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A sob escaped me. “No.”
“You’ve always been quite fond of butterflies, haven’t you?”
He knew too much about me. He had to have been watching…but for how long? My whole life? This was all too much. My head throbbed and my stomach ached. The thought that he had been following me made me want to puke. “I can’t do this,” I squeaked, all logic leaving my brain. The only thing I could think of was that I wanted this to be over. I wanted to look this man in the eye and make him face me.
I jerked my head with all the force I could. My heart jumped into my throat.
He cursed as a burst of pain flashed against my head, and the world fell away.
39
Reid
All four of my brothers stood around me, jaws and eyes sharp enough to kill. We were gathered in August’s Hearthstone office, and I’d explained everything that I knew.
August crossed his arms over his chest. “There’s definitely something wrong here.” He looked at Fox leaning against the desk. “Is there any way you could track Xander’s phone?”
Fox arched a brow. “You got his number?”
I pulled out my phone and sent Fox the contact. “Just sent it to you.”
Fox pushed off the desk. “I’m on it.” His phone dinged, and he headed out the door.
August’s gaze shifted to Graham. It surprised me he’d shown up—not because he didn’t care, but because he kept to himself a lot. “What do you think?”
Graham smoothed down the blue button-up that matched his eyes. “I’d need to know more to give a proper assessment, but you’re right. If neither of them can be reached and Xander was last seen with her…it’s not looking good.”
I swallowed down another wave of nausea. “Do you think Xander would hurt her?”
Graham’s fingers toyed with one of the buttons of his shirt. “I don’t know him well enough.” He shook his head. I had considered Xander a friend throughout the years we’d worked together, but Graham only met him a handful of times.
“From what I do know of him,” Graham continued, “it’s not out of the realm of possibility.” His expression hardened. “The Cohen family has always been well respected, but not everything is as it seems on the surface. Prisoners at the county jail have painted a whole different picture of the former sheriff. Growing up with a father like that couldn’t have been easy.”
I stiffened. As a forensic psychologist, Graham worked with inmates often.
It didn’t make sense, though. Even if Xander was capable of hurting Lark, I didn’t understand why he would. Why would he take her? Why would he hide evidence? I was missing a huge piece of the puzzle, and it was infuriating.
My jaw worked as my mind whirred. I locked eyes with Graham, my head pounding as I tried to make sense of this mess. “There is a theory I’ve been pondering,” I said.
Graham tilted his head to the side. “A theory?”
“About Shadow Stalker.”
A shadow crossed Graham’s face. Those gray-blue eyes of his darkened. I didn’t know why I hadn’t brought this up to him before. Everything was happening so quickly.
Ever since Thea’s murder, Graham had been particularly obsessed with Shadow Stalker’s case. He had tried to bury himself so far into the mind of the damn serial killer that he almost lost himself trying to figure out who the man was. It had been scary.
“Tell me,” Graham demanded. “I’ve probably already considered it at this point.”
“Two killers.” I held up a couple fingers. “Emersyn Hawthorn explained it on her podcast. She thinks that’s why Shadow Stalker’s MO was so different with Thea and Delainey. It was someone who went off script. Someone who’d worked with Shadow Stalker and knew his mark.”
Graham’s eyebrows furrowed. “Two killers?” He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so.”
My heart thudded. “Why not?”
He pushed a hand through his dark hair. “Shadow Stalker isn’t the type to work well with others. In my opinion, it’s close to impossible for him to have an accomplice. That’s not how he operates. He works alone. He wouldn’t trust anyone else with the kind of work that he does.”
A chill vibrated through me. What the hell was going on then? I winced as my head pounded again, the panic and anxiety surging.
