Page 105

Cas

Three fuckingconvenience stores to find the Dove dark chocolate John instructed me to get. Three. That clearly demonstrated what I felt for Alta was true love. Never in my life had I gone through that kind of hassle for a woman, and I never would’ve even considered it after a long damn day like today.

Four hours with the detectives and crime scene geeks was enough to push me over the edge of my limited patience. Tack on this scavenger hunt, and I was done. Done and very ready to see Alta.

My Lady.

Mine.

Even if she didn’t say she loved me back earlier, she was mine.

Surely she did though. She wouldn’t have said all those things if she didn’t, unless she said them as a distraction to not say it back.

“Damnit,” I grumbled. The phone in the cup holder vibrated, Peters’s name appearing on the screen. “What,” I said after flicking the SUV’s Bluetooth on.

“How’d it go?” The sound of his heeled dress shoes against a hard floor clicked in the background as he paced.

“Good. They found some human blood between Benny’s teeth. They sent it out for analysis yesterday on a rush order. Expect the results later today. It was a gunshot wound to the chest that took him down. I talked to the vet too. Benny’s doing better, and they expect him to make a full recovery.” I cleared my throat. “I’m telling Alta as soon as I get back to the cabin.”

“Anything else?”

“Nothing on the missing women. Still missing, of course. No evidence.”

“Fucker. Nothing new here either. The least-decomposed bodies were autopsied, and you’ll never believe what they found.”

“I’m scared to ask.”

“Nothing.”

“What?” I chewed on my lip.

“They didn’t appear to be sexually assaulted, no abuse, just malnourished and deep wounds around the wrists and ankles like they were restrained. We’re dealing with some sick fucker.”

“How do you mean?”

“I’m guessing his partner likes watching them free, and the main guy likes watching them as a captive. If he doesn’t hurt them, then seeing their fear, them trying to escape, gets him off.” He paused long enough that I checked the screen to make sure the call didn’t drop. “That gives me an idea. What if he didn’t assault them by penetration but got off on the fear, leaving behind evidence on their skin? The sicko could’ve wacked off and spilled his jizz on them.”

“Why not rape them?” I mused. “Seems like after the recon work they do, the work they put in to take these women, why not take it that next step? That doesn’t make sense, right?”

“Just a theory.”

“They identify all the women yet?”

Another long pause. Fuck, this sucked. This part of the case was awful—no idea how Peters dealt with it day in and day out. I would much rather be out protecting the public with a gun at my side than listening to someone go on and on about decomposing bodies.

“All of them. The DNA results came back an hour ago. The husbands have closure now.”

“When you heading back?”

“Soon, tomorrow maybe. I’ve done enough here, so I need to get back to the active crime scenes. We have to get this guy soon. He’s not showing any sign of slowing down.”

I tapped my thumb against the steering wheel at a red light. “You still think this has something to do with Alta?”

“Yup. And I did more digging on what happened in Texas ten years ago. She was right that he didn’t have any living relatives, at least none who would claim him. He grew up in the system. But I did find something odd.” My eyes flicked to the speaker. “Starting around ten, at every foster home he went to, something happened. Like a fire, or reports of him hurting other kids or even the foster parents. There’s abundant documentation that he was mentally unstable.”

“Not surprising.”

“No, but I still feel like I’m not getting the full story. The reports seem… vague. I can’t figure it out, but it’s like they were protecting someone else. Keeping another name out of it all. I’m still digging.”