Chapter 15
Five hours later, Eli threw his pen down on his coffee table with a frustrated huff. “This is getting us nowhere. Meanwhile, Montgomery is who knows where, doing who knows what. Maybe the why isn’t as important right now as just catching him and making sure he can’t kill anyone else.”
Sitting beside him on his living room couch, Noelle reached over to massage Eli’s shoulder.
Tension radiated from him like heat waves off pavement in summer.
They’d been looking for an incident or other link between Eli and Scott Montgomery that would explain why Scott was targeting women who looked like Eli’s murdered aunt, why he was copying the MO of Caroline’s murder.
Did Scott have a grudge against Eli or the family as a whole?
Had Eli somehow cost Scott a promotion? Embarrassed him personally or professionally?
Had Scott used the Colton family’s adventure company and formed a grievance as a result?
But every avenue they pursued appeared to be a dead end, and their previous convictions about Montgomery’s motives and Eli’s links to the case wobbled.
Eli rolled his shoulders as she kneaded the muscles in his neck, and the groan that purred from his throat was far more sensual than frustrated. The sexy sound of the rumble from his chest instantly shifted Noelle’s thoughts away from crime fighting and to the attractive man sitting beside her.
Despite the serious nature of the work they were undertaking, Noelle had been battling distracting thoughts about Eli all evening.
She’d keyed in on how intimate it was to be sitting close to Eli on his couch, where days before they’d given in to the pulsing need that lay just beneath the surface for them both.
The fire in his fireplace and the scent of his aftershave filling her senses only added to the romantic ambience.
More than once she’d had to remind herself that they had important work to do and to stop staring at the way his long fingers held his pen as he scribbled notes or the way the muscles in his square jaw bunched as he clenched his teeth in concentration.
Her mind kept drifting to the evening they’d tangled limbs on this very couch and might have made love had his brother not stopped by.
Make love to him once and get it out of your system, she’d reasoned that evening. She’d held her feelings for Eli at bay for thirteen years. She’d gotten good at it. With all this practice, surely she could enjoy a night of physical enjoyment without losing her heart. Couldn’t she?
She glanced at his mantel clock. It was after midnight. Surely no one from his family would be dropping in to visit at this late hour. If things grew steamy between them now, nothing stood in the way of finishing what they started.
“Noelle? What do you think?”
Her pulse jumped, afraid of what he might have read in her moony-eyed gaze. What had he asked earlier? New angles? “Um, you’re right. Maybe we do need to step back and look at this differently.”
Noelle quashed the hum of desire that touching him had awakened.
Dropping her hands to her lap, she pushed aside the distracting feel of Eli’s strong neck and broad shoulders, trying to refocus the random information they had about Scott Montgomery and the string of murders he’d apparently committed.
Apparently being the key word. They had to find proof.
“I know the fact that he altered the case files is highly incriminating, but what if he’s just in league with the person killing the women?
He could be getting blackmailed by the real killer and altering the information to avoid being outed for something in his past. Or he could be covering for friend or family member. ”
Eli’s only answer was a dispirited sigh.
Noelle pushed off the sofa and moved to the table where they’d set up her laptop. “This link to your aunt’s murder could point to someone that was associated with her killer. A family member of Caroline’s stalker wanting revenge? Could someone who worked on the old case have contacted Scott?”
Eli curled his fingers into his hair, growling, “Holy hell, I’m so tired of going in circles on this case! Every time I think we’re a step closer, a hundred new questions and possibilities come up.”
Noelle gripped his wrist. “Forget my last questions, then. Maybe I’m muddying the water, and we ought to stick with Occam’s razor. The simplest and most obvious solution is what we need to focus on.”
“Me being the common factor,” Eli said darkly.
Without directly answering him, Noelle mulled how to use her analysis software to help with this new twist in the case. “If we factor in everything we know about Scott’s contact with your family and add that to the analyses we’ve already run, maybe something new will pop.”
“How do you quantify his contact with my family?” Eli asked. “And how do we reconstruct every family member who has stopped by the office to see me and run into Montgomery?”
“Maybe we can’t.”
Eli twisted his mouth in thought. “But we can have Parker or Lakin pull records at the family’s business to see if Scott used RTA in the past. That’s a start.”
“Okay,” she said, making a note. “We’ll do that first thing in the morning.”
He dragged both hands over his face as he sighed.
“I still feel like this has to be about me somehow. I was the one who went with my dad to my grandparents’ house that day twenty-eight years ago and found Caroline’s and her stalker’s bodies.
I work with Scott, and I’m the one who got assigned to solve this case.
Now we have reason to believe he’s tried to kill me and my partner, and he’s gone after you, my ex-girlfriend.
But why? I just don’t see the reason behind it. What is his grudge?”
He stood up to pace, and Noelle moved to block his path and lay her hands on his chest. “Does he have to have a reason? Can’t it just be a matter of something sick and twisted inside him?
If he learned about your aunt’s murder and already had psychopathic tendencies, he could just be killing these women and getting a thrill that you haven’t made the connection to your aunt yet.
Maybe now that you’ve figured it out, he’ll stop killing and—”
Eli shook his head. “Serial killers don’t stop. They may lie low for a while or move to another state, but the whatever it is that drives them to kill doesn’t go away. We have to bring him in, sooner rather than later.”
Noelle stepped closer and pulled him into a hug. “Okay. Try this on for size. You should put a pin in all this for now and get some sleep. We seem to be going in circles without making any progress at this point.”
Eli’s expression dimmed. “How am I supposed to sleep knowing Montgomery could be stalking his next victim or killing her while we dither around trying to figure out the connection to me?”
“I wouldn’t say we’re dithering, exactly. And the state and local police have issued an APB for him, right? We’ll look at it again in the morning with fresh eyes. Okay?”
He scowled, clearly unconvinced.
Stroking his cheek, she tried a new tact. “Sometimes, when I’m trying to fall asleep…” she took his hand and led him toward his bedroom “…or early in the morning, when I’m not fully awake, my subconscious speaks to me, and I see situations I’ve been debating in a whole new light.”
His eyebrow quirked. “That’s happened for me before.” He stumbled tiredly in her wake, and his head lolled in concession. “Fine. I’ll get some sleep…” he pulled her up short and wrapped her in his embrace again “…if you’ll join me. It’s late. Come to bed with me.”
His voice held a husky rasp, and heat rushed through her. Did he mean his request the way it sounded?
“To sleep?” she asked, her head tipped flirtatiously.
“At some point, probably.” He tugged his cheek up, flashing a devilish grin. “But…” he speared his fingers into her hair, combing it back from her face “…anything else that happens is up to you. I won’t press you for anything you’re not comfortable with.”
A sweet mellowness weighted her core. This sort of kindness and understanding had made her fall in love with Eli in college.
Having evidence of that same noble character again was both a potent reminder of what they’d once shared and a warning that, by making love to Eli, she could easily get ensnared in levels of emotion and attachment that were unhealthy for her heart.
Yet she wanted just a sip from the cup of passion he offered…
He held her in his blue gaze, his desire and tenderness as clear as the bright Alaskan moon.
Rising on her tiptoes, she pressed a kiss to his lips. “All right. Lead the way. We have unfinished business, you and I.”