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Slowly, her life had returned to normal, or as normal as her and her brother’s lives had been.

She’d been focused on school and getting good grades so she could get out and build a better life, but she’d never forgotten the man, couldn’t even if she’d tried because he wouldn’t let her.

Nearly four years had passed when she got the first letter, she and Fletcher had taken it to the Sheriff who had handed it on to the FBI who were working the Coffin Killer case, but nothing had ever come of it, and over time she had stopped passing the notes along.

But she’d kept every one of them, determined that sooner or later she’d get him.

Had her chance finally come?

They didn't even know the man’s real name. He’d been Jerry Kramer when he’d been dating her mother, but Jerry Kramer hadn't existed.

“Hey.”

She looked back up, realized she had zoned out, and refocused her mind. “So, what did you find out?”

“There was a fingerprint on the window, and it doesn’t match yours,” Jake informed her.

“A fingerprint on the window? Why would he have touched the window?”

“Were your blinds open or closed?”

“Open, I never close the living room blinds only the bedroom ones.”

“We know he’d been watching you, what if he had seen you with Eli.

He has you in the living room up against the wall as he tells you that Michael is the one who tried to run you down, then he sees Eli coming.

He panics, looks out to confirm it’s your boyfriend because you haven't been with him long and he probably wanted to make sure. Once he confirms that it is Eli he sees coming, he hightails it out of there.”

“Could he have made it out that quickly? I mean, Eli saw him coming out as he was about to enter the building, would he have had time to make it down?”

“Depends. If he recognized the car that Eli owns then he could have made it if he took the stairs. Anyone else been in your apartment that might have touched the window?”

“Besides you and my brother, and Eli the last few days, no one but the plumber from last spring when that pipe in my bathroom broke, has been in my apartment.”

“I doubt he would have been standing in your living room looking out your window.”

“I guess not,” she agreed. “So chances are it is from him. Is it already running through the system?”

“Yes. This guy has to be in the system, you can't murder dozens of children and not have been arrested for something somewhere along the line. He’s a pedophile, at some point someone would have reported him for taking too much of an interest in their daughter. A girlfriend perhaps, or if he has a job that entails working with or around kids then a parent or colleague, a neighbor, whatever, someone has to have seen something.”

“I don’t know, Jake,” she said slowly. “This guy is good. Really good. He’s been operating for decades, and he has never—ever—left a single piece of forensic evidence behind.

Not a hair, not a fingerprint, not a shoeprint, nothing.

Nada. Zero, zippo, zilch, what are the chances that he messed up now? ”

“But this involves you, and you're different. You got away. You. An eight-year-old little child bested him.”

“I didn't get away the other morning,” she muttered.

It annoyed her that she hadn't been able to get out of the Coffin Killer’s grip.

She was a cop, taught self-defense, worked out religiously, and was an excellent shot, yet he had overpowered her.

That took her right back to being the helpless child she had fought so hard to leave behind.

Took her back to the afternoon she had been walking home from school only to be accosted by her mother’s boyfriend.

He had grabbed her arm and dragged her along with him.

No one had noticed because no one in River’s End had paid much attention to the poor little girl.

She remembered him holding her down while he inserted the IV into the inside of her elbow.

Although he’d messed up, somehow she’d gotten enough of the sedatives that what had happened next was hazy.

Her next clear memory was lying in a coffin.

Her whole childhood she hadn't been in control. She couldn’t stop her father leaving, she couldn’t stop her mother drinking, she couldn’t change the circumstances that she and Fletcher had lived in, she couldn’t stop the Coffin Killer from hurting her, nor had she stopped one of her mother’s boyfriend’s from assaulting her.

When she had left River’s End, she had vowed that she would never again be helpless, and she hadn't been until her own personal bogeyman had come back into her life.

To get her equilibrium back, it felt like she had to put the Coffin Killer where he belonged.

Behind bars.

He had hurt enough children, destroyed enough families, it was time to end his reign of terror.

“He’s obsessed with you, Florence, and he’s upping the game. Following you around, breaking into your apartment, he’s no longer content just to watch you from a distance and send you mail.”

