We moved at the same time, coming together in a kiss that started with uncertainty, but quickly bloomed to something fresh and new and tantalizing. Kobe’s tongue fluttered against the seam of my lips. A whisper of permission. I granted him entrance—into my mouth and my world. His hands landed on my cheeks, fingers like ice, drawing me closer as he backed me against the car and kissed me with passion and surety.
I staggered, then surrendered, unable to do anything else. Kobe’s tongue, his lips, and the hard press of his body kindled a fire in my blood. In those few blissful moments, I forgot who I was and where I’d been, and for the first time in two and a half years, the sorrow and pain that lived in the carcass of my soul faded.
I was free. Reborn. Alive.
14
Kobe
Friday was hell.
Rue and I agreed to meet at the station at seven, knowing we would have a busy day ahead of us. Upon our arrival, Staff Sergeant Olivia Golding glared from across the bullpen, where she stood at a random desk, shouting into a borrowed phone. She pointed in our direction and motioned to her empty office. The message was clear.
Golding smashed the receiver onto its base, abandoned the desk she’d usurped, and joined us. She slammed the office door and sank onto her chair with a heavy sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose. “What a shit show. I haven’t had a coffee yet, and I’m already fielding calls from the press, the mayor, and the goddamn university president. Have you IDed the third victim?”
Golding was in her early fifties, a harsh woman raised under the strict thumb of a military father. She ran a tight ship and could be lethal if her subordinates didn’t obey her command. Since I was not her favorite person, I often deferred to Rue whena case brought the attention of our superior, doing all I could to fade into the background.
“Yes, ma’am,” Rue said. “Our most recent vic is twenty-two-year-old Ford Carrigan.”
“And who knows this?”
“No one, ma’am. It was after one before we left the scene. We thought it prudent to wait until morning to inform the parents.”
“What else?”
“I ran his license last night from the car and managed to put together a rough profile. Ford Carrigan was a former university student in the accounting program. He started the same year as our second victim, Jesse Vargas, and we have reason to believe they were acquainted. Ford dropped out a couple of years ago. He was employed by Scotiabank. No record. We’ll know more once we chat with friends and family.”
I had no idea Rue had done all that after we’d left the crime scene. She’d been pissed at my comment, so I wasn’t surprised she’d gone off on her own to work, sending me home. If she wasn’t mothering me, she treated me like a bratty younger brother who was always underfoot. The previous night, my behavior got me sent to bed early.
Golding shifted her attention. “Nothing to add, Haven?”
I shook my head.
“Former student, you say?” Golding frowned. “What the hell was he doing on campus?”
“No idea,” Rue said. “Two students found him in the quad at around nine thirty and phoned it in. They didn’t know him. The university’s vice-president, the provost, and a secretary in charge of legal affairs showed up along with a few professors. By then, the area was cordoned off, so no one was able to get close enough to identify the victim.”
“You sure?”
“I’m confident.”
“Has the press caught wind of his name?” I asked, eyeing my boss.
“Not yet. That was one of their questions. I told them they would know soon enough.” Golding rifled through loose papers on the desk. “Is the family local?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Rue read the address from a tablet. “Informing them is a priority.”
“Good. I don’t need to tell you how serious this case just became. The headlines are already talking about a campus killer. That tells me they’ve linked your victims. You need to keep things tight from here on out. If you need extra hands, I’ll find them. Keep me abreast of everything that’s happening.Everything.You hear me? Do not talk to anyone. The minute the family knows, call me. I’ll schedule a press conference and do what I can to control the narrative. Find this guy.”
Sergeant Golding’s icy gaze flicked from Rue to me and back. “Yes, ma’am,” we said in unison.
“We need to get to the bottom of this and fast. I don’t want any more bodies. Go.”
Rue and I landed at our joined desks to solidify our schedule for the day. The bite in my partner’s tone suggested she was still angry. Fine, I shouldn’t have said what I did, but facts were facts. Evidence was starting to show that these men had lived despicable lives.
Dominique seemed to get it. Why couldn’t Rue? I wasn’t condoning murder, but if you ran into a busy road, you were going to get hit by a car eventually.
Rue ordered me to make phone calls. After informing Ford’s parents of his death, we planned to talk to an administrator at the university. Knowing Ford and Jesse were partners in crime at one time was our biggest red flag, and we needed to get to the bottom of their indiscretions and learn why the school hadn’t done anything.
