“That’s a woman taken every two to six years.” His jaw clicked.
“And none of them declared a homicide?” Zac asked.
“None.”
“In general, there are a fair number of disappearances of tourists in forests like the one here in Deep River,” Ryan said, voice grim. “People go missing in the woods. That, in combination with the time that passed between these events, made it easy for them to go unnoticed.”
Ethan nodded. “Exactly. But now we’ve had three women go missing, one of those found dead, in the last year.”
“That’s a huge escalation from the killer,” Joel growled.
Zac leaned back, scrubbing a hand over his face. “This is a fucking serial killer.”
“One that’s been around for decades,” Ryan added.
“What about this anonymous donor?” Connor asked. “Maybe this person figured it out and is sick of Ward not doing anything.”
“It’s possible.” Ethan looked at Maggie again, everything inside him telling him to stick close to her. “Ward might even be involved.”
“Or covering for the person,” Zac added.
“Can we get individual bios for each of the victims?” Ryan asked.
Ethan dipped his head. “Already done.”
“Don’t forget that the blood on the rock was confirmed to be Nikki Bishop’s,” Joel said quietly.
“Ward won’t like us looking into this,” Ryan almost muttered. “We’ll be shining a light on the shit job he’s been doing as sheriff.”
“I don’t care what he thinks,” Ethan growled. “Every time that man finds a body and doesn’t rule it the homicide it is, everytime a woman goes missing and he barely searches for her, he’s partially responsible.”
The door to Bloom opened and Gerome stepped in. He glanced over at Ethan and his team before smirking and heading their way.
Ethan locked his cell and leaned back in his chair, his muscles twitching, like he had to remind himself to stay the hell in his seat.
Gerome lifted a brow. “Hey, boys. What are y’all doing here?”
“Book club,” Ryan said sarcastically.
Gerome lifted a brow. “Huh. Which book?”
“You don’t strike me as someone who reads,” Joel said.
He scoffed. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“We know more than you think,” Ethan said quietly.
The next smirk from Gerome was almost taunting. “Like what?”
“You feel powerful, maybe even untouchable, because your father wears a badge,” Connor answered.
“You like to cause trouble because you have nothing better to do,” Joel added.
Ethan’s hands fisted under the table. “You start fires that you don’t think you’ll get caught setting.”
A ghost of a smile curved Gerome’s mouth. “Says a group of washed-up war junkies who think they know better than our long-standing sheriff.”
Ryan laughed. “There’s no comparison between your father and us. We actually give a shit about stuff.”
