Page 19 of The Lost Bones

“Do it. I’ll work on it without my badge. But I’m not staying away.”

The corner of Rivera’s mouth pulled up in a smirk. “All right. You care too much and maybe that’s a good thing. But I have a condition.”

“What?”

She crossed her arms. “I’m hiring a profiler to act as a consultant.” Mackenzie and Nick exchanged a pensive look. “Our budget doesn’t allow us to keep one in-house, but given the nature of this case and how well we’ve done these last few months, my request for one wasn’t denied.”

“Is this necessary?” Mackenzie asked. “We’ve worked well without one for years. And Nick has been good at profiling.”

“I need at least one cool head on this,” Rivera explained.

“Nickisa cool head.”

She chuckled, on her way out. “Not this time. Update each other on the cases. We’ll have a briefing tomorrow with the profiler.”

“What time is it?” Mackenzie asked when Rivera had gone.

Nick checked his watch. “One thirty.”

She dropped her head back and groaned. “I lost all track of time. And I don’t think I’m sleeping anytime soon.”

He shifted uncomfortably. “Maybe we should talk about this.”

Her head snapped in his direction. “This?”

“This.” He made a general hand gesture.

“What’s this?” Her heart picked up speed.

He huffed, mildly annoyed. “The murders and the messages for you.”

“Oh. Yes.” She blinked, relieved.

“What did you think I meant?”

“Nothing.” She rubbed her eyes and began pacing the room. “It’s just some psychopath. There isn’t any depth to this, or hidden meaning.”

Nick watched her, incredulous. “Are you joking? This isn’t one of our run-of-the-mill lunatics. There must be a reason why it’s happening.”

“I don’t know who it could be. First Sophie, and now Courtney…”

“And who next?” He stood up, raising his hands. “And why them?”

“I think you should discuss this with the profiler.” Mackenzie dodged his piercing gaze. “You know this psychobabble isn’t my domain.”

“Since when was trying to figure out a killer’s motivationpsychobabble.”

“Since it involves me!” she cried. Tears of exhaustion swam in her eyes. “Can we please just focus on the facts and evidence?”

Nick stared at her for a few seconds before nodding. “Sophie’s autopsy showed she was severely malnourished, though the tox screen couldn’t pick up any drugs in her system.”

“Which makes sense, since there was evidence that she was held captive.”

“Upon further analysis, Becky mentioned that there were hesitation marks around her neck.”

“Hesitation marks?” Mackenzie queried. “From when she was strangled?”

“Yes, the markings on the skin and bruises on the hyoid bone indicate that the killer hesitated while strangling her.”