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She hid a smirk. “They’re pretty busy. Maybe a week? Two?”
“Now wait a minute!” the man with the shotgun exclaimed. “This is my damn livelihood. I can’t close down for that long. Are you insane?”
“But we need a warrant,” said Rachel, glancing back at him. “Right?”
He paused. Then frowned, suddenly realizing he was being strongarmed. “Ah… shit,” he said. “Fine. Wait right here.”
He muttered something under his breath as he turned away, and Rachel stiffened at the racial insult.
“Hey!” Ethan snapped after the retreating man, but the fellow with the shotgun pretended he hadn’t said anything and continued on his way.
“It’s fine,” Rachel said, holding Ethan’s arm. “Let it go. We’re getting what we want.”
He looked at her. “You deal with this shit often?”
She nodded. “Mhmm.”
He ran a hand through his sandy-brown hair, his eyes flashing above his pronounced cheekbones. Vaguely, an errant thought distracted her. Ethan looked quite… nice… when he was angry.
But she kept the thought to herself as the nursery owner returned, waving a piece of paper like a white flag.
“Here. Customers and employees,” he snapped. “Now can you get off my property?”
Rachel took the paper from him, scanning the list quickly. “Thank you,” she said, handing it over to Ethan. “We’ll be in touch.”
The man nodded once, his shotgun still in hand as he watched them leave. Rachel could feel his eyes on her back as they walked away, and she tried to ignore the unease that crept up her spine.
“That was intense,” Ethan said once they were back in their car. “You handled it well.”
Rachel shrugged, her mind still on the man with the shotgun. “It’s part of the job,” she said, glancing over at him.
They drove in silence for a few minutes, the tension slowly dissipating. Rachel couldn’t help but steal glances at Ethan, taking in the way the sunlight caught on his hair and the rigidity of his athletic frame. She shook her head slightly, trying to clear her mind.
“So, where to next?” Ethan asked, breaking the silence.
Rachel consulted the list of names on her phone. “Gotta narrow the list somehow.”
“Could check for priors?”
“Might not be a repeater.”
“Could narrow based on age and physical ability. Not easy to lug a body through oil fields.”
She nodded and began tapping away at the screen, determined to findsomethingto give them a lead.
A monster still lurked in the dark. And they were on his trail.
CHAPTER TEN
The moon hung low in the sky, casting an eerie glow on the deserted street. It was as if nature itself conspired with the darkness within the vehicle.
The truck rumbled to life, drowning out the sound of her whimpers. The victim lay in the back, her once pristine white blouse stained with dirt and sweat, her makeup smeared from her frantic tears. Her chest heaved as she tried to control her breathing, fear clawing at her insides like a feral beast.
He watched her in the rearview mirror, savoring her terror. Studying her fear, the widening of her eyes, the panting breaths.
“Please,” she whispered again, her voice barely audible above the growl of the truck’s engine. “I have a family.”
The man’s grip tightened on the steering wheel, his knuckles turning white. He glanced in the rearview mirror again, catching a glimpse of her tearful eyes and trembling form. For a moment, something stirred within him—something alarmingly close to guilt.
