Chapter Eleven
It had been weeks since Gwendalyn’s ex-fiancé had shown up on my doorstep. Immediately, I had tried to track down the bastard, making the decision that everything would be easiest if he simply disappeared by my or Jason’s hand. The fucker was smarter than he looked, because after that day, it was like he had disappeared without a trace.
Gwendalyn wasn’t the same, either. She would never admit it, but I could tell she was simply going through the motions, going day to day on autopilot. Something had needed to change so that I could see the joy in her eyes again. When I remembered Oliver had his third birthday coming up, I had hoped she would take to the idea of planning something. Gwendalyn did not disappoint, taking no time at all to come up with some ideas. Within days, she had an entire itinerary for his birthday planned out and had even made up invitations for me to give to coworkers.
We would be hosting a barbeque at the house, complete with everything to make a three-year-old’s birthday dreams come true, which essentially meant Gwendalyn had him pick out whatever cake he wanted and she had ordered it. Oliver was ecstatic to show off his dinosaur cake, complete with dirt and volcano. If I didn’t know better, I was sure Gwendalyn and Oliver had an entire array of dinosaur decor for the party.
“How’re things at home, Tony?” Jason had come up from behind me, pulling me out of my thoughts. Leaning against my desk at the station where I had been trying to finish up paperwork before Jason and I got called somewhere, I looked up to find he had a shit-eating grin on his face, and it annoyed me.
“Why do you ask?” Giving my attention back to the scattered papers on my desk, I sifted through them, hoping Jason would take my obvious disinterest in the conversation as a hint to go away.
“Oh, no reason. Just wondering if you’ve finally broken down and admitted to yourself those true feelings you have for Gwen.” Internally groaning, I regretted telling him about the lingering touches and stolen kiss. She never brought it up, and in a moment of weakness, I asked for advice from Jason, which I had immediately regretted.
“I think it’s time you take that woman to bed,” he had told me. He had laughed at his own remark and I didn’t hesitate to punch him. Gwendalyn had grown almost cold toward me, giving me no further conversation than what was needed to debrief about Oliver. I was telling myself her withdrawal from me was because of a professional line she has drawn in the sand, not that she has suddenly found me repulsive.
Yes, I cared for Gwendalyn, but could I have trusted myself to fall for another woman after what happened with Kim?
“I will punch you again. Without hesitation.” Jason chuckled, pushing himself off my desk and grasped my shoulders, giving me a small shake. “Boss man wants to see us. You good?”
Straightening up the papers in front of me, I added them to the growing stack on the corner of my chaotic desk. Sometimes I wished Gwendalyn could organize every aspect of my life. Life had been so much easier since she came into our home. Oliver was happier too, getting the one-on-one attention he deserved. Gwendalyn may not believe me, but I was serious when I said we would figure this out together. If that poor excuse of an ex ever stepped back on my property, I would make sure he regretted ever laying a hand on her.
Grunting as I stood, Jason released my shoulders after giving them a squeeze. Turning to him, I motioned with my head for him to lead the way. “Let’s go.”
Following behind Jason, we made our way through the maze of desks to the captain’s office. Sitting behind his desk, Captain David Barlowe was flipping through a file when we entered. He was a quiet leader, only involving himself in our cases when absolutely necessary. Although Jason and I have never involved anyone else with our extracurricular activities, the worst cases always seemed to fall in our laps, as if our captain somehow knew.
“Sir, you wanted to see us?” Jason always was the one to make an entrance. He dropped into one of the chairs opposite our boss, stretching out his legs as he leaned back. Choosing to remain standing, I stood behind the other chair, gripping the back of it with my hands.
Finally looking up at us, Captain cleared his throat while closing the file he was looking at, then offering it to Jason. “I have a case for you.” He nodded toward the file that Jason was flipping through. Stepping behind Jason, I peered over his shoulder at the police reports as he handed me a stack of photographs. Flipping through them, each photo displayed a different woman with varying degrees of bruising. I started to notice a similarity to the bruising, as if the same person was the cause of each one.
Making eye contact with our boss, he nodded, his voice strained as he spoke what I had been thinking, “A serial rapist.”
“How do we know they’re all connected?” I asked, my eyes flicking back to the file in Jason’s hand.
