“Oh, for God’s sake. You’re such a drama queen.” She followed him into the same room they’d been in yesterday. Jace was already there. “Jace, help me, he’s gone insane.”
“Went insane a long time ago, baby girl,” Jace commented, turning in his chair to give her a wink. “Pull up a chair, I have that footage you wanted to see again.”
Nerves bubbling in her stomach, she sat. Jace hit play. Rory stumbled, her boyfriend caught her then he pulled her tight and squeezed her ass. A few seconds later, he turned and looked at the camera. And he made a quick signal with his hand.
“Can you zoom in on his hand and slow it down?”
“Sure thing.” Jace zoomed in.
“He’s flipping the bird upside down?” Travis asked.
“No.” Her breath sawed in and out of her lungs. “First he makes a V then he taps his middle finger three times. It’s Roman numerals. Eight.”
“Eight? Eight what?” Travis turned to her.
“Eight victims.”
Travis stilled. “Eight victims? What victims? Who?”
“The Latin Lothario,” she said, feeling numb.
“But it can’t be. He’s dead. Besides there were seven victims,” Jace pointed out.
“Rory is number eight,” she said, feeling numb.
“Do you think he’s a copycat?” Jace asked.
“I suppose so,” she said, rubbing her forehead. There was something else worrying her. She stood and started to pace, thinking. “Rory called him her Latin lover.”
“You think he used Latin phrases in his letters to her?” Travis asked. “Just like the Latin Lothario? How many bastards out there know Latin?”
“He never wrote down any Latin phrases in the letters he sent to me.”
Travis turned to her. “Which I always thought was weird.”
“Is he coming after you?” Jace asked. “He’s taken Rory, your boyfriend’s sister, that’s one connection to you. He brought her here, another connection to you.”
“I think he wanted me to see this. I think was a message for me. He’s saying Rory is going to be victim number eight.” She could already be. That sick feeling grew.
“Say he is a copycat, how could he know that you were targeted by the original Latin Lothario?” Travis asked. “It was never in the news. We haven’t told anybody. Have you?”
She shook her head.
“Does your boyfriend know?”
“His name is Gray, as you well know. And no, I haven’t told him. I didn’t tell anyone at Black-Gray.”
Jace whistled. “He’s going to be pissed.”
Yes, he really would.
“So that leaves the FBI,” Travis said. “Someone there leaked the information.”
She guessed that was the logical explanation. But it didn’t make much sense. What were the odds someone leaking this information would lead this guy to target her in some sort of sick game? But what other explanation was there?
“There’s something else.” She cleared her throat, staring down at the screen into his face. You don’t scare me. No, he terrified her.
“Remember how my profile for the Latin Lothario was wrong or at least everyone thought it was wrong since the Latin Lothario they killed didn’t match it at all. I said he was middle-aged, probably well off, targeting girls who were looking for a father figure.” She pointed at the screen. “Someone more like him.”