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“He’s charismatic and girls trust him easily. Instead of bringing a girl flowers, he would go overboard and buy her jewelry in a vain attempt to impress her. To keep her. To buy her attention because at his core that’s what he craves. I’m guessing he wanted Sam’s attention and she turned him away. He convinced himself that he was in love with her, but she wouldn’t give him the chance to show her. That would have angered him, hurt his feelings.” My mind is reeling as I tuck a stray strand of hair behind my ear and take a deep breath before continuing.
Jay watches my every move intently, my skin heating beneath his stare. He’s making it hard to focus. A fact he knows, and judging by the smile on his face, he’s proud of the effect he has on me.
“More than likely, he had been watching her for a while. There are two main types of killers. Organized and unorganized. The man who killed Sam falls into the organized category. He planned this. He knew what he was doing. I’d classify him as a pathological, obsessive killer. That’s a big part of why I think it’s someone local. Sam was habitual. She always took the same path home through the park. She worked the same schedule at both the Java Bean and Riley’s every week. But we were all gone on spring break. There was no chance you were picking her up and giving her a ride. No chance I was working that night. He was prepared when he attacked her, which means somehow he knew she would be there when she wouldn’t have under normal circumstance.”
The pieces are starting to fall into place as an image of a man with no face clouds my vision. He’s dressed in black head to toe. A hood pulled over his head, blocking his face. I have to shake my head to make him go away.
“He’s probably a regular at Riley’s. That could be how he knows her. Something Mindi said tonight struck me as odd. She said she should have been there, watching out for Sam. She and I were the ones who used to close on Sunday nights. It was like that since I started. She had regulars that would come to visit her. It makes me wonder if it’s one of them. Someone who knew Mindi wouldn’t be there. He wouldn’t be missed that night and he knew Sam was going to be there instead of me.”
“Don’t you think you’re digging a little too deep into something that could be a pure coincidence?”
Grinding my teeth to keep from saying something mean and nasty, I glare at Jay for a few minutes without defending my position. This is what I do. I dig deeper. The little details often seem insignificant when they’re actually the glue that holds the puzzle together. We need to figure out those details.
Once I feel I can compose myself, I take a deep breath and let it out.
“That’s my job, Jay. To look at every potential aspect. To try and walk in his shoes. I will never understand why they do what they do completely, but I can attempt to see how he planned it out. Because this was premeditated. Which means he’d been planning this for a while. Which is how he was able to gather materials from out of town without drawing suspicion.”
“That! That’s what we need to find out who he is. The rope. We need to find out who sells rope that length.”
“It’s been five years, Jay. If the initial investigation had caught it, there would have been a chance to link it back to a suspect. It would have been slim even back then, though. He’s smart. His moves are calculated. He would have paid cash. Bought the tape and the rope from different store in different cities on different days. He’s that organized. That calculated. He would have anticipated being caught and took every precaution to avoid it.”
“And he left no DNA behind,” he says, frustration clear in the way he lets out a huff of air.
“He wore gloves. More than likely a hat. Dressed in dark clothing. The fact that it rained that night worked in his favor. If there had been any DNA is would have been washed away.”
“Which brings us back to square one. A male, from Great Falls, who is a closet murderer that no one would ever suspect. This town is full of friendly faces. It could literally be anyone at this point.”
“Actually, we’re probably closer than you think. Remember, we’re building a profile for the police. Yes, we have the files and all the information and that helps our profile become more complete. At the end of the day, though, all I’ll be able to do is present the profile to the chief and his officers. If they can identify a potential suspect, that’s great. If not, we can’t do much more to hand them the person responsible. We’ve weeded out people who don’t fit the description. We have a complete timeline of events. That will help them narrow down the suspect pool even further.”
Silence descends upon us. This is the worst part of my job. Not being able to pinpoint who the suspect is by name. I know his personality. I often understand what drives him to kill. But his identity is a mystery.
Which is a big part of why I stepped away from working with active investigations and focus now on studying those that have already been caught. The criminals that have given us every detail about themselves. The pieces of the puzzle are already in front of me. I just need to fit them together so we have the entire picture and not just a snapshot.
Picking up all the files strewn around the room, Jay and I crawl in bed shortly after midnight. My mind is still reeling yet I fall asleep in minutes, his warm embrace making me feel safe after spending hours dissecting more details of Sam’s murder.
When my alarm goes off a little after six o’clock, I reach for Jay, but his side of the bed is empty, the sheet still warm. Tossing back the blanket, my feet hit the cold, hardwood floor, sending a chill up my spine. Reaching for my phone, I contemplate calling him to see where he went when the door slowly creaks open and Jay slides in.
He’s freshly showered, his hair still damp. Little water drops are scattered across his shoulders and the back of his T-shirt, causing the light gray to darken.
It’s obvious by the way he closes the door he’s unaware that I’m awake. He’s turning the handle and holding it in a vain attempt to keep the latch from sounding. When it finally slides into place, the sound echoing through the room, Jay’s shoulders tense as he slowly turns to face the bed.
He visibly relaxes when he sees I’m already awake. He has two cups of coffee in his left hand, this time in signature Hideaway mugs. They’re deep red with the B&B’s logo on the front in white and black etching.
“Raiding the coffee station without me?” I joke, standing and taking the outstretched mug from him.
“I figured you would sleep a little longer and thought coffee would be a peace offering after last night.”
Last night?
“And why would you need a peace offering?” I ask, blowing across the steaming liquid before taking a small sip.
Jay’s eyes watch my lips in fascination, his tongue darting out, licking his bottom lip as I pull the mug away.
“I was a little frustrated and I didn’t want you to think it was with you. This case has me wanting to pull my hair out,” he explains, stepping closer, taking back my coffee and setting both mugs on the table behind me. When he grips my hips, my body seems to come alive.
Just one touch. A simple caress of the skin. That’s all it takes for me to want him. To consider climbing his body like a tree and wrapping myself around him.
It’s always been that way. My body has always responded to his touch which is why I used to avoid it at all costs. I couldn’t hide my reaction to him, and the last thing I wanted was for Sam to notice. To see the lust in my eyes that I was harboring for her boyfriend. Or worse, the lust in his that should have been reserved for her.
I would give him a wide berth when he’d walk near me. Avoided putting myself in a room alone with him. I’d sit across the room or on the other side of Sam if necessary. Anything to avoid him brushing up against me and causing a reaction I wouldn’t be able to hide.
The one thing I never could avoid was his stare, though. His eyes seemed to find mine in the crowd. Speaking to me without words. Telling me everything I wanted to hear at a time when those very words, if spoken aloud, would have been the catalyst that destroyed both of our relationships with Sam.
Those same eyes are staring into mine right now. Communicating with me in a way I feel deep in my soul. The difference between this moment and all those stolen glances of our past?
No one is here to stop us from showing each other how we feel with actions. From speaking the words that would have brought our world crashing down around us all those years ago.
After the fight I put up, resisting the pull Jay had on me, my entire life fell apart anyway. It shattered into pieces with one phone call.
