The parking lot was crawling with police. Kade frowned when he pulled in. This place was only a few blocks from the bar where Angel worked. It made him worry all the more about leaving her at the apartment alone, but there was no help for it. Two officers had been on their way over when Kade exited the building, but it didn’t stop the dread from twisting his stomach into knots.
Bailey motioned him over as soon as he saw Kade. He was standing in the back of the lot, where an abandoned blue Honda waited, the driver’s side door open. He noticed a purse on the ground when he rolled to a stop beside the detective.
“Well, it goes to reason he’d need to replace his last victim. We just weren’t expecting it to happen this soon.”
Kade peered to the left and saw one of his team members talking on his phone. Jeremy Bradford was a guy Kade didn’t know all that well. He was new to the team, but if the boss sent him, he had to have faith in the guy. Angus wouldn’t have sent him someone useless.
“Bailey.” Kade handed the guy a coffee. He’d stopped to grab some to try to wake up. Sleep had not been his friend last night. He kept dozing off into a world of memories that haunted him. Coffee was his new best friend.
“Thanks.” Bailey took the cup and popped the little plastic flap before blowing into it to cool the liquid. “Name’s Julie Helton. Twenty-four. Looks to have been taken after her shift. Red hair, brown eyes.”
“Shit.”
“She does look a lot like your girl.” He handed Kade the victim’s wallet enclosed in an evidence bag. It was placed so the inside was exposed and her driver’s license was in full view. The girl did look a lot like Angel, right down to the shape of her face.
“What time did the store close?” Kade asked, the dread tightening in his stomach.
“About three. There were two closers, according to the manager. My guess is she let the other girl go while she locked up, or perhaps she was texting on her phone while she stood beside the car. It’s hard to say what happened.”
“He took her while we were just a few blocks away?” Anger curled like a snake over every inch of Kade’s body. Bold bastard. Kidnapping a girl with the police combing the streets. “Did we get video footage?”
“I wish.” Jeremy frowned at his phone. “The manager said the camera back here is busted. Happened a few nights ago when some kids were messing around. He reported it to their corporate office, but they haven’t sent anyone to fix it yet. And where’s my coffee?”
“Didn’t know you were here.” Kade searched the ground carefully, looking for clues that might have been missed. “Did forensics find anything?”
“Nothing.” Bailey shook his head. “Why in God’s name would the manager let a young girl walk to her car by herself, knowing there’s a serial killer out hunting?”
“We’ll issue a public safety warning for employers to make sure their employees are escorted to their cars after dark.” Jeremy squatted next to where the purse lay. “Is this where they found the purse? I know they took the wallet out of it.”
“No. Forensics took photos of the scene before they disturbed it, though.” Bailey took another sip of his still steaming coffee. “It was a few feet away.”
Kade wanted nothing more than to smash his fist through something. He couldn’t get past the fact the unsub had snatched another woman right out from under their noses. They’d literally been five blocks away. You could even see this parking lot from the street. Why had none of the patrolmen seen the car?
It was a what-the-fuck moment if there ever was one.
“Kade?”
“What?” he barked, the cold fury in his voice evident to everyone. He needed to roll it back a notch. Neither Jeremy nor Bailey deserved his temper right now. “Sorry. This whole case is just frustrating me.”
“I know.” Bailey’s quiet words echoed the sentiment in Jeremy’s eyes. “It got real for you last night, personal. We understand that.”
“I don’t,” Jeremy said. “How did it get personal for you?”
Kade took a shallow breath. “Angel makes this personal for me.”
“Angel? One of the witnesses? She saw our unsub, didn’t she?”
“Not just any witness.” Bailey’s voice had gone low. “She’s his wife.”
Confused brown eyes burned with curiosity. “Wife?”
Kade nodded, trying to regain control of his temper. Bailey needed to learn to keep his mouth shut.
“I didn’t know you were married.”
“He forgot,” Bailey crowed.
