Page 67 of Girl Betrayed

Jake would’ve already peered beneath the sheet. It’s where he would’ve started, but Dana needed to summon her courage. Crouching down she nodded to the two officers guarding the body. They looked to Hartwell for confirmation and once his team filed in, blocking the news cameras enough to allow the victim some dignity, he gave the signal.

The officers lifted the sheet with a reverence that made Dana’s chest tighten. Having seen the crime scene photos from Hayes, she thought she was prepared. But she was mistaken.

She exhaled, fighting her reflex to recoil from the gruesome remains.

No one deserved to die like this.

The young man—Cash Holloway—lay face up, eyes wide, mouth ajar with a scream that no one could hear. His throat was so brutally lacerated it looked like someone had come at him with a chain saw.

Dana tucked her nose into her elbow, her eyes tearing despite her efforts to block out the smell of death permeating the air. She closed her eyes, trying to fight her body’s dizzying response to the sight of blood.

Breathe…It was Jake’s voice that calmed her. She closed her eyes and clutched at the dog tags beneath her jacket. Finding her inner strength, she pushed through, cementing every last grisly image to memory.

51

I watch,admiring my work. I’ve drawn a bigger crowd this time, but I don’t mind. They can’t catch me. They have no idea where to look. I’m all around them, but they don’t see me. They only see what I want them to see.

A violent, deranged killer. A Grim Reaper, turned loose on their precious city.

By the time they figure it out, it will be too late.

My only concern is her.

I knew this would draw her in. I made sure of it.

I got rid of him, too. Without him, she shines. She can do his job better. Better than any of them. FBI. Cops. They’re no match for her.

I like watching her.

It’s why I chose her.

She’s not next. But her time is coming.

52

The D.C. Reaper strikes again.A second grisly attack unfolds at Montrose Park.

Jake flipped through the channels, but each station was running a different version of the same gruesome story. He stopped scrolling when a blurry image of Dana filled the screen. She knelt between two Metro PD officers next to a shrouded body. Taking voyeurism to the extreme, the footage was so magnified the image was blown out, but Jake stood transfixed as he watched Dana. He should be there, not her. This wasn’t the life she’d chosen. But he’d dragged her into it anyway.

He’d been following orders. At least that’s what he’d told himself at the time. But it was getting harder to justify. Jake used to believe in what he did, believe he was serving the greater good, even if that meant walking a fine line with the law. But he was no longer balancing on a precipice between justice and vengeance. He was in freefall, and this landslide was poised to drag everyone down with him.

Jake pressed the mute button before throwing the remote across the room. It hit the wall with a satisfying crack, landing in a heap of plastic and batteries.

Claire’s bedroom door creaked open. She peered out at him. “What happened?”

“Nothing,” he muttered, sinking onto Dana’s uncomfortable couch.

Claire’s gaze moved to the shattered remote. “Do they have a suspect?”

“No.”

She joined him in the living room. “Jake, you just turned the remote to roadkill. What’s going on?”

“I don’t know! That’s the problem. I’m stuck here, doing nothing. While Dana’s out there with the Grim Reaper on the loose.”

Claire’s eyes widened. “Do you think she’s in danger?”

Jake pushed his anger down when he heard the fear in her voice. “There’s no reason to think that. I’m just pissed at being sidelined. Dana’s not in any harm. She’s surrounded by police. Besides, that woman is tough as nails. No one knows that better than us, huh?”