Page 27

27

STONE

I made it to the small hotel in town where the rest of the team was staying. Grey let me sleep in the spare double bed in his room. They were leaving early in the morning, and it was easier for me to already be there than to try to leave the rental that early. It also gave me more time to say a proper goodbye to Len.

My heart ached at that.

“Are you ready to go back?” Grey asked, looking me over as I piled my stuff in the corner of the room.

“Truthfully?” I asked. “Not entirely.”

“You know it’s breaking every single rule the FBI has by not letting her go?” Grey pointed out.

“I know every rule that exists, and somehow, I can’t bring myself to accept them,” I explained. “No matter how many times I tell myself it’s wrong, I just can’t do it. She’s impossible to let go of.”

Selfish.

I put her directly in harm’s way, all because I couldn’t separate my feelings and what needed to be done. It worked out in the end; Ethan was arrested and would be spending the rest of his life in prison, but there had still been too many close calls.

“Sometimes, not every rule is perfect,” Grey said.

A concept my mind had trouble accepting. There’d always been a solution for every problem I faced.

I snapped my gaze to him. He kept his face even, but there was a glimpse of sympathy in his eyes.

“You’re doing the right thing, going back,” he said.

“What am I even going back to?” I asked. “Will I even have a job when I return?”

“It’s not up to me entirely,” he said. “The director will make the final call, but he will look to my recommendation.”

“What is your recommendation?” I asked.

“You’ve been through a lot,” he started as he stroked the stubble on his face. “I think you need to weigh how important this job is to you. Are you willing to do what’s needed to get back in the field?”

I knew what he meant. My mind needed to be completely focused on my work. There could be no more slip ups with alcohol or drugs, I couldn’t disappear for months when things got hard. I couldn’t let Len become a distraction.

I shook my head, because I didn’t have an answer to his question.

“Think on it,” Grey said. “I don’t need to give my recommendation until we’re back, but I need to be sure you are fully on this team and can follow orders.”

I climbed into the hotel bed, a sinking feeling in my chest growing as I realized this was the first night in a while Len was not beside me.

I prepared myself for the nightmares that would plague me without her presence. Most agents had some sort of trauma, our job always putting us near death.

I only hoped I could contain it enough not to spark more worry.

* * *

I’d dropped the rest of the team off at the small airport nearby hosting the jet. It was only another thirty minute drive to my own airport, where I would drop off the rental car. The drive and flight alone gave me the space to clear my head.

It was only five minutes into the drive when my phone rang. Afraid Grey had forgotten something, I answered through the car’s Bluetooth.

Mags’ voice came through the speakers.“The lab results came back on the package left at your doorstep.”

“Does it confirm Ethan left it?” I asked, barely phased.

“No, the fingerprints were inconclusive,” she answered. “But there was something interesting. The letter inside was not written in paint like you originally suspected. The components came back consistent with lip gloss.” ‘

Lip gloss?

That didn’t make sense, nor did it fit Ethan’s profile. He hated women, despised every part of them. Mimicking their behavior, and using a common makeup product wouldn’t fit his profile at all.

My chest tightened, and the nagging feeling hit again, the one where I’d left Len still exposed to danger in Briarport. What if we didn’t arrest the right person?

There was so much to point to Ethan being the Coastal Killer, but the more I thought back on it, there was a chance he didn’t act alone. What if he had been helping someone else? Someone who had been pulling the strings the whole time?

I needed to get back to Len, fast.

“Mags, tell Grey to meet me back in Briarport,” I said.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“I don’t think this is over,” I said.

“It will take them well over an hour to make it back.”.

“I’m closer,” I answered. “I can turn around and be back in under an hour. Tell him to meet me there. You have my location tracked, right?” I asked.

“Yes,” she answered hesitantly. “But you should wait for Grey before doing anything.”

“I can’t,” I answered. “Not when it comes to her.”

I hung up and quickly dialed Len’s number. Over and over, it went to voicemail.

“Come on, Len. Pick up the phone,” I prayed.

Still nothing. Her voicemail message played each time I called, and my stomach started to sink further every time I heard it.

The car wasn’t moving fast enough.

I needed to get back to Lenny. I tried not to let myself think about what her not answering meant. The killer had to have made a move the moment we left town, but that didn’t mean Len was harmed.

I played every piece of evidence in my head.

