26. Shiloh
26
SHILOH
I looked over at Lilly as we both poured over the files. Once we established what all the victims had in common, it was easy to see the patterns.
“Ok, so the unsub considers these men to be deadbeat dads.” As much as I hated the word, which was short for unknown subject, she’d insisted I used it. “I still think the markings on the back are significant.”
Lilly nodded. “You could be right but that second last body didn’t have them.”
Agent Newton sat back with his feet on the expensive table. “Maybe she ran out of time.”
My head whipped in his direction. “She?”
“Think about it.” Lilly raised a brow and watched as the puzzle pieces started to fit.
And boy were they fitting. “Drugged and bound. She needed to subdue her victims.” We had all the pieces. “That last victim. She didn’t have time to freeze him properly, but she made the markings on his back.”
Agent Newton lifted the photo and tilted his head. “The markings are deeper. Almost like they’re more deliberate.”
“Because she knew there was no record anywhere of those markings. She wanted to make sure we knew it was an important part of her ritual.” It all made sense. “Which means it is significant.”
All while I poured over the reports, I studied the photograph of the last victim with a semi-circular scar along the base of his neck. It wasn’t until I moved onto the next victim and had read the reports of the additional witnesses that something clicked. The victim's next-door neighbor had consecutive numbers, not alternative numbers. That only happened when… I pulled the Maps app on my phone. Yes. “Bingo.”
“What?”
“What?”
“The markings on their backs are maps.” They both looked at me skeptically and I continued. “The markings on the fourth victim's back, is a street map of where the fifth victim lived.”
Once we had that clue, all we could do was see the pattern. The problem was that the maps on the victim’s backs were so rudimentary there was no way to have predicted the next victim.
Of course, the process made it clearer that the extra body found was not one of our unsub’s kills.
The map on the last body had, as expected, as little detail as all the rest. It had what looked like one long street and a huge building with something behind it. Best guess was a big house with a pool. Problem was that it could be anywhere. All we knew was that it would be in a small town surrounding San Diego. The victim would be a father, who had abandoned his child or children.
Lilly pulled me from my thoughts as Agent Newton waved goodbye.
“It’s Christmas Eve, don’t you have dinner to get to.”
That was something else that had been on my mind
There was no doubt in my mind that I loved Ryder. Besides the fact that he was a good dad and treated me right, he complimented me well. While I was all rigid and routine, he could go with the flow. I wasn’t na?ve enough to think it wouldn’t cause arguments from time to time, but we suited each other.
Unfortunately, that also meant he was not good at planning and time management. When I’d looked at his schedule for the last two days, I wasn’t sure how he was going to fit in everything.
He had a meeting at Moore Studios, and one with his record label. Then there was the meeting with the lawyer to finalize the termination of his former manager’s contract. He needed to fit in a meeting with his former bandmates. It was on the books as a lunch date, but there was a star next to it. His assistant, who still lived and worked in L.A., explained that the star meant the paparazzi were informed that he would be there.
The idea was to get a photo op and provide some buzz for the single. The idea was to garner some interest for a possible album.
As I pulled up his schedule once more, my mind raced. Joel would be returning to work next week and along with that, my secondment to Salinger Security would be over. I was really going to miss having a more flexible schedule. But that only made my next decision easier.
Then and there I made a decision. “Lilly, could I borrow the company jet?”
“What on earth for?” Her frown was comical. It was not the kind of request I would ever make.
“Ryder’s in Los Angeles. And I don’t think he’ll make it home in time.” I wasn’t a rambler but I needed to be to get all the words out. “He’s over booked himself and honestly, I just want the three of us to spend the holidays together.”
Lilly’s face softened. “Sorry, kid.” She looked genuinely upset. “Nick has already offered it to someone else.”
I let out a long sigh and started picking up my things. “I knew it was a long shot. Maybe I’ll call Theo.”
Theo’s company also had a private jet. It was not something I ever considered using since I wasn’t sure where all that money came from and, as a cop, I could get into trouble if I allowed him to do me favors. But beggars could not be choosers.
Unfortunately, Theo couldn’t help either. “Hunter is using the jet today.”
Hunter was Theo’s Head of Security and his right-hand man. I think he became one of Theo’s closest friends when we started pulling away from him. Not intentionally, but we knew what his father’s businesses did and we were shocked when he took them over after his father’s death.
“Thanks Theo.”
“See you in a little bit.” His smile was evident in his voice. “I need to go get Cat from the airport.”
