Chapter Ten
Olin drew his hands into tight fists as he walked up to Kat’s house, the police cars parked out front something that made his heart speed.
He knew better than most what this many law enforcement could mean, how bad things could get, and even if heknewKat was safe, his body refused to believe it until he saw her.
“Detective Ramiz,” a uniformed officer said as he approached.
Olin wanted nothing more than to blow past the man, than to find Kat, to touch her, to reassure himself that nothing had happened to her. Still, he had enough discipline to stop himself and respond with a curt, “Yeah?”
“I’m surprised you came out.”
“I’m heading this case, aren’t I?”
The man’s cheeks paled, and Olin struggled to pull in his temper. It wasn’t the officer’s fault for his bad mood and it was a dick move to take it out on him.
Olin shook his head and rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Sorry. This case is just important to me and I wanted to come see it myself. Anything new?”
The man shook his head. “Nothing. Still no obvious evidence. Forensics may find something, but that’s about our only hope at this point. Blood all seems to belong to the victim—no identification yet. MO is just like the others we’ve found, so no doubt it they’re connected.”
“And Kat?”
The man frowned. “Katherine?”
Fuck. That’s right…“Yeah, Katherine,” Olin quickly amended. “I’ve dealt with her since her abduction, and she goes by Kat usually.”
The officer nodded, seeming to accept that. “She’s okay. Her and a friend were here, but the body was left without any direct contact. Seems you were right—it is connected to her. No reason to leave a body here until she was the target.”
Maybe Olin should have felt happy that he’d been right, but he sure as fuck didn’t. Instead, he was tense, on edge, sorry that Kat had gotten herself put in the middle of this mess. “You almost done collecting evidence?”
“Yeah. Just finishing a few things before we get out of here. We offered protection—”
“But she didn’t accept it, right?” Olin let out a rough laugh at that, at just howKatthat response was.
The girl wasn’t the type to sit back and let others take care of her. Plus, she seemed incredibly devoted to pretending like nothing at all had happened, and accepting police protection would only force her to admit to the problem.
“Let me go talk to her,” Olin said. “I doubt I can change her mind about the whole protective detail thing, but maybe I can at least convince her to lie low for a while and hide out with a friend.”
The officer nodded. “You want our final report before we head out?”
“No. I’ll look at it back at the station when I’m done here. The less we can disrupt her life, the better.”
With that, the officer left, and Olin entered the house.
Inside, he wasn’t shocked to find Dean and Bradley already there. He knew Bradley had been there when the body had been left, and no doubt the man had called Dean as well. Still, it wasn’t either of them that he wanted to see.
He pulled in a much-needed breath when he found Kat, sitting at the kitchen bar, her back to him, her fingers tracing the rim of a coffee cup. No steam escaped the top, making him guess she’d gotten it a while ago but had yet to drink it, letting it go cold instead.
It tugged at his heart in a way that surprised him. So many years in his line of work could harden a man—hadto harden a man if he was to keep doing the job.
Bradley walked up and kept his voice low. “Any news?”
Olin shook his head. “Nothing yet. They’re going to look more into the body, but I doubt it’ll be anything different from the others. Jerry covers his tracks well. How is she?”
Bradley glanced over his shoulder, the same worry in his eyes that Olin would guess was in his own. “Girl is blaming herself. She hasn’t said a word other than answering the cops’ questions.”
Boy was thatnota shock at all. Kat seemed all fun and games, but the woman worried about others to a fault. She was so much more soft-hearted than anyone would guess when first meeting her.
“She can’t stay here,” Olin said. “It’s not safe. I know she thinks Jerry won’t make a move, but give him enough time, and he’ll get tired of waiting.”