Dammit.
He leaned back, raked his hands through his hair. “Easy to say. Hard to do.”
“Not for me.” She shot him a smarmy grin. “I spoke with a few neighbors.”
“And?”
“The next-door neighbor of the first L thought he heard something around midnight. He woke up, looked outside. When he saw nothing, he went back to sleep, thinking he’d been dreaming. I left several messages with other neighbors and I’ll stay on this.”
“Nice work.”
She nodded. “Okay, Dillinger. Your turn.”
“All five women were twenty or twenty-one,” he said. “I started with a background check on Kurt’s fiancée, Kayleen. She went to an all-girls boarding school in Virginia. I ran checks on the other four vics. They all graduated from the same school.”
“Nice work,” she said. “A gunshot wound between the eyes is a revenge kill.”
“Kurt was the exception,” he said. “He got killed because he was at the wrong place, wrong time.”
Anger and heartache jumped to the surface. He slapped his laptop closed. “I gotta take a break.”
At the doorway, he stopped. Compassion and love stared back.
She rushed into his arms while he held her close.
“I’m sorry,” she murmured. “We can’t bring Kurt back, but we can fight hard to bring closure to your family, to all the families. I won’t stop until we find this monster.” Determination shone in her eyes like a beacon.
He kissed her. Didn’t give a fuck if anyone walked in, didn’t care if the entire damn organization found out. He was flat-out crazy about this woman.
“Let’s go home,” he said.
The significance of those three little words should have scared the hell out of him.
But they didn’t.
Her beautiful smile gave him hope. And that wasexactlywhat he needed.
19
JUST ROOMMATES
Britain
Brit swung by Addison and Hawk’s townhouse. Neither were home, so she packed up, and left a note.
Addison and Hawk,
Thank you soooo much for letting me stay here. I’m crashing at Rebel’s until I can find a place.
Love you, Brit
Next stop, the grocery store. With that errand completed, she drove to Rebel’s luxury condo.
Stop overthinking this. It’s temporary. You’ve got your own bedroom and bathroom. Yeah, like that’s gonna stop me. How am I going to keep my hands off him?
By the time she pulled up to his building, a bass drum pounded in her head. Releasing a frustrated sigh, she called him.
“Hey,” he answered. “Are you here?”
