Rylla couldn’t help but smile back. “I guess you’re better than nothing.”
“So, you and Nate are a couple now?” Naomi asked as she eased her huge self down onto the couch.
“We are.” It felt so right to say it out loud, it made it feel much more real like it wasn't just her and Nate holed up in her home playing house.
“I'm so happy, for both of you. You deserve some happiness again, and Nate’s great, you two make an amazing couple.”
“Yeah, well, you can stop playing matchmaker now,” she pretended to grumble.
“True, now I’ll get to play wedding planner.”
“You'regoing to plan my wedding?” Rylla laughed. “You? I remember when we were planning your wedding, you didn't care about any of those details. Flowers, bridesmaids’ dresses, menus, table decorations. Getting you to make decisions was a nightmare.”
“None of that stuff was important to me, all I cared about was marrying the man I loved.”
Although she still missed Josh every day, the thought of being married again was a good one.
“And maybe one day you and Nate might have children together.” Naomi rested a hand on her stomach. “I know you’ll always have a special place in your heart for Elianna, but it would be nice to have another baby with Nate.”
Rylla’s hands moved to her own stomach. “Yeah, it would,” she agreed. Her daughter would always be her first born, but it would be amazing to have a child with the new man in her life. Maybe marriage and babies were in her future after all.
* * * * *
10:01 A.M.
“We’re going to have to start over from scratch, go over everything we know about the Fairytale Killer and make sure our profile still fits. We haven't been able to get a warrant to go through the Happily Ever After Club’s list of paying customers because we don’t have a name.” Heidi Kramer looked frustrated.
Nate didn't know the captain well, but what he did know about her was that she was smart as a whip, efficient, good at her job, and full of energy which she usually released by constantly fiddling with something. Right now, she was vigorously squeezing a sheep shaped stress ball.
While he had agreed to come here because it was what Rylla wanted, and what would make her feel better, it didn't mean he liked being away from her.
And he didn't.
He ached to be back in the cabin with her, where he could keep an eye on her, where he could be there to comfort her, where he could be there to help her deal with her claustrophobia. He trusted Anton to keep any threats away, and he knew Naomi would provide good distractions. He knew she was safe, that was the only reason he had come, but that didn't make being away from her any easier.
“What do we know for sure about this killer?” Heidi asked.
“He met all his victims except for Rylla in the Happily Ever After Club,” Jonathon said.
“The name he used for each of them translated to Prince Charming,” Allina said.
“But the story he gave each about who he was was different,” Matthew added.
“Based on the age of the victims we assume his in his mid to late thirties, but again that’s just an assumption,” Allina said.
“He somehow found out the dress sizes of each woman because the custom princess dresses he sent them for the dates, and that they were found in, were a perfect fit. Our assumption, especially given that the Drake kids saw someone in their house, is that the killer broke into the homes of his victims at some point,” Jonathon said.
“He needed a vehicle that he could transport his victims in, and although we thought limousine because Jaden Kite had access to them, I think it’s still a reasonable assumption. It fits with the fairytale theme of the date, and it gives him a safe place to have an unconscious victim stowed away without anyone seeing. And he’d have to knock them out almost immediately because he can't drive and be with them, but he can't bring in someone to drive, so however he sedates them or ties them up he would have to do it as soon as they got to the car,” Matthew said.
“Based on the first four victims, he was after someone he believes was cultured and would make a suitable wife. Based on the wounds to the victim’s backsides he intends to punish them until they learn his rules. Rylla throws off the profile of what he was looking for,” Jonathon said.
“Whatever Mila told him about her was obviously enough to catch his interest,” Allina agreed.
Nate didn't want to think about Rylla as this killer’s target. If he thought too much about it, he would be back in his car driving out to the cabin, where he would handcuff himself to Rylla and whisk her out of the country until this killer was caught. He had to distance himself a little. Not focus on Rylla as a potential victim. He had to look at this like he would any other case he worked.
So far he’d sat quietly, listening to the cops work, now he asked, “What about Beau Drake?”
“Mila’s husband?” Heidi asked.