“Good morning,” I replied shyly. Ry ran his fingers over my back.
“We’ll let you escape this time. Next time, come prepared so you don’t have to leave.”
I tilted my head as I eyed him warily. “Next time?”
Ry smiled. “Bring your bag with you. There’s plenty of room here. No need for you to stay in the cabin.” The disbelief must have been obvious as I sat there frozen because he chuckled. “You’d better get moving, Special Agent Parker. Your ride will be ready to pick you up soon.”
Those words had me scrambling to get off of Gage’s incredible body. Likely to avoid any damage done to his still hard appendage, Gage lifted me effortlessly by the waist and set me on the side of the bed so I could slide my feet to the floor. I held onto his forearms longer than necessary, lost in my admiration of the way the muscles moved and flexed with the effort of lifting me. Finally snapping out of it, I quickly grabbed my clothes and bolted for the door.
A sharp rap on the conference door jolted me from the memory of running my hands over the thick veins of Gage’sarms. Everyone looked expectantly as the door opened to reveal a young officer, out of breath and wide-eyed.
“Another woman was reported missing this morning.” I shot to my feet, and over the commotion as everyone else jumped into action, I heard a vicious curse coming from the other side of the room.
“Where was she taken from? What information do we have?” SSA Walker started shooting out questions.
The officer shook his head. Then looked down at his hand, where he held a piece of paper. “Melanie Jackson, age 22. Left with a male from the Lazy 8 last night around eleven p.m. His description matched the one the other victim had given her babysitter.”
SSA Walker turned to the room. “Garcia, Hanson, head to the bar. Get that security camera footage. See if we can catch his face.” It was a long shot. From our previous attempts at scouring the footage, we’d found the guy seemed to know where the cameras were located. He also wore a hat pulled low over his eyes. After our last victim, every inch of footage had been gone over, but there wasn’t a clear enough shot to tell the unsub from any other Tom, Dick, or Harry in Selene.
“We’ll go too,” Ry said as he stood up. I glanced over to see him standing next to a clearly irate Detective Morris. I raised a brow, surprised at how angry he was. It was the first time I’d seen him show any emotion over the case. I didn’t think he had it in him to be pissed that another victim was taken so quickly. Ry shot me a look of concern before striding to the door, his keys already in hand.
I turned to my supervisor. “This is an extreme escalation of the timeline. As far as we know, he’s never taken two women so close together before.”
SSA Walker nodded, his jaw tight. “If he’s shortening his time between victims, he’s likely going to escalate the tortureas well. We have to find this woman quickly.” He turned to SA Thomas, who was standing on the other side of the long table. “We need to head to the victim’s home and talk to her friends and family. Find out if she’s been in contact with the unsub prior to last night.”
Finally, he looked at me as I stood there quietly fuming inside. During the entire time we’d been in the field, Walker had kept me practically locked inside this room, doing nothing but research on the town. The only time I’d helped outside of the police station was when we had combed through the surrounding area looking for sales on prepaid cell phones.
“Stay here and monitor the phones. If any new information comes in, call me immediately.”
He turned to leave, but I called out to him before he could walk out the door. “Sir, I can help look for Melanie Jackson.” He was already shaking his head. “I need you here, SA Parker. It’s too dangerous, and you don’t have enough experience yet.”
As I stood there with my mouth agape at his audacity, he was already moving out the door. “That mother fucker,” I seethed under my breath.
“Uh, ma’am,” the officer who brought us the information looked hesitant as he turned to watch SSA Walker step onto the elevator. “The woman who called in the missing persons report is on her way to the station to give an in-person report. If you’d like to talk to her yourself.”
I took a long look at him. He was young, probably in his first year as an officer with the Selene police force. I nodded my head. “Thank you, Officer Blake,” I said, eyeing his name tag. “I’ll be happy to talk to her.”
I followed him to the elevator and stepped on. We stood in silence as he stared at the wall, his shoulders straight, and his chest puffed out. I understood. The man also needed a task to make him feel important. Leading me to an interview room totalk to a potential witness had provided him with something important to do other than taking phone calls all day, which likely consisted of neighbor disputes and minor altercations.
When he held open the door to a small room for me, I smiled. “Thank you for your help, Officer Blake.”
He gave a brisk nod. “I’ll escort her in as soon as she arrives. It shouldn’t be more than a couple of minutes.”
I paced the small room for no more than three minutes when I heard footsteps, and a young woman, no older than twenty-two, stepped inside. Officer Blake gave me a nod, then began to shut the door, leaving us in privacy. “Officer Blake, I called out. Could you stay and take down all the information? It seems I left my pen and paper upstairs.” Blake’s ears turned red, but he agreed immediately.
“Of course, ma’am. Give me one moment to get what I need.” Then he rushed off. I knew he’d be quick, likely taking no more than thirty seconds before he’d be back.
I walked over to the woman and held out my hand. When she offered her own, it was shaking. I took in her appearance. Her pretty face was flushed and puffy from crying. Her blonde hair was a mess, as if she’d been swiping her hands through it repeatedly.
“Hello. My name is Special Agent Parker. I’m here with the FBI as a special task force to help locate and apprehend the suspect. Is there anything I can get for you? Water? Coffee?”
The woman just shook her head as she sniffled as the door reopened and Officer Blake slipped in quietly, holding a clipboard and pen. “No, I’m fine. Thank you for asking.”
“Why don’t we sit down?” I offered, keeping my tone gentle and soothing.
As we both took a seat, I noticed a box of tissues and held it out to her. She smiled gratefully as she grabbed several. “Thankyou. I’ve been worried sick all morning. This isn’t like Melanie, you know?”
“I understand. Can I ask what your name is?”
