Page 53 of Now or Never

He pulled out his phone. “I’ll call a friend at the FBI and find out who’s investigating this. They can tell me if a connection has been made to any other cases.”

“Good idea.” Kenna didn’t imagine it would be easy to do that. “The victims won’t fit a pattern in demographics, physical features, or geography. The murders were probably all committed using a different method. Could be there’s no way for anyone to connect them.”

“Or he left no prints and no DNA at any scene, and that’s what we can use to nail him.”

Kenna glanced at him, one brow raised. “Wanna let me in on how that works? Because if you can’t prove he did it, how can you prove he did it?”

“Exactly.” He shrugged, and they headed down the carpeted staircase.

“Right.”

Jax chuckled. “I just mean that the absence of evidence is sometimes enough of a connection to at least build a profile of this guy.”

“A profile of what? He’s good at what he does. That’s all we know apart from the body count we’re going to gather. Probably won’t even be all of them.” She could see him in her mind, staring at her through that window. “He’s sick and twisted. He also apparently disappears better than anyone I’ve ever hunted. Someone has to be funding this guy’s ability to remain under the radar, or simply protecting him. Someone with serious resources.”

“Are we certain it’s not Petyr, or President Tetherton?”

“I don’t see how we can rule them out. Apart from the fact their fear that all the offspring would be killed seemed genuine enough.”

Jax stopped on the top step outside, where it had started to rain a little. He clicked the button on his key fob to start the car engine. Across the street, the headlights flashed and it started.

Someone straightened beside Langley’s car, but they were Caucasian and not the detective.

“It’s…him.” Kenna barely managed to choke the words out.

“Stay here.” Jax took off running toward him.

The ghost spun and sprinted away down the street.

Over by the car, Jax yelled, “Langley is down!”

Kenna pulled out her phone to call 911 and headed for the detective.

She found him slumped against his car, a trail of blood down the outside of the car door. He touched a hand to the blood soaking his shirt over his abdomen, blinking in shock.

She peeled off her coat and pressed it against the wound. “Hang on.”

Chapter Twenty-One

Kenna glanced down the street where Jax had raced after the killer. She wanted to pull her phone out and call him, but that would only be a distraction in a situation where he needed total focus.Lord.She didn’t want to contemplate something happening to him. Anytime he was feeling protective, she wasn’t going to argue with him needing to ensure her safety. She knewexactlywhat it felt like to swallow back the fear that someone she cared about could be hurt and run down a deadly killer.

Sirens in the distance got louder.

“Cavalry is almost here.” Should she get Langley to lie down on the ground? “Stay with me, Detective.”

His head lolled to the side, his skin clammy. He caught himself like had to drag his consciousness back to the forefront and lifted his head on a sharp intake of breath.

“There you are.” She touched her fingers to his neck and felt his pulse. “Hang in there. We’ll get you patched up.”

The first cop car sped around the corner, followed by two more and then an ambulance.

“You’re gonna be famous in a minute,” she said. “The cop who got stabbed by a serial killer and survived.”

He eyed her, his expression glassy.

“But you’ve gotta be alive to enjoy it.”

She saw a tiny note of humor in his expression.