Page 111 of Girl Between

I asked him to stay.But Dana was too hurt to admit that. Instead, she said, “He could’ve told me before disappearing.”

Richter’s silver eyebrows rose. “Shame isn’t the easiest thing to share, kid.”

“There’s no shame in this. It’s not Jake’s fault. It’s the job. I know that. But I’m his partner. He should’ve told me.”

“Like you told him you were taking this grant in New Orleans?”

Dana’s nostrils flared. “He told you that?”

“He told me what he woke up to.”

Her cheeks burned. “You two gossip worse than a pair of old women!”

Richter shook his head. “We don’t. Shep only calls me for the hard shit. The stuff that wrecks him.”

Dana let Richter’s words sink in. She swallowed thickly, unable to hold onto her anger. Shoulders sagging, she implored him. “Tell me what to do.”

“That’s up to you.”

“I told George I’d stay on and help with the case.”

“Then do it.”

“What about Jake?”

Richter put a big, fatherly hand on her shoulder and squeezed. “Kid, that’s a question only you can answer.”

97

Dana satin the briefing room as Agent Creed shared the newest case development, which wasn’t anything. Or maybe it was. She was so distracted thinking about Jake and the fact that he’d left without telling her that she could barely hear anything above the noise in her head.

“Digital forensics has narrowed our suspect pool further,” Creed was saying. “Our next step is to procure search warrants for physical evidence and DNA.”

The smart board still showed over a dozen suspects.

“In the meantime, I need the rest of you to familiarize yourself with these victims,” Creed ordered.

The smart board switched to display the faces of the victims. There were so many. Dana’s mind was instantly drawn back to Miriam Barton’s newspaper clippings.

“We need to work on identifying each and every one of these victims,” Creed instructed. “The ones we’ve already ID’d need to be profiled. The more we learn about them, who they were, where they lived, worked, ate, fucked, the more we know about our unsubs. Leave no stone unturned. I want every dirty secret, ever guilty pleasure, every damn skeleton in their closets.”

“Dignity be damned, huh?” Neville muttered from the seat behind Dana.

“He’s crass, but not wrong,” replied George.

“See Agent Clark for your assignments,” Creed ordered. “Let’s get to work, people.”

“I love being ordered around by toddlers in power suits,” Richter muttered as they all made their way over to where assignments were being handed out.

“It’s your lucky day, old man,” LaSalle said from the front of the line. “You’re with me. You too, Dr. Gray.”

Dana heaved a sigh of relief and followed Richter and LaSalle to her desk. “So where do you want us to start, boss?” Richter asked.

LaSalle passed them each a case file. “You’ve got Maci Reeves,” LaSalle said to Richter. “You’ve got Jasmin Baker.”

Dana opened the file and stared down at the grainy ME photograph. “Caucasian. Female. Late twenties. COD unknown.” She looked up. “This case is from 2017.”

“Mine’s even older,” Richter grumbled. “Caucasian. Female. Late twenties. COD unknown. Case date is 2014.”