Istared down at the notes I had been taking. For the last couple of days, I had been doing a deep dive into the town’s history, trying to find anything that would point out a pattern, any kind of thread I could pull that could indicate our killer had started young.
Many serial killers were murderers long before they established a modus operandi. Considering we assumed his first kill was a female relative, and we had placed his age between twenty and late forties, I had started combing through reports for the last thirty years. What I had found wasn’t what I expected.
There were a lot of missing persons from the surrounding counties. What didn’t match our current unsub’s profile, though, was that the missing people were heavily one-sided. Men. A whole lot of missing men. I was still digging, but it seemed the deeper I went, the more there was to uncover.
My notepad was full of names, and the number kept growing. There were as many as fifteen in one year. I rubbed at my forehead, already feeling a tension headache creeping in.I looked around the mostly empty room. Most of the people working on the case were gone. Two of my teammates had gone to the bar outside of town, where the last cell tower had pinged for a couple of the victims to talk to the owner. Ry and Detective Morris were dealing with an unexpected death that had been called in by a hysterical Amy Fuller.
The woman had checked herself out of the hospital and taken a taxi to the home she shared with Mark Shumar. I had to give it to the woman. She had planned to pack her bags and leave the man for good. A lot of women found themselves in an abusive relationship with a hard time escaping. Amy had resolved to leave for good, and I couldn’t help but feel proud of her for taking that step forward in her life. But it appeared Mark had done her a favor. It was probably the nicest thing he’d ever done for her. Finding the man who’d abused her and murdered their unborn child dead as a doornail at the bottom of the stairs was nothing but pure karma.
Only SA Garcia and SSA Walker were left behind in the room with me. Garcia was busy staring at his multiple computer screens, doing his magic with whatever tech stuff he was working on. SSA Walker was on the phone, trying to push forensics to work faster on the results.
I glanced back down at the growing list on my notepad, then pushed away from the table. SSA Walker looked up at me, an eyebrow raised in question.
“I’m going to get some fresh air really quick,” I said, gesturing with my thumb over my shoulder, then headed out the door without waiting for a response. I’d been doing everything I could to avoid being alone with the man. My hope was that he’d back off completely if I continued to show a distinct lack of interest in his pursuit. I wasn’t sure it was working, though. He still tended to pay me far too much attention compared to therest of the team. I was going to need to file a transfer request sooner rather than later.
Instead of going to the bathroom upstairs, I went straight to the elevator and headed to the main floor. After a brief detour to the restroom, I walked through the door and outside. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted fresh air. The room had been stifling, and the walls felt like they were pressing in on me. Research was tedious work at the best of times, but the results I was finding had me wondering what the fuck was going on around here. Something wasn’t right, and it had my senses tingling.
I sat down on one of the steps leading up to the police station and dropped down heavily. My mind wouldn’t rest, and that wasn’t helping my headache. Lifting my face up to the sun, I leaned back on my elbows and took a deep breath in before letting it out slowly. The sound of footsteps had me lowering my chin and squinting with one eye to see who was coming.
Spotting Ry, I couldn’t help the smile that spread instantly. It was the rude snicker that had my smile fading and a glower instantly taking its place. Ry turned to Detective Morris with a glare.
“Why don’t you get started on that report instead of starting more shit with our visitors?”
The guy looked between us, obviously wanting to say something, but just shook his head and snorted. “Yeah, whatever, man.”
Ry waited until Morris walked past me into the station before he took the couple of steps up to me, then sat down. Bumping his knee against mine, he smiled. “Hey, pretty girl. Whatcha doin’ out here all alone?”
I huffed out a laugh and lay my head on his shoulder, soaking in the comfort that his presence gave me. “Was working on a headache while working on this damn case,” I hummed. “Hey, do you know anything about a bunch of missing persons over thelast thirty years? Maybe even longer?” I asked. I was sure I felt his muscles tense under my head for the briefest moment, but I thought I must have imagined it when his tone was soft and relaxed.
“Actually, I think it’s been mentioned before. No one has made much of a deal about it, though, I don’t think. If I remember right, whenever they were investigated, the case was usually closed for one reason or another.” He looked down at me. “Why do you ask?”
I sat straight and sighed. “I’m trying to find out a connection to the past with this killer we’re chasing. He didn’t start with these women. The more I dug, the more I found all these missing person cases. It’s just weird how many there are in such a small area.”
“It’s a bigger area than you think, and people do stupid things,” Ry pointed out. “Hunting accidents happen where they get hurt and are never found. Hikers get lost. Grown ass adults run away to start new lives. Like I said,” he shrugged, “stupid shit.”
I nodded slowly. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” Still, it didn’t quite sit right with me. It felt as if there was a bigger explanation. I stood up and dusted off my pants. “I’d better get back in there before my supervisor starts looking for me.”
Ry stood next to me and rolled his eyes. “That guy is working my last nerve. I don’t know how you put up with that piece of shit.”
I sighed as we started walking inside. “He isn’t all bad,” I admitted. “He’s actually pretty decent at his job. He just seems to think that he has some sort of dibs on me or something.” I shuddered. “I don’t know how to tell him flat out that I’ll never be interested without compromising my job. You know how it is with careers like mine. They are male-dominated, and most of the time, it’s the good old boys club. If I complain, I’ll look like awhiny bitch. If he gets mad at me for turning him down, he can send me to some hick town in the middle of Nebraska. Either way, my career is over before it even starts.”
Ry looked like he wanted to punch someone on my behalf, and I knew who that someone would be if given the chance. “It’s bullshit.”
“It’s being a woman,” I pointed out. “Until things change, that’s the way it’s going to stay. Unfortunately, I don’t see a way out of this. All I can do is keep doing what I’m doing.”
Ry hit the elevator button with a little more force than necessary, then turned to face me. “And what’s that, Parker?” he asked with a raised brow.
“I’ve been telling him I don’t want to hurt my career by being in a relationship with my supervisor.”
“He didn’t take it well?”
I shrugged. “He seemed to. But then he basically implied that he could keep a secret and was willing to scratch any itches I had.”
It was actually kind of hot watching Ry get angry. His nostrils flared, and his fists clenched as we stepped onto the elevator. “That fucker.”
As the doors closed, I let out a gasp. I was suddenly pressed against the metal wall, and my mouth was covered. Ry was kissing me as if we had seconds to live, and my lips were the antidote. It was fast, hard, and passionate. I already ached for more, but was doomed to be left disappointed. As the doors opened, we were already standing two feet apart, Ry appearing completely at ease while I looked like I had just raced up a flight of stairs.
I glared at his back as he strolled away, his hands in his pockets. The bastard waswhistling.Grumbling under my breath about underhanded neanderthals, I made my way to the ladies’ room and took several minutes to calm my racing heart.
