“So, this is your Reagan?” Shawn asked as he slid into the passenger seat and turned to face her in the back seat of the unmarked car.
I grinned. “Yeah, this is my Reagan.” She had always been mine. Even when we were living our own lives, she’d held a place in my heart. And now that we were back together, I was never letting her go.
“So, you talk about me?” Reagan teased.
“All the time,” Shawn stated.
“Bullshit.” I laughed.
“It’s okay if you do. You stalk me at my job,” Reagan joked.
My gaze met hers through the rearview mirror. “I go to Judy’s for a nightcap. It’s only a bonus that the hottest bartender there is my girlfriend.”
Before she could respond, dispatch radioed a 10-31. They gave the address, and Shawn responded that we were en route. I looked at Reagan again through the rearview mirror.
“It’s your lucky night, Buttercup.”
Her emerald eyes brightened. “A dead body?”
“A dead body.”
We arrived at the location a few minutes later. I got out and opened the back door where Reagan was sitting. Leaning in, I said, “Stay by the car for now while we make sure the scene is secure, and then I’ll come and get you.”
She bobbed her head excitedly. “Okay. I want to watch CSU work.”
“Figured you might.” I winked.
The sun was starting to set, and the familiar red and blue lights helped light my path toward Officer Moore, the responding officer who was waiting outside of the duplex.
“What do we have?” Shawn asked.
“Another stabbing,” he replied as we started for the front door. Before we entered, we covered our shoes with shoe covers. “Vic appears to be in her early twenties. No signs of a break-in, and no signs of a struggle.”
The words echoed our unsolved case, and the moment I saw the body on the couch, I started sensing a pattern. She had been left naked, and had long brown hair that was soaked with blood. The amount of blood, the stab wounds, and the lack of disarray in the room, made me think it was the same perp.
After surveying the scene and making sure it was secure, I went back outside to grab Reagan, who was still in the back seat of the car but with the door open and watching everyone work.
“Ready?”
“I’m so excited,” she exclaimed.
“Try to keep the excitement down while you’re in front of the neighbors.” I nudged my head in the direction of the crowd forming.
“Sorry,” she whispered.
I reached out my hand for her to take to slide out of the car. “I get it.” She put shoe protectors on, and just before walking over the threshold, I turned to her. “You sure about this?”
She nodded her head. “If I can’t handle it, then I know to quit school.”
“Or do another form of investigating like crime scene reconstruction or something.”
“We’ll see.”
We walked inside, and Reagan followed me to the body. I looked over at her, gauging her reaction. Her beautiful green eyes were wide, and it seemed as though she wasn’t breathing.
“You okay?”
She swallowed. “Yeah. I just can’t believe I’m looking at a dead body.” She looked up at me. “It doesn’t smell that bad.”
“She hasn’t been dead that long then,” I informed her. “Wait until you have one that’s a week old.”
Shawn leaned over. “Don’t puke on the body.”
Reagan snorted. “Not planning on it.”
“Stay close and don’t touch anything,” I instructed. “After you get a quick look around, you’ll need to go back to the car.”
“Got it,” she replied.
Just like Amy’s crime scene, everything seemed in order except for the blood-soaked couch. Reagan went back to the cruiser while I looked for anything out of place. Whoever this guy was, he had serious anger issues.
I moved to look at the pictures on the fireplace when Shawn walked up to me. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Same guy as Amy’s?”
“Yeah.”
I was about to respond when something on the fireplace caught my eye. It was a wood plaque in the shape of a heart with a name on it. “What’s the vic’s name?” I asked.
“Daisy. Daisy Witt.”
I pointed to the wood carving.
“Yeah?” Shawn questioned me. “You can get those made at—”
“I know where you can get them, but Amy had one of these on the wall at her apartment.”
“Really?” Shawn questioned. “Maybe they went to the same fair or amusement park?”
“Maybe, but I didn’t think anything of it at the time. There was no blood on it or anything, so it wasn’t put into evidence.” I fished a glove from my pocket and used it loosely to pick up the plaque that was leaning against the back wall of the chimney and turned it over. A #9 was written in black marker on the back. “If this is connected, do you think this means Daisy’s the ninth vic and we’re dealing with a serial killer?”
“We need to speak with Heather again. Check out the plaque you saw there,” he responded. “Maybe she knows where it came from.”
This could be the break we needed. If we were dealing with a serial killer, then we’d have more to go on and databases to scour looking for any similar MOs.
“Detectives,” a crime tech called.
