“Please do,” Duke said.
Miles pulled out his phone without complaint and texted them some numbers.
“Miles, I know this is a strange question, but did anyone break into her apartment recently?” Andi asked.
“Break in?” He made a face. “No, I think she would have told me that.”
That meant this guy was changing his methods. Maybe he’d broken into Gina’s place with a plan to take her then. Maybe he’d changed his mind. Or maybe with Kate he hadn’t had time.
Either way, it wasn’t good.
Miles’s face paled. “Kate is always very careful. Something must have happened to her.”
Then his expression crumbled as he covered his face with his hands.
Duke closed the door behind them and followed Andi down the apartment building’s narrow front steps.
The air felt heavier than it should have.
The city droned around them—traffic, voices, the distant wail of a siren—as they reached the sidewalk.
Duke had just unlocked the SUV when his phone buzzed in his hand.
Mariella.
He answered without slowing. “You’re on speaker. Andi’s with me. What’s up?”
There was no preamble. No attempt at lightness. “They found her.”
Duke stopped short. “Found who?”
“The woman from Portland,” Mariella continued. “Jen Watkins. A hiker came across her body this morning. Her death . . . it’s being treated as a homicide.”
Every muscle in Duke’s body tightened. “How did she die?”
“I’m not sure. A press release just dropped, but the details are limited.”
Duke closed his eyes as he absorbed the news. “Let me know if you hear anything else.”
“Will do.”
He ended the call and looked at Andi. Her eyes darkened with a mix of grief and dawning horror.
“I can’t believe she’s dead,” she murmured.
“Me neither. This changes things.”
“Yes, it does.”
They were no longer racing against time.
They were chasing a killer who was one step ahead of them.
CHAPTER
FORTY-FIVE
Andi was still tryingto absorb the wordsa hiker came across her body this morningwhen Duke’s phone rang again.
