Page 18 of Unbearable

“Have you tried following her when she goes out?” Knox asked.

“She knows me, and I can’t ask any of the plain clothes guys to do it without bringing in the police. If it is just cheating, I’d be laughed out of the office.”

“Okay, let me work on it. She knows me too, and I don’t exactly blend into the crowd. I know a guy, though, who’s pretty good at following people. Makes a decent living from doing it. Let me get him on it. In the meantime, one of those bags has cannoli from Mike’s if you’re interested.”

“If I’m interested,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes. She snatched the bag off the counter and returned to her seat. Halfway through the first cannoli, Knox took the bag from her. “I have killed for less,” she teased.

“I’m willing to take the chance,” he answered. They sat in silence as they blazed through several cannoli each. Finally, Knox took a long pull on his beer before turning to face her again. “So what’s the deal with the dead guy at the school?”

“I can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” she answered, licking her fingers clean.

“Yeah, yeah. Who am I going to tell? I don’t know anyone around here. Besides, I have government clearance.”

“How?” she asked, then reconsidered. “You know what, never mind. Here’s what I can tell you. We think this is at least number three. They’re all successful businessmen or professionals. We haven’t put a name to number three, but based on his haircut, manicure, and lack of calluses on his hands, we’re thinking he’s the same.

“All of them have been killed somewhere else and posed at a private school in the city. They’re all strangled with something like a belt, and they’ve all been wearing a Catholic medallion of a saint. That part isn’t public, so if you leak it, I’ll rip you apart.”

“You might want to see someone about your violent tendencies.” She glared at him, but he just smirked. “Do you have any idea who it is?”

“Not yet. I will though, if I can hang onto the case.”

“Someone taking it over?”

“I’m sure the boss will want someone more senior than me to run with it. The feds will be brought in soon, I’d guess. You know how they like a good serial killer. The autopsy today turned up nothing. Body was completely clean—no fingerprints, blood trace, nothing.”

“Do you want me to poke around and see if I find out anything?”

“Poke around how?”

“I have connections,” he answered. “State Department, FBI, Houston welding union, several cities I’ve been asked not to return to.”

“You know when you say things like that, I almost think I could grow to like you.”

Bailey was bent over her computer hunting for where the code had broken on her current project when she heard her doorbell ring. She debated for a moment ignoring it. She hated to be interrupted when she was on the hunt for that tiny mistake in a long string of computer code. The bell rang for a second time, so she got up and walked to her front door.

“Hi,” Fox said when she opened it. “I was checking on a job a couple of blocks over and thought you might like to go for lunch. If you’re busy, though, I’d understand.”

“No,” she barked. “No, that sounds nice,” she tried again a little less aggressively. “Let me just go find some socks and shoes. Come in, I’ll just be a moment.”

Leaving the door open for him, she raced back upstairs to see what she could do with her current condition in the few minutes she had.

Since Bailey worked from home, she didn’t always dress to go out. Quickly, she traded out her ratty workout shorts for a nice pair. A simple T-shirt would have to do for now. Grabbing her sandals from the closet, she headed back downstairs. Fox had moved into the living room, so she took the extra minutes to throw her hair into a ponytail.

“Sorry, I’m almost ready.” She hopped around the entry trying to pull her shoes on.

“You’re good.”

“I thought you worked mostly on the south side,” she said.

“Yeah, well, my boss has me running all over town now. You’ll have to pick lunch. I’m not up on food this side of the city.”

“Sure, no problem.” She followed him outside where he opened the door of his truck for her. She slid into the passenger side and watched as he walked around the hood. She took a moment to look around the truck. It was the first time she had ever been inside the work truck. She took a deep breath of the smell of his cologne.

“Doing okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, good.” She worried for a minute he had caught her sniffing the seats.

“It’s already so damn hot out, I’m afraid the truck doesn’t take long to heat up.”