Will awaited me at the precinct when I arrived.

“So? Catch me up.” I came to a stop in front of his desk.

The man grabbed the case file and pushed it toward me. “Haven’t got the report from the medical examiner’s office yet, but let’s face it Shane, this is the same guy.”

I perused the photos in there, trying to see if I could find something different from all the other cases. My eyes burned from exhaustion. My head hurt from trying so hard to make all of the pieces come together.

“That’s all we’ve got?” I asked.

“’Bout it.”

“Did you canvass the neighborhood to see if anyone saw anything?” I asked.

“Nothing.” Will looked about just as frustrated as I felt. “Fucker’s always hitting suburbia, where everyone works outside of the home. Vic’s boyfriend said he left yesterday morning to fly out to Vegas for a conference. He last spoke to her this morning when she was heading into work.” I nodded, looking at his case notes. Everything there matched what he was telling me.

“There’s no reason for her to have gone home then?”

“Nothing but a text from an unknown number,” he said. “Her boss said that she’d left in a hurry. A few coworkers noticed the same thing.”

“Was the phone traced?”

Our eyes met. Dead end. “Phone was a burner. He ditched it in an alleyway behind the Walmart on Western Boulevard.”

“And the text?”

“Same story about the partner wanting to meet,” Will gritted out. “Part of me thinks that these women know this man, or at least he seems trustworthy. I mean, they live in populated areas, they’re always found in their beds in the same manner. A settled woman wouldn’t bring in just any John off the street into their homes, right?”

“Mmm.”

And they all look like my dead wife, I added internally to the list of victim commonalities we’d established.

I sighed. “We keep waiting for this guy to slip up, but I’m thinking this isn’t going to happen until he comes for me, Will.”

The man groaned. “I know it feels that way, but there has to be something we’re missing.”

I shoved everything back into the file, and closed it. “Do you mind if I take this home with me? I need some sleep, but I want a closer look at things, see if I can figure out his angle.”

“Sure, man,” he said. “I’m heading that way now, too. How’d dinner go with Little Miss Rosie?”

I grinned. “Fuck, does that kid light up my life,” I told him. “It was great. Had dinner with my two favorite ladies.” And had somewhat of a conversation with my gorgeous neighbor, for the first time since she’s moved to the neighborhood, I added to myself.

Getting up from his desk chair, I followed his move to leave. “I’m glad for you.” Will’s pat landed on my shoulder with a quick squeeze.

“Thanks for pulling relief, brother. Breaking another promise would have killed me,” I grumbled, and ran my hand through my messy hair before scrubbing my face. “I feel like a failure with this whole parenting shit. Rosie doesn’t even ask me for a birthday party anymore. She told me that she knows that my work is important, and that if I got called in, then there wouldn’t be a party anymore and everyone would have to go home early.” Mom would have been there to look after things if I got called away, but the truth of the matter hurt. She didn’t care that her friends would have been there to celebrate with her. She wanted me. End of story.

After I got home, the first thing I did, once I’d checked that all windows and doors were locked, was look in on Rosie. She was tucked in safely and sound asleep. Crouching down, my fingers reached to push the hair covering the side of her face, brushing it aside as I leaned down, kissing my princess. She looked so much like her mother, it was almost painful to look at her.

“Goodnight, baby,” I whispered before standing upright.

Leaving her room, I made my way to the liquor cabinet in the kitchen, grabbed a tumbler, and poured myself four fingers of whiskey, stashing the bottle before taking my glass in hand.

“I saw what you did earlier.” My mother crept into the kitchen, grabbing herself a bottle of water from the fridge. She turned to face me, a smirk on her face. “That was nice of you.”

“She wanted cake, but she was too shy to admit it, so I brought her cake, Mom. That’s it.”

“Mhmm.”

“Mom,” I warned. “What’s going on?”

“You should really think about putting yourself out there.”

I rolled my eyes. “Not this again.”

“She’s a really nice girl, Shane.”

Taking a hefty gulp of the amber liquid, I let the burn come as I swallowed it. “I know she’s nice, Mom.”

“But?” she prompted.

“Look…I’m just not ready yet.”

“Are you sure about that?” Her eyes narrowed on me. “You looked damn ready to me, with that bounce in your step as you left to go meet up with Will earlier.”

It was time for me to walk away and close out this conversation. “Mom, I don’t want to talk about this. I date, and that’s enough for me right now, but what I’m also telling you is that I will find my own dates, on my own time, at my own convenience. Drop the matchmaking act.”

Her eyes softened and tears filled them. “I miss her too, sweet boy,” she whispered. “She’d be so proud of the way you’ve raised that daughter of yours.”

My voice caught in my throat. “Mom.”

“I know you’ll never admit it, but part of you holding back on love again is because you haven’t caught him yet.” When I didn’t answer, she added, “Am I right?”

“Please drop it,” I pleaded. I didn’t want to do this right now. The day had kicked my ass, my emotions were all over the place, too close to the surface. I felt raw.

What I wanted most, right now, was to finish my drink while watching SportsCenter, jump in the shower, then go to bed for some much-needed sleep.

It’s just too damn bad that we don’t always get what we want.