“During the interview process, every woman described the exact same assailant. Male, late 30s, average height and build, black ski mask. He attacked them in parking lots at night outside of bars and clubs. The asshole also said the exact same thing to each woman. ‘You’re not her but you’ll do.’”
“Fuck,” Jason muttered under his breath. Continuing my examination of the photos, I mumbled my agreement. “These police reports are a mess, sir. It’s like these dumbasses had never interviewed someone before.” Jason offered me a police report that was covered in chicken scratch. There was no way anyone would be able to decipher it.
“Most of the assaults happened outside our jurisdiction. It wasn’t until someone connected the cases to one another that it got to us. For some reason, you two are well known for your investigations.” Jason chuckled and our captain looked at him questioningly.
“By the looks of it, there has been no physical evidence gathered that would help us track down this fucker,” I said, trying to keep the edge out of my voice, I exchanged the police report in my hand for another one from Jason. “Even if some of these women were willing to be interviewed again, it wouldn’t help us much. There’s no DNA to convict someone.
“Unfortunately, no,” the captain said. Jason and I exchanged a look. In order to catch this guy, we had to hope another woman was assaulted and came forward so we could do things the right way. Fuck, I hated this. Sighing, I gave Jason back what I had in my hands and he took them, tucking everything back into the file.
Jason then stood, nodding to our boss. “We’ll start putting together a profile based on what information we do have and reaching out to see who would be comfortable talking to us. Hopefully, it’ll help make sure if he does fuck around again, it’ll be the last time.”
After some profiling and a few interviews scheduled, Jason and I went to a coffee shop down the street from the station to grab a bite to eat. Walking in, the smell of coffee beans hit me and I could feel the energy immediately course through my veins. We ordered our things, stepping aside to grab a table and wait. I pulled out my phone, checking to make sure there were no messages from Gwendalyn. Even though I knew she had everything under control and was putting space between us, I could still hope.
“Tony?” My head snapped up at Jason’s voice. The concern on his face was genuine. “In all seriousness, how’s Gwendalyn?”
“I don’t know.” Putting my phone back in my pocket, I tried to keep the frustration out of my voice as I replied, but Jason has always been able to read my body language. My nerves were on edge and it was evident by my bouncing leg. I hadn’t been able to sit still since comforting Gwendalyn on the kitchen floor. She was scared, which meant I wasn’t doing my job. Add to that the fact that a trip to the warehouse hadn’t happened since the day I hired her, and I was wound tighter than Jack in the Box ready to pop open.
“Have you found the guy?” Jason asked.
“No. It’s like he fell off the face of the planet,” I groaned. “He hasn’t used any credit cards and he must have a new phone because finding a way to track him has been impossible. I had watched him leave that day, thinking I would be able to get a license plate, but all he did was walk.” Bringing my hands up, I scrubbed my face, shoving down the darkness that was threatening to surface at the mention of this fucker.
At that moment, our names were called. Jason jumped up, mumbling he would get everything before walking away. I tracked him as he flashed the barista a wink before returning with our food and drinks, putting everything down on the table.
“The good thing is, Oliver’s birthday has been a good distraction,” I muttered, reaching for my coffee.
“Oh man, I completely forgot about the little man’s birthday! When is his party again?” Jason asked, inhaling his food.
“Saturday. Gwendalyn has an entire itinerary planned down to the minute that I need to start cooking. Though I’m surprised she’s letting me after the breakfast fiasco.” I stared at my partner over my coffee cup. He laughed through the too large bite he had taken.
“Hey, I’d like to see you try to survive the hand I’ve been dealt, asshole,” I scoffed at Jason, setting down my coffee and shooting daggers at him.
“I’d love to show you how it’s done,” he winked. “If I was pining over a woman like that and knew she had even a sliver of the same feelings toward me, I’d be claiming her.”
“Well it’s a good thing you are in fact not in my shoes right now.”
“Maybe, but I may just have to shoot a shot with her on Saturday.”
“You wouldn’t dare.” I narrowed my eyes at him, unsure if he was being facetious or not.
“Wouldn’t I?” I was about to respond when our phones went off simultaneously. Knowing fully well what the notifications meant, we grabbed our food boxes and coffee before heading out the door. Our phones rarely got notified at the same time unless we were on a case. That meant the fucker had striked… again.