Page 14 of Nowhere to Hide

“Were you?”

There went that squeak on the wheel again. I waited him out to push through his mental gymnastics. Either he was going to give me details or he wasn’t. When the minutes ticked by, I turned in my seat to face him.

“Lay it out like you did for your lieutenant or captain.”

More squeaking.

“Dude, you’re going to rip that wheel out of the column if you keep that up.”

He relaxed his fingers. “Sorry. Three of the women all had ligature marks on their necks. Two were beaten pretty badly, which was why my lieutenant thought I was reaching. I couldn’t figure out why the marks on the neck were so thick. It wasn’t silk or leather, which could have been part of a death by misadventure component.”

“The kinkier the better for some people when it comes to sex. Breath play has had a resurgence with some internet curiosities thanks to romance novels.”

Stone gave me a look.

I shrugged. “My sister-in-law is big into the reading thing. Some wild shit on TikTok these days if you do a deep dive into the romance readers. People are definitely getting ideas to try and spice things up the bedroom.”

“No one wants to just have a sweaty fuck anymore,” Stone muttered.

I grunted.

“Yeah, well you have a point there. And while my captain isn’t exactly open-minded to go down that route, I agree that experimentation has hit an all-time high especially for younger people. The ligature marks on two of the girls look a damn lot like tonight’s victim.”

“Most boats use nylon rope these days. That rope around the woman’s neck was heavy duty marine rope if I had to guess. Not exactly hard to find around the docks.”

Stone nodded. “It could have been impulsive.”

“But you don’t think so.” It wasn’t a question. I was inclined to agree based on the knots I’d seen around the woman’s ankles and wrists, let alone the intricate one around her neck that linked them all in a way that tightened with every movement.

“I didn’t have bodies to test,” Stone ground out.

“Cold files had to have at least some details for you to link them up.”

“Not enough.” His voice was tight.

And this crime scene wouldn’t help either. There might be a way to test the skin, but it was probably compromised at this point. “No, I don’t imagine so. How long have you been working on this?”

“Eight months.”

“Has he been quiet for all eight?”

Stone shook his head. “I did a search for similar crimes and found a few that could be, but the four women I mentioned are the most likely linked.”

“Have you looked for survivors?”

“Of course I have.”

“Just spitballing.”

He blew out a breath. “Sorry. I had one victim that came into the ER that I thought might match the same MO.”

“She wouldn’t cooperate?”

“No. I was going to check on her the next morning, but she checked herself out. Her body was found on the beach a few days later.”

“Shit. They didn’t think that was important?”

“The cop on the case just thought it was domestic abuse. She had a violent boyfriend. He had a shaky alibi, but not enough to charge him.” His arms shook with the force of his grip on the wheel. “The ligature marks were a lot like the woman’s tonight. I should have stayed with Letti, then maybe I’d have more answers.”