Chapter 22
CHAPTER 22
TAKESHI
Tank lost himself to the grief of losing the Linds after the call with Stabler. It wasn’t an immediate thing we all noticed. More a slow slip into the darkness as the hours passed.
Archie signed to me, “Do you think he needs to go lay down? Maybe he’s tired?”
I shook my head. It wasn’t exhaustion that weighed on him so heavily.
“It’s more,” I replied. “The way the Linds spoke to him was different than anything he’s ever known, I think. To know they loved him so much they wanted to adopt him, to be reunited with them, and then have it taken is a lot. He never got the chance to spend more time with them. Any hope they had to reconnect further has been stolen.”
My husband nodded at the hand gestures, his brow furrowing even more. He didn’t have to say what he was thinking. We all felt it.
A burning anger.
A need for vengeance.
Pratt was a problem that needed handling. So were the Gilded Ones. I suspected it was all linked. The timeline was too damn convenient otherwise.
While I appreciated convenience — have you heard how I met my husband? — this wasn’t the good kind. Too much overlapped for it all not to be linked.
We just had to figure out how.
Stabler sent the files to Memphis, then we distributed them amongst the team to look everything over. Tank and Chance went to rest in the room down the hall at that point since we didn’t want Tank to get wind of how horrific the murders might have been.
Especially not since Stabler made it clear the style of murder was the connecting factor.
Based on the notes I read through, it was the only reason the director made the argument for it being a serial killer. Not a single other thing was the same.
Not the location where the bodies wound up or who the victims were. The drop sites were all over the country, ranging from rural towns to big cities.
There was literally no rhyme or reason to this madness.
“Any clues?” Orion asked as he set down his tablet and rubbed his eyes.
I shook my head as I scanned over the document before me. Archie was beside me, though he wasn’t focused on the screen I had. His gaze was locked on the images we had for Lune and Pratt. Both were up on the wall, their faces a permanent fixture in the room to motivate us to do more, to work harder.
When I swiped to the next page, something immediately caught my eye. It was a symbol I recognized all too well.
Turning the device to Orion, I tapped the screen to enlarge the area I wanted to showcase..
He leaned closer. “Is that what I think it is?”
I nodded, then pointed to his tablet. Without me explaining, he knew what I wanted him to do. It was pretty obvious, even without his ability to read people so well.
As he swiped past everything he’d been reading to go to the crime scene photos, he handed the device over. We both knew I’d find it before him anyway. Between his exhaustion and my observation skills, it was the best plan of action.
One quick scan over the image gave me what I was looking for. I zoomed in again, then turned it his way.
“Dammit. You’re good.”
I raised a brow at him.
He grinned. “Don’t be cocky about it. That isn’t you.”
Nodding to the others spread around the room, I hinted that maybe we should see if there was any other match. Orion knocked on the table twice since my hands were full with both tablets. When everyone turned his way, he reached over to take the devices from me so I could communicate.
Signing, I told them, “We’ve found something at two of the sites. I’ll need to check the images to see if there are anymore.”
“What did you find?” Memphis asked with a frown.
“A symbol. The symbol.”
He cursed in response. “Damn. Ok, that’s definitely important. Let me send you one document with all the images at once. Then you can go through them quicker, yeah?”
At his words, everyone else went back to their tablets. I gave him a curt nod, then leaned back to wait.
My husband tugged on my sleeve. “You really are something else. I bet a hundred other people looked through this and never saw anything.”
“I also have a program running through it. No hits yet. He’s a fucking wizard.”
Archie and the others laughed at Memphis’s teasing. I only smiled, shaking my head at his ridiculous nature.
“You’re amazing,” Archie signed. “I love you so much.”
I loved the moments where he communicated with me like this. He knew I could hear him, yet he’d take the time to share with his gestures instead. It made me feel like those conversations were only for just us two. I knew the guys could tell what we were talking about. All of them were knowledgeable enough now.
But still.
Something about it was special.
I’d never take it for granted.
“All done. Work your magic, oh wise wizard Takeshi, sir,” Memphis shouted with a dramatic wave of his hand.
I picked up my tablet and opened the attachment he’d sent over. There was work to be done. I could moon over my husband later. After all, he was mine forever. Time wasn’t an issue.