Page 71 of Her Wicked Hero

“I have some information regarding Raymond,” Dalton said. Dex handed him a file and Dalton reached in and pulled out a photo he handed to Marcia. She tilted it so Zed could see it. The picture showed Raymond with his arm around a petite blonde woman and another couple at the beach near Dana Point.

“This is Felix Raymond with his girlfriend Layla Martin. She was dead five months after this photo was taken,” Dalton said. “I spoke to Renee, she’s the girl standing beside Layla, she was Layla’s best friend. She had a lot to say about our boy Raymond.”

Marcia nodded. Then Dalton handed over another photo.

This time it was of Raymond in a team softball jersey. It showed him getting ready to throw a pitch.

“This is from the co-ed softball team they were all on. Turns out Raymond didn’t like to lose. So much so, Renee’s boyfriend finally admitted to her the night before a tournament, he and good ole Felix went to talk to the pitcher on the other team. Renee’s boyfriend swears he just thought they were going to bribe him to throw the game. Instead, Raymond broke two of his fingers on his right hand, so he couldn’t pitch.”

“Great, he’s a cheater and a bully too,” Marcia mumbled.

“Turns out this guy worked at the bank where Raymond had his car loan. He worked with his boss to get it repossessed. Renee said Layla offered to loan him the money for a down payment for a new loan. It was the first time he hit her.”

“He hit her for trying to help him?” Wyatt’s confusion was obvious as he asked the question.

“His little feelings got hurt because she was in a better financial position,” Evie said.

“That was half of it,” Dalton agreed.

“Let me guess, he then came back at her and demanded she buy the thing outright for him,” Marcia said.

Dalton nodded. “You’re right,” he agreed sadly.

Zed knew the real reason Dalton was pensive. He looked around the room and saw similar looks on all the men’s faces. They didn’t like the idea of these two women knowing the intimate working of such an abusive personality. It meant they’d had to learn how to cope, so they could survive. Zed now wondered whether there was any physical abuse in her relationship with Rick.

“How long after that before he killed her?” Marcia asked.

“It was nine weeks,” Dalton said softly. “There’s more. Renee never thought much of it, but it turned out that Marty, the pitcher from the other team, up and moved stakes soon after the whole car fiasco. Years later, she found out the reason why he’d left; his home had been invaded and his wife had been assaulted.”

Zed watched Marcia nod her head like she wasn’t surprised. God knows he wasn’t. He waited for the next shoe to drop.

The next thing Dalton handed Marcia was a newspaper printout of a bicyclist who had been the victim of a hit and run on Pacific Coast Highway.

“This is our banker friend’s boss,” Dex said. “Unfortunately, there had been enough hit and runs where bicyclists are concerned, nobody thought to look at this as premeditated.”

“None of this came up during the trial?” Marcia asked.

Dalton shook his head.

“But you’ve got more, don’t you?” Marcia looked between Dalton and Dex.

“Yeah, there’s more,” Dex said. He pulled out three photos from the file and handed them all to Marcia. “These are all men who have died at Thorpe International, two of them stateside. When Kane and I started to make inquiries regarding who Raymond had run-ins with, this pattern emerged.”

“Three dead men in eight years, that’s all you’ve been able to confirm, right?” Marcia leaned over and drilled Dexter with a look. “You know there’s more.”

“Yep, that’s what my guts saying too, but these are damn near certain. So, we’ve got a serial killer on our hands, and you are his number one target.”

Marcia waved her hand like it didn’t matter, and Zed gritted his teeth. “Dex, you have more than just five slides. So, we know we have an itty-bitty problem with Raymond, who’s up next.”

“This isn’t a joke,” Zed spit out.

She whirled to look at him, and she was going to mouth off something smart-ass, but thank God, she figured out now was not the time.

“Zed, I know it’s not a joke,” she said quietly as her hand landed on his thigh. “But I also know your team, and especially you, won’t let anything happen to me.”

“What else do you have?” Zed asked Dex.

This time Dex handed the picture to Zed.