“I don’t like the sound of that,” Duke muttered—and meant it.
“This email is from someone in Seattle,” Mariella said. “Sent three weeks ago. A woman reported a break-in. Nothing stolen. No signs of forced entry. Police chalked it up to stress.” She scrolled. “Three days later, she went missing.”
Duke straightened and continued to listen.
“And this one’s from Portland,” Mariella continued. “Different woman. Same pattern. Break-in. No evidence. She disappeared during a routine coffee run.”
Andi went very still. “So . . . potentially four women in three different states. But the sequence is the same.”
Mariella nodded. “That’s right.”
“Have any of them turned up?” Simmy asked, worry knitting her brow.
“Not yet.”
Silence followed—thick, unsettled.
“These cases didn’t stand out because no one was looking for a connection.” Matthew pushed his glasses up.
“And no one would,” Ranger agreed. “Different jurisdictions. Different circumstances. No obvious links.”
“But the break-ins,” Andi said. “And the timing.”
“And Gina,” Duke added. “Break-in first. Then disappearance.”
“And Portland,” Mariella said.
Duke felt the pattern tighten, the way a noose did when you finally saw the rope instead of the air around it. This wasn’t sloppy. It wasn’t impulsive. It was measured.
Ranger leaned back, arms crossed. “That’s a lot of coincidence.”
Duke didn’t answer right away. He needed to think.
Local police saw fragments. One report at a time. One scared woman. One missing person. They didn’t get the luxury of zooming out.
This team did.
“I don’t like how carefully spaced these cases are,” Duke said finally. “Or how they line up with cities we’ve been in—or are heading toward.”
“If this is one person, then he’s patient,” Simmy said. “He waits.”
“And he’s deliberate,” Duke added. “Which makes him dangerous.”
“So what do we do?” Mariella asked. “We can’t ignore this.”
“We don’t.” Duke looked around the table, meeting each gaze in turn. “We keep Gina front and center. We don’t dilute the focus. But we track these other cases alongside it—dates, locations, details. We build a timeline.”
“And the police?” Mariella asked.
“We notify the local departments,” Duke said. “And the FBI. This crosses state lines. It’s already beyond one jurisdiction.”
“I can handle that,” Matthew said.
As the meeting broke up and people filtered out, the room slowly emptied until only Duke and Andi remained.
She looked at him. “What are you thinking?”
“I’m thinking I don’t like this.” His jaw tightened as the words settled. “Someone out there is studying patterns. Testing limits.”
