Chapter 2
C hloe Frasier adjusted her ponytail as her colleague, Agent Buddy Ballard, rolled their standard-issue FBI vehicle to a stop at the crime scene in the parking lot of the Crab Shack down the street from Mitchell’s Marina.
Her heart lurched to her throat as the memory of her first lunch with Hayes flew through her mind like a movie.
Of all the places he could’ve taken her for a bite to eat, he had chosen that place.
The food had been good—excellent, actually—and so had been sitting on the outdoor patio, watching the boaters come and go from the Everglades.
But she’d worried she’d end up with food poisoning.
Buddy shut down the engine and turned, glaring. “Not one word, you hear me? Not only have you put your career on the line, but now you’ve jeopardized mine.”
“I didn’t do that intentionally, and our bosses wouldn’t have sent you if they didn’t believe this was connected to what we’ve been able to piece together or possibly our jurisdiction.”
“I’m not talking about that.”
She arched a brow. “I’ve taken a leave of absence.”
“As if that means anything. We’ve known each other too long, and the brass isn’t stupid.
Every single missing person case that comes across your desk that fits the Ring Finger profile, you’re shoving it up my ass, and our bosses know it.
They give you a lot of leeway because you’re a damn good agent, and you haven’t crossed…
too many lines. But for as long as we’ve worked together—heck, for as long as you’ve been an agent—you’ve been chasing this killer, and it’s not even in your job description.
” He waved his finger under her nose. “You hunt missing persons, I hunt killers, and there’s a reason for that.
Do I need to remind you of it, because I will. ”
“No.” She shook her head. “But I do need a favor.”
“Jesus, because I haven’t already given you millions?
” He shook his head. Normally, she and Buddy had little to no conflict.
However, she understood his frustration in the moment.
“I drove you here, and if it is our killer, I will keep my promise and keep you in the loop as best I can. I know how personal this is for you.”
“But they don’t.” She waved her hand toward Hayes, Dawson, Keaton, and Fletcher, who were all huddled in the parking lot. It seemed the four men couldn’t do anything without each other. They were as thick as thieves and part of her was damn flipping jealous.
Her entire adult life had been consumed by one thing, and one thing alone—finding her twin’s killer.
She’d built an entire career around it, but thanks to FBI regulations, she couldn’t work the case.
She’d come close early on in her career.
Everyone had told her she had been the perfect candidate for the Violent Crimes Unit.
She’d tried hard to fly under the radar.
To have what had happened to her sister blotted out of the FBI’s personnel file on her.
Unfortunately, she’d been betrayed by her own people and stuck in the corner, working everything except homicide and serial killers.
Buddy stared at her with wide eyes, then looked at the men waiting for them. “What on earth does that mean?”
“They don’t know about Hillary and have no idea this wasn’t my case to begin with and that it was yours.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” Buddy raked his fingers through his hair.
“So many things about Dawson make sense now, like why he called me about missing persons, and why you always fed me information about the few details he had about this case. Christ, Chloe, that’s so not cool. It’s also obstruction of justice.”
“That’s a stretch,” she mumbled. “I never put our caseloads in jeopardy.”
“Maybe not, but there is no way I can pretend you’re working this. I can’t have you anywhere near it. I can’t even let you walk the scene tonight, especially not with a news crew hanging around. You’re a civilian.”
“I know and accept that fact, but I need to be the one to tell them. Especially Hayes and Dawson. It will feel like a betrayal to them.”
“Because it is.”
She couldn’t deny that point if she tried. “I feel like crap about everything. Deep down, I knew this would catch up to me. I thought if I stepped away for a bit, stopped coming around, it might take the sting out of it.”
“You don’t have the luxury anymore. Telling them will help them understand why you lied about this being your case.”
“I know, but I don’t think doing that here is a good idea.
” It had been nearly thirteen years since her sister had been murdered, and the guilt over that night had never eased.
It ate at Chloe like a python suffocating its prey.
She’d reviewed every detail a million times, and each time, she’d come up with a dozen or so things she could have done differently that might have saved her sister’s life.
“I understand why you’ve kept that hidden from many people you’ve worked with, and most won’t make the jump because you changed your name.” Buddy reached across the cab of the SUV and took her hand.
She chuckled. “People do that when they get married.”
He lowered his chin. “You were married for all of five minutes. I’m surprised you even had the time to make it to the DMV to file the paperwork.”
“I was married for two years.” She’d married Nick at the worst time in her life.
She’d met him in a bar when she’d been in law school, married him three weeks later, and while he was a kind and decent man, he hadn’t wanted to be tied to a woman who’d built her life around being an FBI agent with a side agenda—even if they had loved each other.
He’d walked out on her a year and a half into their marriage, and she hadn’t even tried to stop him.
End of story—even if he did check in on her once a year for a proof of life thing. She appreciated that about Nick.
“I take it Hayes doesn’t know you were previously married, either.” Buddy lowered his chin.
“Why would that matter?”
“Because you’ve been sleeping with the man for the last couple of months, and don’t try to deny it. I know when you’ve taken a bed partner…you become somewhat softer…and it’s nice for a bit.”
“I don’t even know how to respond to that.” She narrowed her stare. “And no, Hayes doesn’t know.”
“Does he know anything about your life?”
“Who are you? My father?”
Buddy sighed. “Just someone who actually cares about you and who’s been watching you have no life for the last eight or so years because you’re more obsessed with this killer than I am, and trust me, for the last two years, it’s all I think about.
I want to catch this guy so bad I can taste it.
I want to do it for every victim and their families.
I loathe this asshole. The fact that he’s been doing it and getting away with it for so long makes me crazy.
He’s methodical and patient, and I know there are more victims we have no idea about.
” He tapped his index finger on her knee.
“Those missing person case files of all the young women whose boyfriends or spouses admitted they were cheating on them—prove that to me.”
She nodded. “We only know of seven spanning thirty-four years, and that includes my sister.”
“I take it that it’s safe to assume you’ve dug right back into the missing person’s database looking for more?”
“I’m looking for connections, as usual.”
“Good. I want to see anything that remotely fits the profile.” He lifted his chin.
“Tell them because it will come out whether you tell them, or someone like that reporter over there figures out your sister is one of the victims, because we’re not going to be able to keep it under wraps forever.
Now, we’d better get moving. The rest of the team rolled in, and if you want to be the one to tell them about your dirty little secret, you better high-tail it over there. ” He reached for the door handle.
“Buddy?”
“What?” He turned.
“Thank you.”
“Don’t make me regret this.” He slipped from the vehicle.
She did the same. Her heart beat so fast she thought it might explode. She stuffed her hands in her pockets and took strides across the pavement, quickly glancing over her shoulder. Buddy was already waving his hands and giving out orders.
Buddy was damn good at his job. It had only been a few years since they had connected all the cases and made it official…
The deaths were the work of The Ring Finger Killer.
It was odd that they’d given this guy a name.
That honor usually went to the media. However, the press didn’t even know this murderer existed, and the team had needed a way to make the killer real.
Not to humanize him—but more to categorize him—and that’s what they’d landed on.
They had only been able to link the seven murders together because of Chloe and all the things she’d found. At least Buddy gave her the credit for that, even if he couldn’t do it out loud. If he had, they both would have been fired on the spot.
“Hey.” Hayes smiled. God, he had the best smile.
It was a little lopsided, and sometimes, it looked more like a funny smirk, but his sweet eyes always added that special bonus.
Breaking up with him had been difficult—more difficult than any other man she’d been with—and she’d known it would be because she’d questioned getting involved with him from the beginning.
Being connected to another human wasn’t something she was very good at, and it was what had broken up her marriage.