The killer was obsessed with Len. Everything they’d done was to hold her attention. Someone saw a piece of themselves in her and spared her.

A sinking feeling grew inside me, a new unsub coming to mind.

The very first day I’d met her, she was applying the same red lip gloss I was willing to guess was used on the note.

I called Mags back, knowing Len wouldn’t answer.

“I managed to get through to the team before they took off,” Mags said. “But it will be at least twenty minutes before they get a car and can meet you. I sent the closest deputy to get them.”

“What can you find about Len’s landlord, Mallory?” I asked.

I heard Mags typing at the computer, and her voice came through the speaker again in seconds.

“Mallory Vice changed her name from Miranda Smith about five years ago. She has owned the building Len lives in for four. There’s not much on her beyond that. She works in the shop under the building. She doesn’t have family in the area and doesn’t have much of a record.”

“Much of a record?” I asked.

“Her name shows in one small report.”

Miranda Smith. I knew that name sounded familiar.

“The couple fighting at the pub,” I said

“Exactly. How did you know?”

“Len made the sheriff give us other small reports for the months before the killings started. Miranda Smith was escorted out of the pub alongside her former fiancé after their break up grew volatile.”

“It’s sad, really,” Mags said. “It looks like he left her only weeks before their wedding.”

The hate toward women and happy relationships… It wasn’t a man who was left. No, she was targeting women like herself, women who had it all: the happy relationship, the bright future ahead of them. They were surrogates for her own self-hatred. She coveted what they had and couldn’t stand to see others like that.

“Oh, God,” Mags said through the phone. “You left Len back at her apartment with her.”

My stomach sank, knowing Mallory had to be the reason she wasn’t answering. I’d seen the way she cared for Len and couldn’t imagine she would hurt her friend, but I didn’t know what mental instability could do to change that.

“I need to figure out where Mallory would take Len if she is not there,” I said.

“I’m on it,” she said firmly. She hung up without a goodbye, and everything inside me hoped I was wrong.

My foot dropped heavy on the gas pedal as I sped through the back roads to Briarport. The car wasn’t moving fast enough. Each second was one that Len may be in trouble.

It was easy to piece together the moment I came into town, Len’s interest in me sparked Mallory to kill again. She was jealous of the attention Len gave me. She’d become codependent on her, and it was the only thing keeping this town safe, stopping the killings.

It could’ve turned bad any moment. Any fight, any new person in Len’s life could’ve set it off. I was glad it was me. At least now, I had a chance to make things right, to get justice for all those victims.

I finally pulled up outside the apartment. The car was practically blocking the road, but I didn’t care. I left it running and sprinted to the back door.

There was a code, but I didn’t have time to call Mags to find it. Instead, I kicked in the door, and it flew open. My feet carried me up the stairs to Len’s apartment. The door was cracked open, and I heard Alonzo and Birdie inside.

The cats sat by the food bowl, which was completely empty. Len never left without feeding them, which meant she’d been gone for a while. The chance was slim, but I still quickly walked through the apartment to make sure she wasn’t injured somewhere.

Mallory had taken her, and I had no idea where.

As I realized everything I tried to avoid was happening all over again, I felt helpless. I’d been reckless, trying to work this case myself without back up. Now, Len was paying the price.

I would never forgive myself if something happened to her.

My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I quickly pulled it out to see Mag‘s name on the screen.

“Did you find her?” I asked.

“Not entirely, but I did track Mallory’s phone to a location just outside of town, near the water.

“The warehouse,” I guessed before Mags could say it, realizing it was the one place nearby with enough room for no one to notice if Mallory took her there.

“Should I send you the location again?” Mags asked.

“No I have it memorized,” I said. “Call Grey and tell them where I’m heading.”

I sprinted down the steps of the apartment and found my car still waiting outside.

My heart raced, and I could barely hear myself over the growing worry causing a rush in my head. My foot pressed down on the gas pedal, and the car lurched forward, flying through the streets. I avoided pedestrians and traffic while maintaining a speed far over the limits. Not a single thing could stop me from getting to Len.

My only worry was getting to her in time.

Mallory was obsessed with her. Even with that worry spreading, I knew there was a chance she wouldn’t hurt her. It was more likely she was using her as bait. She needed control back, and that couldn’t happen if I still existed. She wouldn’t hurt Len unless I didn’t give her what she wanted.

Me.