“He forgot?” Jeremy eyeballed Kade with disbelief. “How in the hell do you forget you’re married? My wife would hit me upside the head with anything she could lay her hands on if I forgot anything about our marriage for one second.”
“It’s complicated and nobody’s damn business.” He directed this at Bailey, who only grinned wider. “I’d appreciate some discretion. What do you think our unsub would do if he found out he was targeting the wife of one of the lead investigators? What would he put her through if he discovered how personal this case just became?”
“Kincaid’s right.” Jeremy rolled his head from side to side to relieve some of the aching muscles. “This guy? He’s impersonal in his choice of victims. That’s evident from the lack of pattern. Give him a reason to make it personal, and we get all kinds of new depravity. He’s the type to torment Kincaid for the rest of his life with all the brutal things he did. And knowing Kincaid, it would eat him alive.”
“Profiling me now?” he spat out, even though he knew every word Jeremy spoke was truth.
“I profiled every person I worked with the first week I was there. You were a little harder than the rest, but now with this new information, it all clicks into place.”
There was no arrogance, maliciousness, or mirth in the statement, only honesty, but it still rankled. He didn’t like anyone profiling him. He didn’t want anyone to see past the façade he put up. There was a darkness underneath that no one needed to see.
“Is there anything left here we need to see?” Kade turned the conversation back to the case. He’d rather keep his private life private and their concentration on catching this unsub before he had a chance to get near Angel.
Bailey shook his head, and Kade turned on his heel, stalking back to his SUV. He left the two of them to follow him to the police station. Hopefully, a preliminary forensics report would be waiting on them at the police station. They would have gone over the asphalt and what they could see from the inside of the car. The actual search of the car would take place at BPD garage. That would take some time, but he and Bailey had a lot of work to do in the meantime. They had to go talk to the parents of the woman discovered last night, as well as the parents of the victim just abducted.
He hated talking to victims’ families. It was hard, but it was the job. His father once told him to never ask someone to do what you weren’t willing to do yourself. Kade applied this to everything in his life, especially the tough situations like these.
He would look them in the eye and promise to bring their daughter’s murderer to justice.
And he would.
Even if it was the last thing he did.
***
The place was quiet, a slow, grinding melody playing so low it was hard to make out the words. It wasn’t a song he recognized, but he found it enjoyable. The interior of the bar was just as soothing. The smell of the deep mahogany wood swirled around him. The people who worked here cared enough about the place to even baby the woodwork. Clean and welcoming. That was his first impression of O’Grady’s. He was pleasantly surprised, to be honest. Most bars were smoky and dirty. At least the ones he frequented.
He wandered over to the L-shaped bar and took a seat, his eyes drawn to the well-lit back bar. It highlighted all the best liquors the bar served. Not that he was here for a drink. He needed to do some recon and test out his new look. Thanks to some bleach and a pair of scissors, he sported short blond hair and eyebrows. So pale a blonde, his hair looked almost platinum or silver. The contacts changed his eyes from blue to brown. But it was the fresh cuts that truly changed his appearance.
“Hello, handsome.”
The bartender who set a small napkin down in front of him was neither of the two women from the night before. This one was tall, her light caramel skin making her baby blues seem all the brighter. Pretty. Had he not already decided on the redhead, this one would have suited him beautifully. She still might if his angel proved to be as elusive as he expected.
He grinned lazily at her, but the effect was ruined when he grimaced, the pain in his wounds stinging.
“You look like you ended up on the wrong side of knife fight.” The cute bartender winked at him, not trying to conceal her curiosity in the least.
“More like the wrong side of a knitting needle.” He reached up and felt the long jagged gash that ran from his eye down. “My grandmother has Alzheimer's and didn’t recognize me. She was afraid, thinking a stranger had broken in on her, and I ended up taking a few hits so I wouldn’t hurt her while we got her calmed down.”
“You poor thing.” The bartender clucked, all sympathetic. “What’ll you have? It’s on the house.”
“Scotch, please. I’m surprised the place is open this early. It’s only ten.”
“The owner loves to steal as much business as he can, so he serves a breakfast menu as well as lunch and dinner. Pops is a character.”
