Chapter 9
Chapter Nine
She knew her mouth dropped open.
No, no, no. Did Atlas just threaten to bury a Fed? Right in front of me?
“Are you threatening me?” Gage asked bluntly.
“Of course, he isn’t!” She elbowed her way to Atlas’s side.
But Atlas and Gage stared straight at each other.
The tension between them was thick enough to suffocate a person.
She certainly felt suffocated. “I do not need testosterone crap,” she snapped.
“Someone broke into my house and apparently stole some of my possessions, and all this happened after I was abducted! Believe me, things are bad enough for me already. I don’t need the two of you arguing right now! ”
Immediately, Gage’s head swung toward her. “You’re so sure this happened after you and Atlas were taken? You think it was the same perp?”
Ah…
“Is that what you’re saying Lily?” Gage pressed.
She glanced toward her open front door. A female cop in uniform had just exited the home. “I think it is certainly a possibility that we can’t overlook.”
“Why would he come here? Why would he break into your place?”
She wet her lips. “Because maybe he wanted to know more about me. The whole know-your-enemies bit.” The throbbing in her head was getting so much worse. Her gaze cut back to Gage. “Or maybe the perp just wanted to see what all I knew about him.”
“Fuck.” Gage shook his head. “How many times do I have to tell you? You aren’t a Fed, Lily. Don’t hunt the predators. Don’t screw around with them.”
Her shoulders stiffened.
But Atlas reached over and took her hand.
Casually, he brought it to his lips and kissed the back of her knuckles.
He acted as if it was a move he made all the time.
It was not. It was the first time he’d ever kissed her knuckles, and such a small caress should not have sent a tremor of electricity surging through her veins.
But it did.
She sucked in a breath. Just like that, her gaze was on Atlas, not Gage. She found Atlas’s eyes right on her, too.
“Screw around all you like,” he invited her. “It’s because of you that I’m standing here right now.”
Holding her gaze, he bent his head and kissed her knuckles once more.
Gage cleared his throat. “If you want to check out the interior of the house, Lily, then you need to come with me.”
Atlas had retrieved her diary. That had been priority one. But, sure, looking inside was a fine plan. She wanted to see what the intruder had done. What he took from me. She pulled away from Atlas.
“Don’t touch anything,” Gage warned her.
She sighed. “Not my first crime scene.” And her prints were already going to be on everything.
But she followed him down the narrow sidewalk and up the steps.
Lily was highly conscious of the fact that Atlas trailed right on her heels.
She was also conscious of the fact that, for some reason, his presence made her feel better.
No one had ever made her feel better in this world.
She was probably just too tired. How many hours was she running on with no sleep? She would be crashing soon.
One of the uniformed cops tried to block them from entering.
But Gage flashed his badge, and they got in. The first thing she noticed—
Not a single thing is touched in the den.
The sofa still had a cozy blanket tossed over the side.
Her book was still half-open on the sofa cushion.
The bookshelf still had all her titles in perfect position.
The TV was off, with the remote on the coffee table.
A glance to the right showed her kitchen in similar shape.
Clean kitchen table. Dishes stacked neatly behind the glass doors of her cabinets.
Dish soap and brush still near the sink.
From this position, it looked like no break-in had occurred at all.
But then they went into her bedroom.
Absolute chaos. The mattress had been cut open.
Stuffing was everywhere, like a snowstorm had hit the bedroom.
The books on the shelves in that room had all been pulled out, ripped open.
Pages littered the floor. Every drawer of her chest had been pulled open.
Her clothes ransacked. A glance inside the closet showed her that the items in there had been pulled from the hangers. Some looked slashed.
There was a whole lot of rage in her bedroom. As if the intruder had become—
“What do you see?” Gage asked her.
“Destruction.”
“Ah, come on. You can do better than that.”
She blinked quickly. Yes, she could. “He knew what he was looking for.”
“Your laptop?”
“Yes.” It was missing. But it was more than that.
She edged toward the desk. Two uniformed cops were buzzing in the bedroom.
The desk drawers hung open. An empty manila file had fallen near the desk chair, a desk chair that had been tossed to the floor.
“My files appear to be gone.” She’d had two dozen case files for her research on the adult children of serial killers.
“But there is so much chaos here, it’s hard to tell for certain.
