Dev frowned. “The contact and the rejection still make him a suspect.”
“Oh, he stays on the board for Anna Bellamy,” Alec clarified. “Not the earlier victims. He was living in Chicago.”
Rafe looked over. “You’ve confirmed that?”
“Working on it,” Leland replied. “But he’s too obvious. This isn’t our guy.”
Rafe studied the frozen frame. “He looks like a man who doesn’t like subs telling him no.”
“Which makes him an asshole, not necessarily a serial predator.” Alec crossed his arms, disgust clear in his expression. “Even if he’s not our unsub, he’s still a problem.”
“Which means,” Dev concluded, “we keep him on the board until we have someone better.” His attention shifted to Callan. “Do we have someone better?”
He shook his head. “There are hundreds of potentials. This is the only interaction with any of the victims I’ve found so far.”
Leland breathed out, frustrated by the lack of progress. Callan obviously needed a hand. He could lend an extra pair of eyes to the footage review during his free time, which would expedite matters. And it was a helluva lot better than tending bar.
“Rhys,” Dev said. “You’ve had time to study the case files. What’s your read?”
All eyes turned to him. He sat with his elbows on the arms of his chair, fingers steepled. Rhys’s expression gave nothing away, but Leland had seen that calculating pose before. He’d gone beyond just reading their target. He’d gotten inside his head and was about to cut through the bullshit.
“This isn’t rage or impulse,” he said calmly. “The pattern fits escalation. He’s selective. Likely well-connected in the community and fluent in the lifestyle.” His gaze lifted briefly toward the screen. “A dominant who people trust on sight.”
No one interrupted; everyone had locked in.
“He doesn’t stand out, preferring to blend in,” Rhys continued. “But he can be persuasive when it suits him.”
Gaby shifted uncomfortably, folding her arms as he spoke.
“People describe these women in similar terms,” Rhys said. “Quiet. Careful. Independent, but isolated. They’re submissive, though not blindly compliant. Like Anna in the video, they’ll say no if pushed too far. But he doesn’t want blind compliance. He wants someone who will exercise their choice.”
When he paused, Alec finished it. “Because that’s what he takes from them.”
“Exactly.” Rhys nodded once. “The hunt is the goal. The cruelty afterward is the reward.”
Gaby visibly shuddered. “I didn’t think anyone could be worse than Alvarez.”
Rhys reached out and covered her hand. She gripped it, her wounds still fresh. With Rhys’s help, they’d heal, but Leland knew firsthand what she’d been through. Scars like that faded but rarely disappeared.
Mateo swore under his breath. “Guys like this give sadists a bad name.”
Silence settled over the room as Rhys’s profile sank in. Leland could tell from their reactions that the plotting had begun.
Alec’s face hardened as he mentally worked angles and timelines for whittling down “hundreds of potentials” quickly. Gaby tapped her fingers against the table, already filing away the details, building the framework. Rafe remained motionless, watching the footage as if he could pull the answers straight out of the grainy pixels.
Leland’s stillness wasn’t tactical. Julia kept surfacing instead. Independent, yes, and willing to say no. She’d said it to him and showed him the door. A few months ago, he wouldn’t have characterized her as quiet. But now…
Maybe that was just around him. Yet another black mark to add to his tally.
He felt Dev’s eyes on him, clocking his tension, but said nothing.
“We need someone inside,” Alec said finally.
“Undercover?” Michael asked.
“Yes,” Dev answered. “Someone who can move through the circuit without drawing attention.”
“That’s a short list,” Boone muttered.
