Page 158 of Chameleon Killer

The unsub said something too low for the system to immediately resolve. Static chewed through the first few words.

Then his voice cleared. “Elliot wants control.”

I stopped breathing. Mallory's expression changed. Not dramatically. Her head tilted slightly. The corner of her mouth tightened. Then she said, “He does.”

Carter looked at me. I ignored him.

Onscreen, Mallory continued. “He thinks that's the same thing as protecting me.”

My jaw locked.

The unsub answered. “And you allowed him to have it.”

A pause.

Mallory looked down. “Not anymore.”

Something inside me went perfectly quiet.

Carter said nothing.

He didn't have to. I could feel his attention on me.

“That's enough,” I said.

Ruiz’s voice came over the headset. “Sir?”

“Flag that segment.”

“Just do it.” I wasn’t going to explain it. Not right now.

Carter folded his arms. “You going to profile that too?”

“I don't need to.”

“No?”

“He's isolating her from law enforcement.”

“Interesting interpretation,” he released a faint huff.

I looked at him. “You have another?”

“Several.”

“I'm sure you do.”

His expression hardened.

I returned my attention to the screen. Mallory was smiling. Not broadly. Barely a smile at all. But I knew that smile.

I'd seen it when she'd found something everyone else missed. When someone surprised her. When an answer opened another question rather than closing one.

The unsub had learned how to draw it from her. That bothered me more than anything else I'd heard.

Flint could stand beside her. Protect her. Feed her coffee and give her somewhere to sleep and pretend that their proximity meant something.

It didn't.