I know those looks they’re giving her and they’re trying to analyze her from her appearance. I can’t help to see how Celeste looks at Monroe, though. As if she thinks that we were some secret and we got caught. Before I can say anything, she bolts past them and disappears. Fuck, I have some explaining to do and she’s not someone I want to lose over a misunderstanding.
“Is that the mystery woman? She’s hot!” Beckett wags his eyes.
He shoves past me without even being invited in. Of course he would think she’s hot, ‘causeshe is. And she’s mine.
“She looks like trouble and by the way she looked at our badges and back at us, she looked nervous to be around the law,” Monroe speculates with a distasteful look.
I gesture for her to follow Beckett. Might as well, since my morning seems to be ruined of all joy I’d received earlier.
“Or, she was caught off guard by the unexpected visit by two broadening assholes. Don’t look into it, being around the law enforcement doesn’t bother her. She wouldn’t be with me if it did.” I roll my eyes, shutting the door behind them before I follow them into the kitchen.
“Or, she thinks you’ll protect her since you’re a special agent. She looks familiar but I can’t put my finger on how.” Monroe leans over the counter getting lost in thought.
Wait, why the hell are they even here? Beckett knew I had a date last night and it’s my day off. They rarely come over and it’s really convenient that they drop by after I had a date, however long it’s been. Nosey asses.
“Everyone looks familiar to you. Our boy is getting laid, let it be, girl,” Beckett chimes in having my back.
Opening the fridge, I pull out a water bottle, unscrew the cap, and take a long swig. My dick is still hard from the way Celeste seduced me while getting dressed and it’s really hard trying to hide the bulge in my pants. Luckily they haven’t noticed yet or else I wouldn’t hear the end of it.
“So are you going to tell me why you’re here?” I round the island quickly, taking a seat on one of the barstools.
I shift to tuck in my erection, praying it goes down and they don’t notice it. They fucking owe me one after this.
“We’re friends, aren’t we? Can’t we come by on our lunch to hang out? The office was stuffy and someone decided to take a day off.” Beckett heads over to the fridge, no doubt to see what he can scrounge up.
Not that I have anything good to eat, I’m barely home. I practically live off take out, coffee, or protein drinks. It’s a miracle that I’m in good shape. I do however hit the gym daily so I guess that evens it out. Beckett must have realized that he’s not going to find anything good since he shuts the fridge with a grunt.
“We’re friends, yes. Just unexpected, that’s all. Any news on the autopsy?”
“Actually yes, there was. They found flakes of skin under her fingernails. DNA came back as Oliver's just as we suspected. We’re waiting for the warrant from the judge to search the property and make the arrest.” Monroe picks at her nails.
I fucking knew it. Something about that guy didn’t seem right and the way the pastor had protected him makes me think he has something to do with it. But why’s the judge taking so long to approve the warrant? That explains the need for the girls to repent and naming them as sinners for the industry they work in.
“We also found out more about his family. His father was a pastor and his mother worked secretly as an escort trying to scrape any extra cash to make ends meet. A pastor’s salary back then was very minimal, barely keeping a roof over their heads. One day, his father found out about her sinful actions and beat the shit out of her,” Monroe comes forth with the new information.
“For a holy man, he became sinister. Oliver had witnessed all the ways his father tortured his mother and eventually, her body couldn’t handle it anymore and she passed away. The neighbors found Oliver holding her lifeless body and his father was arrested and died shortly after being hanged in prison. Oliver was orphaned but due to his lashing out, he was admitted to a psych ward. I was able to hack into the sealedfiles. I still can’t figure out who or why they were sealed but I’m assuming he did it to keep his identity a secret. Now we’re waiting on the judge to sign off but he’s on vacation until tomorrow,” Beckett adds in taking a bite from an apple he found.
Even if the judge returns tomorrow, we’ll be lucky to get it faster than a week. They have no sense of urgency whatsoever.
“Were you able to find any priors for him? The series of events that he started here can’t be the first time he’s done this. He’s covered his tracks up to this point and he knows way too much about making sure he cleans up after himself and hacking into our systems. He was a little sloppy with this one, maybe because he was excited for his work to be displayed or because he’s panicking because of our visit.” I think back to his body language when we questioned him at the church.
I doubt he performs his tortures and killings at his cabin. He was too eager to allow us to search his place. He knew we weren’t going to find anything and it would clear him of any suspicions we may have had. The woman who came forward to us seemed nervous, scared of him. She didn’t feel safe with him there and I wonder if the rest of the community felt the same. The looks we got were of fear, but was it fear of us or that we wouldn’t take him away?
“I think he got sloppy trying to prove that he’s one step ahead of us. He cleaned the rest of her body or used gloves but didn’t expect her to fight back and dig her nails into him. Almost like she knew she was going to die, but gave us something to find him. He didn’t clean under her nails because he simply forgot or the adrenaline from the kill and display was too high,” Beckett says, thinking aloud.
“I was wondering why he had targeted dancers but it makes more sense now. They display their bodies for money and his mother was an escort, giving her body to make cash.He watched his father’s abuse and it was drilled into his head how evil it was. How Satan was behind that line of work, tempting and luring people to them. He wants to cleanse them thoroughly and make them pray for forgiveness, and if they don’t admit that what they’re doing is wrong, he sacrifices them to God to give mercy to the world. It’s rather sick,” Monroe finishes off with her theories, which makes sense to his madness.
We sit in silence for a few moments, letting all the information sink in. Who and where will his next victim be? Will we be able to blindside him with the warrant before he can move to the next one. We finally have the identity of our unsub, but my question is, why is a jawbreaker shoved down their throat? Maybe for theatrics or his signature? Something that would give him a name and become the famous Jawbreaker?
Rather than going back to work, we spend the next couple of hours at my place. We order some food and go over the files I have in my office along with the new information they found. We pull up photos of the community and maps of the land to see how far apart the homes are and the cabin that’s furthest away from the others. My phone rings, breaking the silence, startling the shit out of us.
“This is Solace,” I answer after noticing the director's name on the screen.
“Is Monroe and Beckett with you?” His hurried voice echoes through the phone.
“Yeah, they stopped by on their break, why?” I ask, looking up at the two with confused looks.
“There’s been a break-in. I know you’re off duty, but I need the three of you to get down there.”
