Page 42 of Tell Me Your Desires

“Maybe, but it just makes me want to catch the bastard doing this even sooner. If he touches her, Max.” Jaime clenched her hand into a fist, her nostrils flared. “I swear to God I’ll rip his fucking throat out.”

“Whoa. Relax. We’re going to catch him before he can hurt any other women.”

Jaime snorted. If Max was so sure about that, why hadn’t they caught him already?

“You don’t know that. You can’t be sure that he isn’t going to come after Anya next.

She is the reason he’s doing this. We have to be prepared for whatever he plans to do next.

” Jaime swallowed as she gazed back at Max.

“I have a bad feeling he’s coming for Anya. ”

“Baros—”

“About the plan I mentioned to you before,” Jaime blurted out, not giving Max the opportunity to try to placate her for another second. “I know it’s… unconventional, but it’s a good plan.”

Max pinched the bridge of his nose. “I already know what you’re going to say, so save it. The department will not go for it, and I have to wonder if you’re out of your mind.”

“Actually, I’m thinking far more clearly than I have in a long time. I’m ready for this, Max. It’s time we brought him down, and the only way to do that is to follow the plan.”

“We don’t even know for sure that Anya’s reasoning is correct. The fact she’s slept with the victims could be a complete coincidence.”

“Really?” Jaime deadpanned. “You actually believe it’s a coincidence?”

Max’s right eye twitched as she glared at her. He knew it was the reason behind the attacks. Whether Jaime wanted to imagine Anya with other women or not…it didn’t change the fact that the unsub was killing women who Anya knew on an intimate level.

“Well?”

Max huffed out a breath. “Fine. It does seem like it’s the motive. But it doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with your fucked up plan to… well, get fucked.”

“It’s someone from the club. It has to be.

The best way for me to catch them… to coax them out…

is to follow what the victims did. And yeah, that means sleeping with Anya.

Lady A.” Jaime blew out a frustrated breath, determined to make this work.

“She doesn’t like it either, but I do think it’s a good idea.

This guy can’t help himself. The moment he sees us together, we’ve got him.

He has no idea we’re onto him, Max. He can’t know we’ve discovered his motive.

We’ve only just figured it out ourselves.

So, we go in, set the hook, and catch the fucker before anyone else can get hurt.

I didn’t get this chance with Tay, Max.” Jaime scooted closer and placed a hand on Max’s shoulder.

“Please let me do this for Anya. And for the others.”

“I’ll…” Max paused, taking his phone out when it pinged. He frowned, pursing his lips together. Come on, Max. We’ve got this, Jaime thought. “…be your backup.”

Jaime hadn’t known how she would feel if Max agreed to jump on board. But in this moment, she felt relief. She also felt as though they were getting somewhere with this case. “He’s good, I’ll give him that. But we’re better.”

“You still suspicious of Frank?”

Jaime was, but it wasn’t necessarily that he was the killer. That guy just looked suspicious. “I am. But do we really think fat Frank is capable of all this? The guy doesn’t even know what fucking deodorant is.”

Max choked on the sip of beer he’d just taken, bringing his fist to his mouth as he coughed. “You’re right about that.”

“I know it’s someone at that club. It has to be. It’s the only place Lady A meets these women. It’s the only place she sleeps with them. You’ve seen her place, Max, it’s a freakin’ fortress. Whatever is going on, it’s happening because of that club.”

“Then I guess you’d better speak to the other half and tell her the plan is happening. We’ll finalize, and then we’ll put it in motion.”

The other half, Jaime thought with a smile.

“I’m probably going to kick myself for questioning this and risking you changing your mind, but why the change of heart?”

Max wiggled his phone at her. “You’ll get the full report tomorrow, but I followed my gut last night and put out some feelers. Just got the results.”

“You gonna give me a hint, at least?”

“The M.O. got a hit.”

Jaime sat up in her chair. “What? The fucker has done this before?”

Max nodded. “Looks like it. It’s not exactly the same, which is why nothing pinged when we searched in the beginning.

But I broadened the search and got a few hits in four different states so far.

If this is our guy, this goes far beyond our five and Anya, Jaime.

So, we’ll do this your way. I’ll bring in a few officers I trust, and I’ll take the heat if we piss off the brass. ”

Jaime shook her head. There was no way she was letting Max do that.

“We both take the heat, Max. If they want to fire me for doing whatever is necessary to get a fucking serial killer off the streets, so be it. Now I just need to convince Anya.” Jaime lifted her beer and tipped it towards Max. “We’re going to catch him. I know it.”