Page 13 of Nowhere to Hide

“I work more closely with Dominic in the personal security branch of the company.”

“Mr. Kendrick mentioned you had extensive training with sensitive cases.”

And yet said I was fucked in the head? Or was that what Stone extrapolated? Leo was often the more diplomatic of the brothers which would work in my favor to get information out of Stone at the very least.

“If you talked to Leo you know I can keep my ears and mouth shut. I’ve worked for people from dignitaries to rockstars.”

Stone sighed. “I hope I don’t regret this, but I’ve been beating my head against a wall on my own, maybe a second set of professional ears would help.”

A year ago, I’d have been eager to jump in. Now, I wasn’t sure I was the right guy.

You are.

I cracked my knuckles at the familiar voice of my best friend in my head. One I hadn’t heard in so long. Why the hell was I hearing him now? Maybe I was officially losing it.

“I’ve been gathering details on a serial offender.”

At least my instincts weren’t completely dead. “How many?”

“Four in eighteen months. At least that we know of. Salem isn’t exactly a hub for sex workers, but?—”

“But things aren’t the same since we can order groceries and a bottle of wine on an app?” I was more than aware of dating apps for fast hookups, as well as more underground sites for a more professional arrangement.

Stone nodded. “Youaredialed in.”

I shrugged. “You did catch the dignitaries part of my resume, right?” At his raised eyebrow, I shrugged. “Just because it’s acliché doesn’t mean sex workers aren’t a reality. I’m just paid to keep people safe, not judge.” Mostly. The Kendrick Group was pretty particular about their clients and kept the sleezier ones off their roster.

“I can’t prove there are more victims. Interoffice reporting only works if the cop cares to write it up correctly.”

I heard the annoyance and resignation in his voice. Cops were overworked and often understaffed. Paperwork sometimes was rushed through with little fanfare, I’d bet. Paperwork had been the bane of my existence, and I was paid way better. “The marks on the bodies could literally be sex play if you weren’t looking for it.”

Stone nodded sharply. “I was working a cold case. Salem can get a bit quiet in the winter months. Never all the way quiet of course, but you don’t know boredom until you’re snowed in for four days at the station.”

I winced. “They didn’t have you out there with everyone else for the idiots in the snow?”

He snorted. “I was too senior for that.”

I glanced at his dark uniform shirt.

“Was being the operative word.”

There was a slight hint of obsession wafting off him. Took one to know one. I cracked my knuckles with my thumb. “Let me guess, you found something in a cold file?”

“Picked up my breadcrumbs.”

“They were more like croutons.”

Stone laughed as he slumped in his seat. It was well after midnight at this point. I wondered if he got the night shift on top of being busted down to beat cop for whatever wrongs he’d committed.

“Letti, Melissa, Willow, and Joelle were four victims I’ve found so far. I admit that some of the details didn’t exactly line up, but...”

He trailed off. I’d been on enough high priority cases in my career to know that things didn’t fall as neatly into place as television liked to make it out to be. I’d worked in Boston, which held plenty of high powered people in its towering glass buildings.

My line of work dealt with stalkers and dangerous offenders—you didn’t need to be famous to become a fixation for someone. But it took a trained eye and one of our elite cyber people to pick it out sometimes. If a cop was juggling dozens of cases, it was easy to miss. Somehow I didn’t think Salem was exactly a hotbed of that kind of crime.

“Do I smell a hint of ‘Let it go, Stone’?”

“You would be correct.” He sighed.”I brought it to my captain and he told me I was reaching.”