Phoenix Arizona

Phoenix Arizona

What would you do if you were told that you only had twenty-four hours with your mate? That’s what Matt Calico is trying to figure out. There is no way in hell he is going to allow anything to happen to his mate, but what can he do when it is fate who has decided their destiny?

Phoenix Arizona doesn’t really believe in love at first sight. He likes to party, but wishes deep down that he could find Mr. Right. When a hot and tempting man steps into the club, Phoenix knows he has at least found Mr. Willing.

Matt is investigating a serial killer. The problem is that his mate fits the killer’s profile perfectly. He fears Phoenix will end up dead and does everything in his power to stop his mate from becoming victim number three.

Can Matt save Phoenix from dying, and can Matt stop the legends from coming true? He has his work cut out for him if he wants more than twenty-four hours with Phoenix Arizona.

Genre:
Alternative (M/M or F/F), Paranormal, Vampires/Werewolves

Length:
36,376 words
 

Lynn Hagen

EVERLASTING CLASSIC

MANLOVE

Siren Publishing, Inc.

www.SirenPublishing.com

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A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic ManLove

PHOENIX ARIZONA

E-book ISBN:
978-1-62241-290-7

First E-book Publication: December 2012

Cover design by Les Byerley

All cover art and logo copyright © 2012 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

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Siren Publishing, Inc.

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Phoenix Arizona
 by Lynn Hagen from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

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PHOENIX ARIZONA

LYNN HAGEN

Copyright © 2012

Detective Matthew Calico took the steps two at a time to the second-floor apartment, wondering what he was going to find when he arrived at the crime scene. The ten eighty-four call—a dead body—had come in that a victim had been found murdered in one of the apartments in this building.

Matt knew he wasn’t going to like what he was about to walk into when he saw a rookie cop in the hallway tossing his cookies. He knew it was going to be bad. That was never a good sign.

Matt nodded at the crime scene unit as he entered the apartment to an array of uniforms standing around the room, either talking to other cops or standing there looking at the dead body. He spotted his partner, Valentine, standing off to one side, talking to one of the uniformed men. The medical examiner was also there, already diligently at work.

Matt cleared his throat, trying to get rid of the odor of death that was hanging in the air, threatening to make him queasy. He refused to end up in the hallway next to the rookie. He would never live it down if he got sick at a crime scene. But as Matt fought the foul taste in his mouth, he picked up a faint, underlying odor all around him and recognized that it was the same scent he had detected at the last crime scene.

Matt stored that information away for later.

As he crossed the room, he tried not to inhale too deeply. Matt always hated the way a scene smelled when it involved murder. The odor was a stench he could go the rest of his life without smelling and be a very happy man. The taste always seemed to linger, even after he left a crime scene.

That was one part of the job he truly hated taking with him.

Matt swallowed a few times, trying his best not to lose his lunch as he glanced down at the victim on the floor lying in his own pool of blood. The ME was examining the body as Matt stepped around Liza. She would fill him in just as soon as she was done with her preliminary findings.

The woman was nothing if not meticulous.

It was mid-August, and the windows inside the apartment were closed, keeping in the sweltering heat and making the dead body roast. With Matt’s sense of smell being on a higher level, he was about to join the rookie whether he wanted to or not. The smell was noxious and reminded Matt of raw meat lying out in the sun too long, in a Dumpster.

Valentine crossed the room when he spotted Matt squatting by Liza, shaking his head with his hands on his hips, a look of resignation on his tired face. “It looks like the same guy again. This is the second victim with his hands tied behind his back and on his knees, with his throat cut.”

Matt scratched his chin, wondering if investigating a serial killer was in his near future. If what Valentine was telling him was correct—and he didn’t doubt the seasoned detective—then he knew they were in for a gruesome case. Homicide was his job, his life, and a career he enjoyed for the puzzles it presented. But Matt always hated the bodies that came along with the puzzle.

He hated death.

But solving puzzles kept his mind working, and kept his life organized. And it kept him from going batty as well. He had one of those minds that constantly worked, even when he lay down to sleep. It never shut down and never shut up. Solving crimes seemed to be the avenue to take, but he hated the bodies—always hated the bodies.

Matt studied the victim. He could tell the man had been on his knees from the slight bruising on the kneecaps. He could also tell from the angle of the cut, the killer had been standing behind the victim when he sliced the poor guy’s throat. Matt knew he had seen one too many sliced throats when he could tell just by looking what angle the knife was held.

“Hey, hon,” Liza said with a wink as she rested her slim arms on her knees. “It seems we have another one.”

“It seems,” Matt mumbled as he wiped the sweat from his forehead with his shirtsleeve. “What can you tell me?” He glanced at the man’s body, giving it a quick once-over and seeing nothing that would help him. His skin was flawless, except for the clean slice across the guy’s throat.

The ME shook her head, pushing back a strand of dark brunette hair from her face with her arm. Sweat was glistening on her, in a fine sheen. “It’s hot as hell in here.”

Matt gave a short, tight nod. “Midsummer will do that. I’ll have a uniform open a window.” The place was sweltering. Matt wouldn’t mind a nice cool breeze right about now, but knew that wasn’t happening in mid-August. “What can you tell me about the body?”

Liza looked grimly at Matt. “Same MO as the last victim we found. It was a reach-around knife assault. The killer sliced open all the major blood vessels in the neck. The poor guy didn’t have a chance.”

After so many years as a homicide detective, Matt had grown a thick skin to the depravities of man, but it seemed no matter how many years he investigated murders, it always sickened him to see the young die. The guy lying in his own blood couldn’t be any more than twenty-one. He had been in his damn prime. It was a waste of life.

Matt took in the fact that the victim was of slim build with blond hair. It was the same description as the last victim. He almost bet that the guy lying before him had blue eyes as well. Matt wasn’t sure yet if the physical descriptions were going to be a pattern or just coincidence. Unfortunately he had a feeling the third victim, not yet murdered, would be the telling sign.

And there would be a third victim. He had no doubt about that. This was a serial killing. His gut screamed it at him.

Matt stood, walking over to Valentine. He unlatched the window and opened it, but the slight breeze that came through the window was just as hot as the room they were standing in. The apartment was a virtual oven.

“What do we have on the vic?” Matt glanced around, noticing that the apartment the body was left in was vacant. There wasn’t any furniture or anything else in the place to identify the victim. It looked like the place hadn’t been leased out yet.

Squatter? Maybe
.

“Nothing. This place wasn’t even leased yet. The landlord said it had been empty for about a month now,” his partner answered from beside him, giving voice to Matt’s thoughts. “The crime scene unit will let us know if they find anything, but from the looks of this place, I highly doubt they’ll find any clues. The killer is too thorough to leave any evidence behind.”

Valentine’s verbal confirmation only confirmed Matt’s suspicion. The victim either broke in or was brought here. Matt was going with the latter. He had checked the guy’s arms for any signs of drug use, but didn’t see any track marks.

So breaking in for a place to get high was out. Besides, Matt hadn’t seen any drug paraphernalia lying around.

He couldn’t tell if the victim had broken into the place to have sex either, but he bet donuts to dollars that this man wasn’t a prostitute. He would find out when the Liza examined the body down at the morgue if the victim had had sex anytime recently.