One month between each kill. The time frame hasn’t been changed, and it doesn’t look like the unsub is falling apart any time soon, if ever. I was hoping for a rapid devolution that would cause him to start slipping up by now.
“We’ve checked the bodies over. All the flesh is left behind, and the hair is intact. Also, none of the males were missing jewelry or other personal items, but we can’t know for sure, since they all lived alone and had no one to account for their belongings.”
We’re missing something, damn it. And it’s driving me crazy.
“Go home and get some rest. You’ve been here all night,” Elise goes on, placing her hand on my shoulder. “A mind works better after some rest.”
“Dig deeper into the town’s past. Something has happened there that we don’t know about, and—”
“Rest,” she interrupts. “I know how to do my job. You’re useless if you don’t sleep.”
Cursing, I stand up and close the file, packing it up as Elise leaves with Leonard to head up north to Delaney Grove. It’s an odd town name, and I know I’ll have to see it for myself to get any real answers.
Just as I reach the door, Craig catches up to me.
“Did frostbite girl ever g
ive you a call?” he asks, sounding bored. But I know it still pisses him off that she blew him off and chased me down. Even though he viewed the facts out of context and refused to take in the real process of those events.
Again, that’s why he sucks at profiling, but he’s good at public relations—his place on our team.
I open my mouth to tell him no, knowing it will make him feel vindicated and delighted, but my phone rings. My brow furrows when I see the unknown number, and I answer.
“Bennett here,” I answer.
“You use your last name when answering a phone, as though the person on the other line might not know whom they’ve just dialed. It’s a very impersonal greeting, which makes me wonder if you also struggle with detachment issues, Agent Bennett,” a familiar, feminine voice drawls.
My smile immediately forms, and I wink at Craig as he watches me, waiting for me to put him out of his nosy misery.
“So you really waited the standard three days to give me a call back?”
“Technically, I waited a nonconventional four days.”
Right. I haven’t been to sleep since we found the latest victim yesterday morning. I’m running on caffeine and sugar.
“Sorry. I’ve been up all night. It’s not another day until I’ve slept, so I’m still on day three. Will I have to wait four days in between all your calls? Or am I allowed to use this number when I want to?” I ask her, watching as Craig groans and huffs, pouting as he moves out of my way.
“Why have you been up all night?” she asks, diverting the question I asked her.
It’s a typical reaction from someone with detachment issues.
“My job. I miss a lot of sleep, and spend a lot of time on the road. I guess I need to say that now before asking you out on a date I may or may not have to cancel because of said job.”
I decide to toss everything out there right away, knowing she’s already skittish and leery of trusting. The second I read her, she went from cold to haunted in a blink, and those haunted green eyes have been seared into my memory.
With her defenses down, she was lost, almost worried about being hurt just from speaking to me. Call it a hero complex, but I found myself drawn to her right then.
“Good to know. I miss a lot of things too, and I keep weird hours.”
My smile only grows, since she’s opening up.
“What do you do?” I ask her.
She laughs lightly, and it’s a damn good laugh to hear. It doesn’t fit her. And it’s an easy, free laugh, as though she’s not even the same girl I spoke to a few days ago.
“I have an online buy, sell, and trade store. I take a cut from each sell or trade made, and I have to vet some of them if the deal looks too good to be true. For instance, I might have to take a spontaneous trip in the middle of the night if someone in Florida is trying to trade a million dollar yacht for ten thousand dollar car. I can’t approve a trade like that until I physically inspect the merchandise and see the proper paperwork. For sales, I can just hold the money paid until the property gets transferred. Trades, however, have to be done by the customers. I’m just a third party arranger who occasionally inspects.”
Listening to her talk with such ease is a little confusing to the way I had her depicted… I profiled her as detached and defensive, not easy-natured. Maybe I’m off my game because I’m tired and hearing ease when it’s really strain.