I’ll need to clean up in order to properly assess everything. ”
“Yeah.” Gage jerked his thumb toward the cops. “They’re not gonna let you clean anything, not anytime soon.” A low whistle escaped him. “So, where was your murder wall and did he find it?”
Her gaze darted to Atlas. His stare was already on her.
“Come on, Lily,” Gage chided, pulling her focus back to him. “Where was it? Where was the info you had on the case you were working with Detective Benedict Swain? You think you’ve got a punishment killer at play in Dallas, don’t you?”
She didn’t respond.
“Oh, come on. All the signs are there. He’s making them suffer. He wants them to hurt for their crimes. The guy has punishment written all over him. Don’t deny it. You and I both know that’s the type of perp you have hunting in Dallas, and I’m sure you told Detective Swain that very thing.”
He’d definitely been doing his homework on the way to Dallas. “I didn’t have a murder wall here.”
“Lily.” A sigh. “It’s me. No need for BS. We both know you live for things like this case. The killer must have fascinated you from the moment you learned about him. You would have plotted out every detail. The vics. Their connections. The would-be suspects.” His attention shifted to Atlas.
Her breathing remained steady even as her heartbeat raced. “Benedict—Detective Swain—had a file with his findings and suspicions. I’d suggest you go look at the police station for that data.”
A half-smile curved Gage’s lips. But it was a smile that held no humor. No dimples flashed when he smiled. Just those perfectly white teeth. “Want to hear a weird thing about that?”
Not particularly.
“Benedict did have files at the station, on his computer, but, looks like they were wiped. Techs are working on things now. But it’s not looking good. Benedict’s computer was completely scrubbed.”
That made zero sense. “There will be a backup,” she said. “The cloud.”
“There is no backup.” Flat. “Located a few physical files, Most of those, actually, contained info about Atlas. But pretty much everything else is missing, and don’t you find that suspicious?” He lifted his right hand and indicated the trashed bedroom. “Especially in light of this?”
One hundred percent, yes, it was suspicious.
“When did you discover the detective’s files were wiped?
” Just how long had Gage been in town? She’d originally believed that he’d driven all night or even flown in, but maybe…
maybe he’d been in Dallas far longer than she suspected.
Maybe his clothing appeared wrinkled because he’d been working the case all night long.
“His captain figured it out, not me. The captain made the discovery about one hour after Benedict died. So someone worked very, very quickly. Someone who knew his way around tech. Someone who had no trouble bypassing the security in place at the PD.” Once again, Gage’s attention shifted to Atlas.
“Got to ask, do you happen to know anyone like that?”
“Sure.” An easy response from Atlas. “I could do it. In my sleep.”
Oh, no. “He didn’t do it,” she rushed to say.
And, yes, she physically even jumped in front of Atlas.
Why did she do that? No clue. Just some weird, instinctive thing.
Like she had to personally protect him. “Atlas was with me all night. I can assure you that he never stopped to hack police files. Never pulled away long enough to give anyone orders to hack them.”
“He was with you all night?” Gage emphasized the all even as he raised his brows. “Lying so quickly for him? Look, just take a breath, Lily.”
She was about to take a swing at him. “I’m not lying.” On this point, she was not. “We were questioned by the cops together at the cabin. We left that scene in an ambulance together. We went to the hospital—”
“And you were fucking holding hands the whole time?” Gage sliced through her words, voice tight. “Bullshit, Lily. Bullshit. Don’t cover for him when—”
“Lily? Are you ready to leave?” Atlas’s very polite voice.
Too polite.
Goosebumps rose onto her skin as her head swung toward him.
He was watching her with a faint smile on his lips.
The dimples just starting to flash. Uh, oh.
“Leaving sounds great.” It sounded like heaven.
She forced herself to bob her head toward Gage.
“I can’t tell yet what all is missing. There is too much chaos.
Once the crime scene team is done, and I have the all clear to come back, I’ll do a complete review. ”
Gage’s jaw hardened. “That’s it?”
“It’s been a really long night. So, yes, that’s it.”
“Lily.” Her name came from between Gage’s clenched teeth. “Give me something to work with.”
Why? So you can try to lock up Atlas? Or me?
“I don’t appreciate the tone that you’re using with Lily, and I’d wager she doesn’t like it, either.” Again, Atlas’s voice was brutally…polite.