That perked me up. After some DNA tests were done, it turned out that Cat was Theo and Tiff’s half-sister, thanks to their father’s less than savory activities. Cat was also my foster sister. She’d been rescued a while back and hadn’t been home yet. From what I understood, she’d been off on another mission almost immediately. “I cannot wait to see her.”
It took me another while to pack up and get out of the building. Tiff had left a while earlier to help Maggie set up at Forte Femme. Since her divorce, Maggie had moved into the manor and kept the house clean in lieu of rent. The Reverse Cowgirl was profitable but not enough. The saving of staying at the manor helped a lot.
Grace, Cat and Sky all kept a room there as well. It was safe to say that each of us had lived on the property from time to time. A small smile filled my face at the thought that all my sisters would be home for the first time in a long time. And both Holden and Owen would be in town. Holden was a SEAL, who was rescued a few weeks earlier and put on mandatory leave. As for Owen, I wasn’t sure how he managed to get home, but I would take it.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t happy to see all of them, I really was. Still, the evening wouldn’t be the same without the one person I wanted with me.
That was all forgotten as I pulled up to Forte Femme. There, leaning his ass against the door of a black SUV, stood the man of my dreams. His smirk, and the way his hands were shoved into his pockets were all kinds of sexy.
As I pulled into the driveway, he walked over to me. He opened my door and leaned inside. The kiss was nothing short of magical. One hand went around his neck so I could toy with the hair at his nape. His hand cupped my scalp, the tug on my hair almost painful.
Slowly he pulled back. “Fuck, I missed you.”
“Right back at you.” I didn’t tell him that I tried to make a plan to fly to him. But I didn’t need to.
“Rumor has it, you doubted I would be here on time.”
“I saw your schedule and I wanted to be with you, no matter where you are.”
It was the truth. I loved my family and friends. And we had a lot of traditions. If I missed one, it wasn’t the end of the world. Everyone did from time to time.
“Shi, this is my home.” He helped me out of the car and took my face in his palms. “You and Ethan are the most important people in my life. But my friends are here, too. Jason and Theo included me in that throw down against those assholes.”
I rolled my eyes. He was being ridiculous. “You can’t bond over a fist fight.”
“We’re guys. Of course we can.” He took my hand and led me to the front door. “Just brace yourself. Tiff and Mags went a little overboard.”
I loved that he was comfortable shortening their names. So caught up that he had made it home in time, I didn’t even realize what he was saying to me.
Ryder opened the door for me and Oh. My. God. “What the fu—fiddle sticks happened in here.”
“I know it’s a lot.” Tiffany walked into the foyer, festive oven gloves on both hands. “But we had all these decorations and things took on a life of their own.”
“It looks like you found every Christmas decoration since Lilly lived here.”
It was entirely possible. There were very few women among the Salinger Clan who had not, at one point or another, needed to take refuge at the manor. Skylar, who now rented a room in the house for when she was in town, had originally lived with her mother in my cottage.
And it seemed that Tiffany had found all their decorations.
I turned to Maggie who came into the foyer also wearing matching festive oven gloves. “Why didn’t you put a leash on her?”
“I was in charge of cooking, and she was in charge decorating,”
I point to Tiff’s oven gloves. “Clearly she had no problem invading your territory.”
Before I could get any more Scrooge, Ethan, along with Maggie’s two kids, came barreling down the stairs.
“Mom, look what Dad got all of us.”
Clearly my friends were not the only ones with a tendency to overdo. All three kids were covered head to toe in movie merchandise paraphernalia. The two boys were dressed as some superhero complete with the proper shoes and props. Maggie’s little girl was dressed as the latest doll craze being made into a movie.
I looked up at Ryder and smiled. “You couldn’t resist, could you?”
“Babe, it’s Christmas.” He raised a brow but that smirk was evident. “It's the cliché time for deadbeat dads to pretend they’ve not been absent.”
A chill ran down my spine. The image of the map on the last victim’s back popped into my head. Ryder’s house with the pool in the backyard. I mean, the likelihood of him being on the killer’s radar was almost zero. Still, the thought made me shudder.
Ryder looked down at me. All signs of joking vanished. “Babe, are you okay?”
I plastered on a smile and nodded. “Sure.”
There was no way I would allow that sicko to get to my man. I took a deep breath and looked around the room. At least she wouldn’t be attempting tonight. Not in this house. Now if I could convince him not to go anywhere, that would be perfect.