out a hand, holding onto the banister, even as he kept his gun pointed at Cameron. The guy was still breathing, so that meant Cameron was a threat.
One I need to end.
“Go unlock the front door, Ivy,” Bennett said. I want her away from Cameron. “The other cops will be pulling up any moment.” This will all be over.
“How badly are you hurt?” Ivy asked him.
“Not enough to kill me.” He’d make that a promise. “Get the door, baby, please…” Because he didn’t want her to see what would happen next. He’d rather Ivy not remember him this way.
She hurried off the stairs, skirted around Cameron, then rushed toward the foyer.
Bennett glanced down at the man slumped on the stairs. The dark-haired fellow who’d called Cameron his cousin.
The man who was glaring at him.
Yeah, I knew you weren’t done yet, either.
“You didn’t just kill the dark-haired women, did you?” Bennett asked him. “You killed anyone you wanted. That’s why the councilman was murdered. Cameron liked the women who looked like Ivy, but you just liked killing.”
The sick freak smiled at Bennett. “Sounds like…” He heaved out a rough breath. “You know me.”
“I do,” Bennett said sadly. He knew the man’s type exactly. A killer, through and through. A man who now thought he had nothing to lose.
I guess I missed his heart. Maybe because a screwed-up killer like him doesn’t have one.
The guy lunged up at Bennett.
He fired. Damn near point blank.
The bastard didn’t get up again.
Bennett kept his hold on the banister as he slowly made his way down to the bottom of the stairs. Then he leaned over Cameron, ignoring the pain that radiated from his back and ignoring the blood that dripped off him. He wouldn’t have long. Ivy would be back at any moment.
He put the gun to Cameron’s head. “She was never for you,” he said again.
Cameron’s eyes opened. He squinted, staring up at Bennett.
“You think you’ll play the crazy card. You think you’ll convince a jury that you were manipulated by whoever that dumb fuck was up there on the stairs.” Cameron’s cousin? Maybe. Bennett didn’t care who the guy had been. He knew exactly how this game played out. “You think you’ll get sent to some psych ward for a few months, maybe even a few years, but then you’ll get out again.”
Cameron’s lips began to curl.
Bennett pushed the gun down a bit harder. “You won’t. I’m not going to let you ever get near her again.”
Blood covered Cameron’s once perfectly white teeth. “You’re the cop. True blue…you can’t kill me like this.”
Couldn’t he? Without a hesitation. “You don’t know me. For Ivy, I would do anything.”
That smile of Cameron’s dimmed.
“You won’t hurt her again.”