Page 55 of Fatal Vision

Colton’s voice lost its amusement. “The one I asked you to bring.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Even inside, Shelby could feel the tension in the air between the two of them. Colton’s voice practically singed the ends of her hair. “I left you a message this morning to bring Shelby’s file.”

“The one on the veteran serial killer? That’s classified information and Shelby is not officially back to work.”

“Not the serial killer file. The one on Shelby’s shooting, you eejit.”

And yep, the tension went DEFCON 1, just like that.

“You better get out there, Connor,” Shelby said. “Things are about to get ugly.”

Poor guy. He glanced at the door, back to her, back to the door. “Shit,” he said under his breath as he went to interrupt World War III.

Shelby’s phone rang from the dining room table. Lori? She scooted herself up, grabbed the walker, and started hauling.

By the time she got to the dining room and snatched up the phone she was out of breath. “Mrs. Evers?”

A second too late, the call had already gone to voicemail.

But Lori Evers didn’t leave a message. Quickly, Shelby called her back. Lori answered on the first ring.

“Mrs. Evers, it’s Agent Claiborne. Sorry I missed your call. You got my message? About me reopening the case on your husband?”

The reply was chilly enough to coat the singed ends of Shelby’s hair with ice. “I told you the last time we spoke, I don’t know what happened to Wyatt. We separated before his last tour. I hadn’t heard from him in nearly two years, then suddenly, he was on my doorstep. I was so happy to see him, but he wouldn’t talk about where he’d been, what he’d been doing. He’d been discharged, that’s all he would tell me. He came home, seemed fine for a couple of weeks, then started acting anxious and worried. He disappeared and the next thing I knew, two officers showed up at my door to tell me they’d found his burned body.”

The woman sobbed, catching her breath. “I want the killer found as much as you do, but this tears me up. I’m trying to move on with my life. I can’t keep rehashing this when there’s nothing new. Please understand.”

A pit of regret sat in Shelby’s stomach. “Of course. Is there anything else I mentioned to you when we originally spoke that rang any bells?”

“I told you I don’t know what happened to Wyatt and I don’t know the man in the picture you showed me.”

From the living room, the sound of the door opening and closing alerted her to Colton and Connor coming inside.

“What man?”

“The one in the picture you showed me that day we spoke. You asked me if I’d ever seen him before and I told you no.”

A picture of one of the other victims? Or a suspect?

Salisbury ran in and Colton followed, his face grim.

“Can you describe the man in the picture to me, Mrs. Evers?”

Colton raised a brow and slid into a chair opposite Shelby.

Lori’s voice shook. “I can barely remember it. Like I told you, I’d never seen him before.”

“Please try.”

A sigh. “Brown hair, brown eyes. I think he was wearing a black shirt.”

Not much of a description. “Short hair? Long?”

“Kind of in between, you know how a lot of younger men wear it these days. Short on the sides and back, but longer and messy in front, I remember that.”

Shelby’s fingers on the phone went cold. Her stomach did a somersault. She was staring at exactly that description.