“Pops?”
“He’s old enough to be everybody’s grandfather. We all call him Pops. He takes care of us in his own way. Great guy.”
“He sounds it. I’m Josh.” He stuck his hand out when she placed his drink in front of him. “And you are?”
“Ellen.” A bright spot of color bloomed on her cheeks as she shook his hand. She bit her lip slightly, and he had to remind himself to be patient. This beauty was off limits unless it took him longer than expected to retrieve his angel.
“What’s to eat around here?” He gave her a half smile, and sure enough, she rewarded him with another one of those intoxicating blushes. Her skin flushed a bright red, exactly as it would under scalding hot water. She turned, offering him a gorgeous view of her backside. Long, beautiful spine, shapely hips, and an ass that begged to be touched. He blinked. No. Now was not the time to get sidetracked. He was here for a purpose.
The door opened around the same time she handed him the bar menu. Three officers came in, taking a table close to the bar. They glanced at him, and then looked away. A small smile flirted with his lips. They hadn’t recognized him.
“What’ll you have, honey?” Ellen smiled her best, flirtiest smile.
“How about you?” He winked at her, and she laughed. Another couple of cops entered, momentarily distracting her. She called back into the kitchens to let the waitress know she had tables.
“Food must be good if you get Boston’s finest in here.” He closed the menu. “I’ll have the apple pancakes with a side of bacon and eggs.”
“We don’t normally get them in here.” She entered his order into the POS. “At least not before last night.”
“Last night?” He did his best to sound casually curious, something he prided himself on. “Someone get into a fight?”
“I wish.” Her soft lips turned down slightly. “I was a little afraid to come in to work today.”
“Why’s that, sweetheart?”
“You know the crazy guy going around killing women?” Her tone became hushed and she leaned forward, showing off her cleavage. He took full advantage of the view.
“Yes. Awful thing.”
“He was here last night.”
“What?” He widened his eyes, going for a shocked expression. “Here in the bar?”
“Outside. Dumping a body.” She visibly shuddered, her fear palpable. He could almost taste the salty, bitter flavor of it, just as if her skin was slick from sweat after a good round with his favorite tool.
“Damn.” He let out a low whistle. “That had to be terrifying.”
“Especially for Angel. She saw him. I mean up close and personal, saw him.” She pulled out a paper and placed it in front of him. It was the drawing Angel had provided to the police sketch artist. Seeing it up close, he had to admit it was a very good likeness of him. “I can’t even imagine what she’s going through, her or Jessie.”
“Jessie?”
“One of our waitresses. She saw him too, but only a glimpse. When Pops called to ask me if I could cover Jessie’s shift this morning, I almost said no. I mean, what if he comes back looking for one of them?”
He glanced over to the police officers currently laughing. “With these guys around, you’ll be safe, I think. I mean, he can’t be stupid enough to come in here with the police.”
She nodded. “That’s what I’m banking on. They said they’ll have a police presence in the area until this is resolved, plainclothes inside and out so as not to disrupt business during the evening hours. Pops’ one request.”
“At least you’re protected from the big bad wolf.”
She let out a nervous laugh. “I hope so, but I wouldn’t put anything past this sicko.”
You have no idea, my lovely, no idea.
“I’ll be right back. I’m going to go check on your food.”
He looked back down at his picture. Angel was very good with details. Excellent memory, but then he expected nothing less of his true masterpiece. The one he would pose in all her glory in the art gallery beside the university. The one where his grandfather had had his first paintings shown off. If only the old man could see him now. He had no doubt he’d be proud.
Ellen was on her way with his food, and he hadn’t had anything but soup yesterday. His stomach grumbled appreciatively at the smells currently assaulting his nose from the steaming plate on its way to him.
Once she’d set down that and a glass of Dr. Pepper, he dug in and spent the next hour chatting and flirting with the pretty Ellen. All the while, not one officer who came and went even batted an eye at him.
Things were going to work out better than planned. Yes, indeed.