The room felt smallerthan it had an hour ago.
Everyone was still crammed into Mariella’s hotel suite. They’d ordered pizza, and now half-empty boxes, laden with grease, sat on the coffee table. The smell of pepperoni and melted cheese mixed with coffee that had gone cold. No one was really eating anymore.
Duke leaned back against the wall, arms crossed, listening as the team talked through what they knew and what they didn’t.
Kate had disappeared. Most likely, the next victim.
That truth sat heavy in his chest.
“We need to stop thinking about this emotionally.” Duke’s voice cut through the room, calm but firm. “We need to think like him.”
Everyone looked at him.
“This is what we know,” he continued. “Jen was left in a secluded cabin. Alone. There were no witnesses to her abduction. The killer didn’t need to stay nearby. He just needed to stay long enough to make sure the game played out the way he wanted.”
Andi’s gaze sharpened. “You think he did the same with Gina?”
“I think healwaysdoes the same thing.” Duke pushed off the wall and stepped closer to the table. “He abducts his victims in one city, plays his game, and when he’s done he leaves and moves on.”
Matthew nodded slowly. “Which means he’s not improvising.”
“No,” Duke agreed. “He’s planned each step down to every last detail. He probably has his next victim in sight.”
The words settled over the group.
“He knows where he’s going next before we do,” Duke continued. “He’s always one step ahead.”
Andi exhaled. “So when we show up . . . we’re already behind.”
“Yes,” Duke said. “And he likes it that way.”
Silence followed, broken only by the hum of the air conditioner.
“And Las Vegas?” Ranger asked. “If we’re right, that’s where he’ll be preparing his next move.”
Duke nodded. “If he follows the same pattern.”
Andi’s fingers tightened around her cup. “Which means by the time we get there?—”
“He’s already finished setting the board,” Duke finished, his stomach churning.
Silence stretched a moment.
Then an idea hit Duke. “What if we mix things up and throw this guy off his game?”
“What do you mean?” Andi asked.
“What if we add a stop? Something unannounced. Something not on the tour schedule. We force him to react instead of control.”
Ranger’s eyes lit with interest. “Throw off his timing.”
“Break his rhythm,” Simmy said.
Duke looked at Andi. “He’s meticulous. Organized. He needs predictability. If we take that away . . .”
Andi didn’t answer right away. But the way she met his gaze told him she was already thinking three steps ahead.
For the first time that night, Duke felt the faintest shift in momentum.
