He detected apprehension in her voice. “I’d planned to. I’m fuckin’ starved. Do you want to order a pizza?”
“Okay. I could eat a slice or two.”
Thirty minutes later, they were snuggled on the couch, chomping on pizza and watching TV. If he were at the club, he’d be downing shots, watching his brothers fuck, and getting hit on by scantily clad women.I’ll take a night of pizza and Hailey next to me any day.
And that surprised the hell out of him.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Detective Jack Barnardperused the crime scene photos for the umpteenth time, trying to pick up something he may have missed. His chief had loaned him out to help Sheriff Wexler and his department to find and stop the serial rapist who’d just been elevated to a murderer.
“Pick up any new clues?” Wexler said as he placed a cup of coffee on Barnard’s desk, then slumped in the chair in front of it.
Shaking his head, he picked up the coffee and took a sip. “Something happened that night that made the perp change his MO.”
“Maybe she recognized him,” Wexler said.
“I agree. Killing her became necessary to avoid being caught, but now that he’s done it, he has a taste for it. I’ll bet he experienced the ultimate high. From what the previous victims told us, this bastard gets off on control, but more importantly, the terror he inflicts. Knowing you’re about to die is the ultimate fear, and he’s not going to stop.”
“Shit. Now we got a rapist and murderer? Where the fuck did this one come from? We’ve never had something like this in our county.”
“He could be a newcomer, or perpetrated his crimes elsewhere. He’s meticulous in making sure he doesn’t leave any evidence, but he fucked up this time. Two types of blood were found on the carpet. My guess is he cut himself while killing the victim.”
“Did DNA come back?”
“Not yet. They’re backlogged, but once we get it, we’ll put it in the national database and hope we get a hit. There’s a connection to Cherry Vale. Two out of six of his victims came from there. Aren’t there a string of suspicious patient deaths from there?”
Wexler nodded. “Three of the patients had above normal doses of a heart medicine in their system, and one of them had an abnormally high level of insulin. But these people were old, and there were no signs of sexual molestation. Besides, this rapist is all over the place with the women he goes after. Some are in their forties and fifties, some young and blonde, some brunette. There doesn’t seem to be a pattern.”
“I disagree. The pattern is blonde, curvy, in her twenties, and connected to Cherry Vale. I think the others are random to throw us off his pattern. He thinks he’s real smart, so he goes after women who aren’t his actual type to make us think it’s all random. He’s attacking in all parts of town rather than one specific area. But the only thing he’s been consistent about is the two women who work at Cherry Vale.That’shis pattern.”
“So the old people dying is to throw us off?”
“Could be.” Barnard scrubbed his face. “We gotta get this bastard before he strikes again. I can guarantee the next attack will end in murder.”
Jack Barnard knew his stuff. He’d seen a lot of horrible things people did to each other, especially when he worked at the Los Angeles Police Department. After years of the rat race, he decided to relocate to a smaller city. When he’d visited the southwestern part of Colorado, he’d fallen in love with it. He’d spent several vacations in the area, so when a position came up with the Durango police department, he applied. When he got the job, he was elated. He packed up the few things he had and never looked back. He loved working for a small department and being able to devote most of his time to his cases.
When his chief sent him to Alina to help out with the rapist case, he’d thought he’d be able to get in there, figure it out, and stop the bastard, but it wasn’t playing out that way. Now a woman had been murdered, and that made Barnard madder than hell. This sick bastard thought he was smarter than the cops, but he’d made a mistake and left his DNA at the scene. That’s the way it was with serial criminals when they started to feel too cocky. It usually happened that way, and that’s when Barnard would zoom in for the kill. He just hoped he’d be able to find the killer before he struck again.
And the only thing certain was that the bastard would strike again.
Barnard would bet his life on it.
Chapter Twenty-Five
For the pastcouple of weeks, Hailey had been on top of the world, and her relationship with Goldie played a big part in her happiness. She’d never been involved with a man who made her feel as special as he did. And the sex was beyond fantastic. She never knew her body could feel so delicious. Since they’d given in to their desire, they’d been at it nonstop, and she didn’t dare wear anything low-cut or too revealing because her body was covered with love bites. When she looked at them, her insides would flutter; she loved seeing his mark on her.
“That guy looks kind of suspicious,” Ellie, one of her employees, said to her.
Hailey looked up and saw a man standing by the ribbons and bows. He looked familiar, but she couldn’t quite place where she knew him from. “I’ll take care of it,” she replied to Ellie and walked over to him.
“Can I help you?” She racked her brain, trying to remember how she knew him.
“Hi. How’re you doing?” he asked as his dark eyes bored into hers.
“Fine. I’m sorry, but you look familiar. Have we met?”
His eyes narrowed. “You don’t recognize me? I’m Kingsley. I work at Cherry Vale.”
