Taking a deep breath, Sean let it out slowly.“Yeah, well, no other woman has ever had me thinking long-term before.And shit, it’s been just over a week since she showed up at the beach house, and I’m already thinking about asking her to move in with me.I’ve never wanted to live with a woman before.”It was true.But one night in bed with little Gracie Whitman had told him what he’d already suspected—he would never get enough of her.
His brother grinned broadly.“And another Malone brother bites the dust.I just thank God it isn’t me.”
Chapter16
Sean sat down at Jessica Daly’s desk and shuffled through the piles of paperwork with gloved hands.Beside him, a computer forensics tech was packing up the reporter’s hard drive to take back to the BCI office to look for evidence.Another tech had already picked the lock on a cabinet in the reporter’s cubicle and had begun loading files into a cardboard evidence box.The sheriff’s judicial contact had come through and issued the search warrant before the name of the killer’s latest victim had leaked out.Daly’s bosses weren’t happy—seemingly less so about their employee’s death than the fact the police were confiscating everything that might be relevant to solving her murder.Three men glared daggers at him from across the huge newsroom filled with cubicles, where they’d been herded out of the way by a uniformed deputy.
While the Malone brothers were at Daly’s office, Lynch and Rafe had headed to her condo to execute a search there.Sheriff Griffin was currently at the ME’s office.They all hoped that since the killer had deviated from his usual victim, he’d screwed up somewhere along the line.
Brian approached, carrying several evidence boxes.Whether the newspaper liked it or not, everything in and on Daly’s desk and file cabinets was coming with them.
Tugging on the top kneehole drawer of the desk, Sean found it locked.“Anyone have a spare key?”he asked the men standing with the deputy.
When they stated they didn’t, Brian handed him a lock pick set that’d been in the inside pocket of his sports coat.Sean raised an eyebrow at him, and his brother shrugged.“Haven’t met a reporter yet that doesn’t keep their contacts under lock and key.”
It had been a while since Sean had picked a lock, but this one was easy, and he had it open in under a minute.Pulling open the drawer, he saw the usual pens, paperclips, and other paraphernalia.Further back was a small stack of mail.Picking the stack up, he shuffled through the envelopes, pulling out the contents of each, trying to find a clue on how Daly had become the killer’s latest victim.It wasn’t until he reached the second to last envelope that he got excited.“Brian, look at this.”
His brother whistled as he read the newspaper lettering pasted onto the plain, white printer paper.“Sounds like we might have finally found a kill scene.”
Sean grabbed one of the clear, empty evidence bags and placed the note and envelope inside it.He quickly jotted down the date, time, and location the letter had been found on the outside sticker of the bag.Standing, he instructed the techs and deputy to finish packing everything up, then headed for the door with Brian on his heels, ignoring the multitude of questions thrown at them from Daly’s bosses.
Twenty minutes later, they were in Sean’s vehicle on an industrial driveway, which was in desperate need of repair, and he grimaced every time he hit a pothole in his Mustang.
Next time we’re taking Brian’s truck, damn it!
The uneven drive took them about three-quarters of a mile through a thick grove of trees and shrubbery before opening up to a large expanse of property.
“Fuck!”Brian barked, and his brother’s stomach plummeted at the sight that greeted them.There were over a dozen fire trucks, an ambulance, and three patrol cars already on the scene.Whatever the factory had looked like a few hours ago was long gone.In its place was little more than a huge pile of charred and smoldering ruins.
Just as they were about to pass a rotting sign with the former cigarette company’s name on it, Sean slammed on the brakes, which earned a “What the fuck?”from Brian.
“Look.”He pointed at the sign that was on the passenger side of the road.There was an 8″ x 10″ brown mailing envelope attached to it with “Federal and Local Pigs” on it, spelled out in large, cutout letters.Everyone else had probably been focused on the fire and missed it when they arrived.
Climbing out of the passenger seat, Brian pulled out his cell phone and took a few pictures of the sign for evidence, then donned a pair of disposable latex gloves he always carried in his sports coat.He retrieved the envelope and the two thumbtacks holding it to the sign and returned to the vehicle.Sean grabbed a clean evidence bag from his glove compartment and held it open for his brother to drop the tacks into.Not that they expected to learn anything from them, but you never knew when something would break a case wide open.
Brian then lifted the unglued flap of the envelope and slid out the contents.It was a piece of white printer paper similar to what had been used for the note they’d found in the reporter’s desk.This one also had cutout newspaper letters used to spell out the message.
I took care of the bitch reporter.Now back to the sluts.Someone has to rid them from society.S.S.
Flipping it over, the state trooper saw it was blank and sighed.“That’s it?Well, the ME was right—Daly must have pissed in his cereal.‘S.S.,’ I assume, is for Seaside Strangler.At least we know he likes the moniker Daly gave him.Let’s go talk to the fire chief, although I doubt there’s any evidence left.”
Unfortunately, Brian was right.While there were sections of the huge building that hadn’t been completely burned to the ground, there were no signs of a murder scene in them.An accelerant had been used, and the fire had been burning for a while, starting in the early morning hours, before someone had reported the smell of smoke two miles away.It had taken some time before the source had been discovered as the sunrise finally made it possible to see the black and grey smoke rising from the building.
It was an hour after they’d arrived that Brian and Sean left the scene in the hands of the Arson and Crime Scene techs to sift through the debris for any evidence that might have miraculously survived the flames.And once again, they were back to square one.
Two Weeks Later…
While her new employee, Tim, ran an ultrasound wand over a patient’s knee, Grace laid a moist heat wrap on another patient’s shoulder before jotting down progress notes in their respective files.The small-business gods were smiling down on her.She had feared it would be weeks before they had more than ten patients, but Pro-Care had been open for over a week, and they already had over a dozen referrals from local doctors.At this rate, they would be running at near full capacity in no time, and hopefully, within six months, she’d be looking to hire a third therapist.
Up front, the new receptionist, Dana, greeted someone who had walked in the front door, but when Grace heard Sean’s voice, she peered around the half-wall.It was still before noon, and she hadn’t expected to see him until later.“Hey, come on back.”
Her heart began to pound as he strode into the large room.They had spent almost every night together since their first official date, and each time she fell asleep in his arms, she’d fallen more in love with him.Sean Malone was everything she remembered and more.He was strong yet tender.Smart yet funny.Companionable yet dominant.And sexy as all fucking sin.
When they were in the same room together, the attraction between them seared the air.And between the sheets, it exploded.Yes, some might say it was fast, but in reality, they were old friends who had reunited—they had a past, as innocent as it had been.Now, she was looking forward to a future with him.
His smile didn’t quite reach his eyes when he leaned down to give her a quick kiss hello, mindful of being in her place of business.She knew he was stressed with the murder case he was working on, and yesterday’s discovery of another victim hadn’t helped.This one had disappeared after leaving her job as a waitress in one of the local strip clubs two nights ago.Her body had been found near a dog park.Sean had spared her the details, but from what Grace had heard on the news and the haunted look in his eyes, she knew it was worse than she could imagine.
He kept his voice low so as not to be overheard.“Hi.Just had to get out of headquarters for a bit.My car kind of steered itself over here.Must have known how much I needed to see your pretty face.”
