Almost as if she could sense his stare, Riley turned her head and waved.
Ah, baby.
“Why the fuck did this guy have her old medical records, D?” He demanded to know.
“Because Hayes was Riley’s doctor when she was shot.”
Eric’s stomach dropped. “What?”
“You didn’t know? I mean, I sort of assumed you’d seen...you know, since you two are...anyway. Riley was shot in the shoulder the same day her old partner was killed.”
“Yeah, I know.”
He’d seen the scar on the back of her right shoulder many times before. Had brushed his lips across the puckered skin there, kissing it and thanking God for not taking her away from him that day.
I nearly lost her before I ever got the chance to love her.
“Let me get this straight.” Eric rubbed his free hand over his jaw. “You’re telling me, Gregory Hayes, the man who’s raped and murdered fourteen women, was her fuckingsurgeon?”
His eyes returned to where she stood. Knowing the bastard had been the one to cut into her made him physically ill.
“Pretty fucked up, isn’t it?” Derek confirmed the unthinkable. “I don’t think it was a coincidence that the killings stopped after Riley was shot, either. I mean, they picked back up in Colorado and Wyoming a year and a half ago, so who knows what that was about. Maybe the asshole couldn’t control his twisted urges. Either way, Hayes was on staff at a hospital in Denver when those other killings took place.”
Eric’s teeth ground together so tightly, he was surprised they didn’t turn into powder.
Gregory Fucking Hayes.
It was always good to know the name of the man you were about to kill.
“There are still a lot of unanswered questions,” Derek continued. “But at least we have a name and a face.”
“Speaking of that, send me everything you’ve got. I want to get a good look at the bastard’s face, so I know exactly who we’re dealing with.”
“Already done.”
Right on cue, Eric’s phone dinged with an incoming email.
“Thanks, D.”
“We’re close, Eric,” his brother offered. “You and Riley hang in there, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll call when I know more.”
Derek ended the call and Eric immediately tapped his screen to open the email. The first thing that popped up was a picture of Dr. Gregory Hayes.
The man looked normal. Nice, even.
His light brown hair was cut short and styled just-so. His blue eyes oozed intelligence, and the man’s overall clean-cut look made him like any other guy you’d see walking down the street.
Maybe that’s why he chose Ted Bundy’s name to create his alias. The case was before Eric’s time, but from what he’d read, the infamous serial killer had been described in the same way he imagined Hayes would be.
Good looking. Approachable. Charming.
Bile rushed to the base of his throat as he thought about this man touching his Riley, and Eric had to physically work to keep the contents of his stomach down.
Setting the phone onto the counter, he grabbed the edge of the sink and drew in slow, controlled breaths as he stared out the small window.