“What are you saying, Jake?” she asked, not liking his tone.

“I’m saying you need to be careful.”

Arching a suspicious brow. “And what exactly do you mean when you say I need to be careful.”

“I think you should stay somewhere else for a while, a hotel, or with Eli.”

“With Eli? We only just met, I'm not moving in with him.” Although the idea didn't sound as objectionable as it should.

Sure she and Eli had just met, but they both knew that what was between them was big, and she was positive that Eli would actually jump at the idea of them living together, but it was too soon.

Right? The rules of dating said you didn't move in together after a week of dating.

And really, it hadn't even been a week, they’d only technically been dating for a couple of days.

“You don’t have to move in with him, that’s not what I'm suggesting. All I'm saying is that a serial killer who has eluded the authorities for over two decades is fixated on you and he’s escalating. You need to take this threat seriously. I know you, you brush off any concerns that relate to you, and you go out of your way to make sure that every victim in every case we work is safe and well taken care of. I want the same for you. Check your surroundings, be alert, if you’re going to be staying alone at your apartment maybe you should get an alarm system.

Florence, you’re finally happy, really happy I mean, now is not the time to go and get yourself killed. ” He finished with a grin.

Florence rolled her eyes at him, but couldn’t help but smile because what he’d said was true.

At eight, she didn't have anything to live for. As depressing as that sounded, it was true. But now at twenty-seven, she had a man in her life who cared about her, who respected her, who was there for her, and she could see herself with him long term. Marriage, kids, the family she’d never had as a child she could have with Eli.

With happiness within her grasp and all her dreams about to come true there was no way she was letting a serial killer take that away from her.

5:53 P.M.

“You know you can't pick me up every single day,” Florence said when she saw him standing outside the precinct.

“Why not?” Eli asked, drawing her into his embrace and kissing her.

“Because I'm a grown-up with a job, and you’re a grown-up with a job, and those two jobs can't coincide every day.”

“I don’t see why not,” he told her as he led her to the car.

She seemed like she was on edge, she hadn't been when he’d dropped her off this morning so it was obviously something that had happened at work.

A nice, quiet date night was precisely what she needed, and he had something simple but meaningful planned for the evening.

“Well because?—”

Eli cut her off by capturing her lips and kissing her until he felt her relax against him.

“Did you just kiss me to shut me up?” she asked as they slid into the car’s back seat. Since she didn't sound angry he knew he wasn't in trouble.

“No, I kissed you to get you to relax,” he told her, settling her against him as his driver headed off into the traffic. “Rough day?”

“Long day,” she replied on a sigh, nestling closer and tucking her face against his neck. “Thanks for picking me up.”

Women! First she was annoyed that he was there to pick her up, and now she was grateful, he didn't think he would ever figure out the way their minds worked.

“You're welcome.” Eli kissed her forehead and then just wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He liked this, just holding her in his arms, and all too soon they were pulling up outside his building.

“Where are we?” Florence asked, suspicion sliding into her tone. “This doesn’t look like a restaurant.”

“I said I was buying you dinner, I never said I was taking you to a restaurant,” he reminded her as he took her hand and tugged her from the car, excited to show her what he had planned.

“So, are you going to tell me where we are?”

“My place. Well, my new place, I’ve been staying in a hotel since I moved back to the city, but I thought no time like the present to rectify that.”

With a puzzled look on her face, she asked, “We’re moving your stuff into your new apartment for our date?”

“Nope,” he answered simply. He used his key to let them into the building, then nodded to the doorman on the way to the lift.

“So, what are we doing?” She sounded more curious than annoyed and he couldn’t help but grin, he got the opinion that Florence was like a dog with a bone, she wouldn’t let things go, it was what made her a great cop, and an interesting girlfriend.

“Dinner and shopping,” he replied vaguely, fighting a laugh.

Her nose scrunched up. “Shopping? In your apartment?”

“Online shopping, princess, it’s been around for a while now.”

“I know what it is,” she said with an accompanying eye roll. “I was just wondering what we’re shopping for.”