Angus stood. “Did you see any tattoos on her?”
“No, but we haven’t turned her over yet.” Tate shook his head. “You need to get out of here. I’ll send you the lab report when we get one, but then I’m done. As much as I like you, I don’t want to lose my job over this, especially because this isn’t Lassiter.”
Angus stared at the victim. He shook his head. “I don’t like the coincidence.”
Tate frowned. “What coincidence?”
Nari hadn’t spoken, but she’d turned pale beneath her smooth skin. “The redhead. First a Chinese woman and now a redhead. I’m Chinese, and another member of our team is Irish with red hair. Could be a coincidence, but it could also be some psycho playing with our team, Angus. Or what used to be our team. You did get a lot of press when Lassiter died, and a new crazy bastard might want to take up where Lassiter finished.”
It was possible, but every instinct Angus had told him that Lassiter was playing with him. “If I lose my mind, he wins,” he muttered.
Tate glanced his way. “Then don’t lose your mind. I saw the closed file on Lassiter. He died, Angus.”
“I saw it, too,” Angus said grimly. “There was a picture of him in the morgue, a record of his cremation, and a note that the ashes were given to the nanny who raised him. She signed for the ashes, spread them somewhere, and then died two years later.” He’d questioned everyone that woman had known, but she’d been a recluse. “Every ‘I’ is dotted.”
Tate sighed and wiped rain off his smooth head. “We have a killer, but it’s not yours. Yours is dead. Stop letting his ghost haunt you.”
Angus nodded, his head aching. “All right. Let me know when you want to interview me.”
Tate started. “Why would I do that?”
“The coincidence, Tate. It never really is one.” Angus took Nari’s arm and turned back down the dark trail, his gut churning and his temper slowly awakening. By coming out of seclusion, and by forming a team, he’d created targets for a killer. One was the stunning woman walking silently next to him. The HDD had just given him the perfect opportunity to protect everybody. He had to disband his team and put them in his rearview mirror for good.
Now.
* * *
Most of the drive was made in silence as the heat dried their muddy clothing. Nari turned off the interstate while the dog snored from the back seat and Angus sat quietly, his head back and his eyes closed. He hadn’t spoken a word since leaving the crime scene and she couldn’t think of anything to say. It had been terrible, and her insides felt hollow. How did he live with what he’d seen over the years?
She pulled into the parking area of Angus’s apartment building, which was just a few miles from their former office. The building was an eighties-style stucco with a clay tile roof, as out of place outside DC as it could be. The complex was massive and always felt empty. Most of its residents were DC and Virginia workers who spent little time there after work. No doubt Angus had settled for the first thing he’d found and then had never tried to find a real home. Would he ever create one?
He opened his eyes and stared at his building.
She stopped the car. “What’s your plan? Is the team going to meet here?”
“No.” His voice sounded off. “It’s not Lassiter, Nari. It might be somebody messing with the team, or the two victims and their appearances might just be a coincidence. But there are other people to investigate this case. I was involved only if it was Lassiter.” He sounded weary. Lost.
She swallowed and turned to face him, rain battering the windshield of her car. “Why the change of mind?”
He ran a hand through his still-damp hair. “Lassiter was obsessed with his victim type. No way would he alter that, even to mess with me. His mother was a long-legged blonde, and he hated her. His victims were all long-legged blondes and he’d never be able to tweak that.”
She nodded. “Agreed.” Maybe there was hope that Angus could find peace now. It was all she’d ever wanted for him.
“So, we’re out. Somebody else can find this psycho. I’ll agree to an interview just in case it’s a copycat trying to mess with me because I took down Lassiter, but then Roscoe and I are going home. Away from this damn city.”
At his name, Roscoe snorted and stretched in the back seat.
A pang hit Nari right in the chest. They were really leaving? She bit her lip. All this was too real. “I’ll miss the two of you.”
He turned then, his green eyes a laser in the stormy night. “Yeah. We’ll miss you, too. Do you want to come in tonight?”
She stopped breathing and her body short-circuited. Even her ears felt like they’d been singed. “Huh?”
He didn’t smile. Didn’t even smirk. His eyes burned with a predatory green fire. “I’m out of here, Nari. For good. I’m asking you if you want to come in for the night. One night. You and me. Just that.”
The temptation sparked her entire body to full attention. Just one night to deal with whatever this was between them. It hurt to think of him leaving, but it also hurt to consider that there was only one night. One chance for closeness with him. The words wouldn’t come, so she let her reactions take over. “I’m not a one-night stand type of gal,” she murmured, almost to herself.
“It’s not a one-night stand,” he returned, his gaze no less intense. “You know that. Even if it’s just one night, it’s you and me. It’s more than that, and I don’t understand it any more than you do, but you feel it. I know you feel it, too.”
