“You’re still our daughter,” my mother said with tears in her eyes.
“Not anymore,” I said softly. “I did what you wanted me to do. I found Mariposa’s killer, and he won’t be bothering anyone ever again, so you can leave now.”
My former dad opened his mouth to say something else, but the words never left his lips, as Gage dropped his arms to his sides and stepped forward without saying a word. “Come on, Meredith,” he muttered to the woman I would no longer think of as my mother. “We’re done here.”
My mom took a step toward the bed, glanced at each of my men before turning back to me. There was regret in her eyes, but it was too late. “I want you to be happy, Cherish.”
“I already am,” I replied. As the door closed behind them, I let my head fall back against the pillow. “Damn.”
Gage walked around the bed to my other side and carefully took my hand with the IV in it. He held it as if I were made of spun glass. “Are you okay, Cherish?”
I looked at him, then turned my head to the other side to see Dante and Ry, all wearing expressions of love and concern. Turning back to Gage, I smiled, a genuinely happy smile. “I am.”
We were eatingthe meal that Gage’s grandmother had put together for us. Mine was just soup, but it was delicious soup. Even though I eyed the french fries in Ry’s container with envy, I didn’t feel deprived. My headache was beginning to taper off, either from the slow healing process of a concussion or from the meds the nurse had recently come in to top off. Either way, my brain was no longer throbbing since my parents left.
As I was finishing my soup, a knock sounded at the door. We all glanced up as the door was pushed open and three people stepped inside. I smiled at Monique, then glanced at the other two who had been my teammates. I never got to know them, but they had always seemed like good people.
“Hey, guys.”
Monique stepped to the end of my bed with wide eyes after taking a look at the men who were keeping me company. She breathed out, “Girl.”
I held my stomach as the urge to laugh was too hard to hold back. I winced afterwards and sucked in a breath. “I know. Right?”
SA Garcia and SA Thomas stood back, looking slightly wary. “We came to say goodbye,” SA Monique Hanson said. “Now that two serial killers have been stopped, they no longer need us here. I’m assuming the Bureau has already been in contact with you?”
I nodded. Shortly after my parents left, I’d received a courtesy phone call from the man who had been in charge of our team. It hadn’t been a pleasant conversation, contributing to the headache I’d already been working on, but it hadn’t been all bad either.
I was on administrative leave, with pay, while my actions were under review. I would have to eventually go in person for a formal statement regarding the two deaths. Still, I was also praised for saving Melanie Jackson. I wasn’t expected back in Virginia until I was healthy enough to travel, but Dante already informed me I wouldn’t be going alone.
“I’ll be back in a couple of weeks to give my formal statement so the cases can officially be closed.”
“I’m so sorry, Parker. I wish I’d seen that man for what he was.”
I shook my head. “That’s what serial killers do, Monique. They hide in plain sight, fitting seamlessly into society. Walker had been a new FBI agent back when he killed my sister. No one ever caught on, even back then, when he was actively murdering women.”
“It just feels like I’m a failure for not seeing it,” she sighed.
“What about Morris?” I asked. “Who was the woman from his past?” It had been one of the questions that I never solved while looking all that time. It had eaten away at me that I didn’t know.
Monique grimaced. “It was his older sister. He grew up in upstate New York. He grew an unhealthy obsession with her. When she started dating, he grew increasingly unstable. When he caught her having sex with her boyfriend in her bedroom, he lost control. He killed them both in a jealous rage. His parents covered everything up. They reported that someone had broken in and killed them. They staged a home invasion and everything.”
“Wow,” I said, shaking my head. “If they’d let him get taken in, he might have gotten the help he needed. All those women would still be alive.”
“And a baby would still have her mother,” Monique said sadly.
“Yeah.”
Thomas spoke up. “I hate to say it, but our plane is leaving in an hour, so we’d better go.” He turned to me. “It was great working with you, Cherish Parker.”
I grimaced. “You all know my name, don’t you?”
“Girl,” Monique laughed. “It was on your badge. Everyone knows your name.”
“I thought I covered it,” I pouted.
“You had. But that little piece of paper slipped out of place ages ago.”
“Damn it.”
