Page 73 of Now or Never

“You mean tried to kill me, right? Because that’s what he did.”

Kenna shook her head, but it was Jax who pointed out what they knew. “If he wanted you dead, you would be. He severely injured you, but he didn’t kill you.”

“Because he’s the kind of sicko who likes to see people suffer.”

“Yes, unless death needs to be expedient,” Kenna said. “We’ve known him to poison people and leave them to succumb while he’s miles away. Or chase a person for hours and then draw their death out for days.”

Surprise registered on Langley’s face.

Of course, he mattered as a human being. Everyone had intrinsic value. She just didn’t know if he mattered toDominatus.

“Sorry, but we have to know how you fit into this whole thing,” she continued. “Or if you were just in the wrong place at the right time.”

Langley picked up his cell phone. “Guess I’m the chump who got targeted. But I’m also the chump who’s going to catch this guy.”

Jax shifted, empathy in his body language. “Detective?—”

Langley cut him off. “Can’t do that without a hit on that scumbag’s DNA.”

“You have the results?” Kenna asked. “Your lieutenant told me the department put a rush on it.”

“That happens when someone tries to kill a cop.” Langley frowned. “They’re retesting the results because they think there was an error.”

“What kind of error?” Jax asked.

“They’re a match with some guy in the army. But he was killed in action six years ago.”

Chapter Twenty-Eight

Kenna laid two slices of cheese on one sandwich and one on the other, both of them on top of a mountain of turkey. Lettuce, and then the other slice of bread. “Here.” She laid the plate in front of Ramon but didn’t sit.

He had his own laptop open on the table, and hers was backed up against the window. The feed on the screen was from Jax’s lapel camera so they could watch the whole scene at the doctor’s office.

“You really think this is going to work?” She sipped from her can of caffeine-free soda.

“Zeyla comes up with pretty good plans. I don’t always agree with her methods, but you can’t deny the results.” Ramon clicked the mouse, then continued typing. “There’s nothing on this Simon Newton guy who was a soldier, and in his afterlife evidently decided to be a killer forDominatus.”

“He really died in action?” Around the same time Megan’s boyfriend had, which was interesting. Her gaze, and her attention, drifted to Jax. She didn’t want to be there; she wanted to be here. She wanted him here, but also she wanted to solve the case.

Unfortunately, she couldn’t have both without outsourcing the legwork.

Ramon didn’t lift his gaze from his computer. “I’m guessing no, he isn’t dead. Since he’s still running around being a murdering psycho.”

On the screen of Kenna’s laptop, Jax parked the car.

“How long do we have?” he asked Zeyla.

“Fifteen minutes,” she answered.

“Let’s go.”

Ramon glanced at her screen, then back at what he was doing. Jax and Zeyla couldn’t hear them, and Kenna didn’t want to distract them with a phone call. It was enough to watch what they were doing so she knew they were safe while she stayed here.

Meanwhile, she wanted some progress on this hunt. “What the police got back was DNA on file for an army private Simon Newton.”

Simon says.

Just thinking it made her want to shudder.