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“That’s a fucked-up way to look at it,” mumbled Kaden. He spoke louder. “I mean, if we say it’s more likely to be a spot that they would find the next ones on their list, shouldn’t they listen to us? We’ve found the last four sites by following the clues and sheer determination.”
Mark tossed his cell on the table. “Gutierrez listened to us and found the first bodies. He understood that you always work backward from your problem to find the solution quicker. What changed?”
Garrett leaned back in his chair and snorted. “What’s changed is that this is a high-profile case, and the supervisor is looking for a feather in his cap, so he has taken over the investigation. The Feds have been known to sacrifice their young if it gets them higher up the food chain.”
Monroe, true to his tactical thinking, spoke up. “We take it on ourselves. I’d add Arturo in if he wanted in, for his federal jurisdiction, but if not, then we go it alone.”
Levi whipped his chair around and faced the entire group from the end of the table. “That’s if we go through the front door. I say we go through the back door.”
“Fuck yeah. I haven’t been able to go dark in a while, and my skills are getting rusty,” said Carter.
Monroe realized that Sharlee and Kaden had found a place where bodies could have been buried more recently. Off the grid, on a supposed empty property, they’d found the former addresses of Romaine, and while there would be the temptation to try them first, what if he had only been doing it for twenty years? That would mean most of the sites they had would yield them nothing. It was better to start from where they had found Mallory and go backward.
“And if there is an accomplice or a copycat, we are more likely to find them in more recent times rather than later,” said Monroe.
Jac nodded. “The Feds think that there is no accomplice, and the copycat was a one-off.”
“What do you think?” asked Mark.
“My gut tells me they’re wrong.” Jac held his hand up as the room got restless. “But, I don’t have proof. If anything, the proof of silence would tell us they are right.”
Carter glanced around the table. “So, what’s the plan?”
Sharlee grinned. “I’m glad you asked.”
They sat around the table, formulating a game plan. Monroe texted Mallory to see if she was free.
***
“Hey, baby. Are you getting ready to have lunch?”
Mallory sighed. “I’m taking a late lunch because the other pharmacist needs to go to a school luncheon with her son.”
“That might be you in a handful of years.” Monroe’s voice had become rougher, eliciting salacious thoughts of being bound to his bed and at his loving mercy. It also brought to mind the simple fact that Monroe wanted to have babies with her. He had been open about his feelings, but Mallory didn’t feel like she could commit until this mess was over.
“Oh, you think so, huh?” she teased back, wishing they were sure of the future, and she could take it further.
“I know so. I also know that you won’t need to take off to do those things.”
“And just how am I going to go to school events in the daytime without taking time off?”
“By having your own pharmacy.”
“Having my own… how did you know?”
“That it was something you had thought about? Sweetheart, I told you that I might miss some things, but I’d always be listening and watching your cues. I can’t read your mind, but I can read your face, your body language, and now I’m so much better at interpreting things with you.”
“And you interpreted that to mean I’d want to have my own pharmacy?”
“Yep. You left lots of clues. You have been researching cost, business classes, even real estate. That could only mean a pharmacy in your line of work. I guess it could be a drugstore, but I don’t see you running one. No, a pharmacy is more in your wheelhouse.”
“I have to get back to work, but we’ll be talking about this later, Mister.”
“Is that the way you speak to your Dom?”
She laughed. “No, but it is the way I talk to my boyfriend. Look, I should go.”
“Mal, wait. Can you stay in for lunch? I don’t have anyone there to trail you. We have a job to do this afternoon, but I’ll get someone on the team to come by to check on you. Let me order you something.”