“Yeah?” I turned.
“You two need to see this.”
Shawn and I followed her back and into a bedroom. Every form of sex toy imaginable was on the bed next to an empty vodka bottle that looked to be smudged with blood on the neck of the bottle.
Before Shawn and I left, we interviewed the roommate who had called it in. She had no idea who would have done this to Daisy and wasn’t much help except to establish a timeline.
I drove Shawn back to the station and then drove Reagan home to drop her off before heading back to work on the case. “Thank you for taking me tonight,” Reagan beamed as we walked inside her apartment.
“So, you think you can handle it?” I asked as I closed the door behind me. It was her first dead body, and I wasn’t sure if she’d be able to sleep alone.
She wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me lightly. “Yes. The dead body was creepy at first, but I think it will get easier as you mentioned before.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to working with you.”
“I’ll be the low man on the totem pole.”
“Only for a few years until you can get your degree.”
“Tru—” She dropped her hands from my neck as she stared past me.
“What is—” I turned to look at what she’d seen.
I didn’t need to finish speaking. A wood plaque in the shape of a heart with Reagan’s name carved into it was hanging on her wall.
“Where did that come from?” I asked.
Ethan didn’t reply. Instead, he pulled his gun, and I went rigid.
“Eth—”
“Get against the wall and don’t move,” he ordered.
“You’re scaring me.”
“Get against the wall,” he gritted out again. “Now!”
I moved, my back going flush against the wall near the front door. My heart started to race, my palms became sweaty. I had no idea what was going on as I watched Ethan check my condo.
“It’s clear,” he finally stated and put his gun back into its holster under his suit jacket.
“O—kay?”
He grabbed his phone, pressed something on the screen, and then held it up to his ear as he pulled me against his chest. “You need to get to Reagan’s.” There was a short pause. “Perp was in her condo.” I started to shake. Did he just say a perp was in here? How? “I don’t know. Just fucking get here. I’m calling it in.”
“Ethan?” I whispered nervously as he took the phone away from his ear.
He wrapped his arms tighter around me. “It’s going to be okay.”
�
��What’s happening?”
Turning us slightly, he pointed at the mysterious plaque. “That has been at my last two murder scenes.”
“My—my name?”
“No.” He shook his head. “Each victim had her name on a plaque.”
“Why is it here?”
“I don’t know.” He sighed. “But I’m fucking going to find out.”
“I don’t understand.”
“I don’t either.” He stepped back. “I need to call it in. Shawn’s on his way now.”
“O—kay,” I stuttered again. “How did they get in?” I turned to look at my door. It didn’t appear as though someone had broken in.
“I don’t know.” Ethan held up his finger. “Yeah, Maureen. This is Sergeant Valor.”
I tuned him out as I looked around my living room. At school, we were going over details that would be at a crime scene. I never thought my home would be one. I checked the windows. They were locked. Everything was as I’d left it less than two hours before except for the mysterious wood plaque on my wall with my picture collage.
What was happening?
“Okay, CSU is on their way,” Ethan advised, coming over to me as I looked around at my condo. I felt like a stranger in my own home.
“CSU? This is a crime scene?”
He wrapped his arms around me again. “Of course it is. Someone fucking broke into your home.”
I knew that it was. I was just in shock, and nothing was making sense. “Who would do that?”
“If I knew that, we wouldn’t be standing here, Buttercup.”
“Am I … safe?”
“I’ll never let anything happen to you.” He kissed the top of my head, and then we were silent for a few moments while he continued to hold me in his arms. “I need to ask … who else knows where you live?”
I pulled my head back, looking into his deep blue eyes. “No one. I haven’t met anyone since I’ve been back.”
“What about at school?”
“I mean, I have classmates, but I’m not friends with anyone nor have I told them where I live.”
We pulled apart. “Someone knows you live here beside me.”
I thought for a moment. “Maddie does. I gave her my address for emergencies and whatnot.”
“Maddie? Would she—”
“Would she what? Kill people?”
Before Ethan could respond, there was a knock at the door. My heart began to race again as I watched him move toward it. Once I saw Shawn standing on the other side, I relaxed slightly. How could Ethan think my daughter had something to do with this? How could he think she was a killer? Besides, she was at school in Michigan.
I needed to sit down, so while Ethan talked to his partner, I sat on my couch, thinking about who else knew where I lived. No one came to mind except maybe Judy because she had my info in my employee file. But then …
“Eth,” I called. It was barely a whisper as uncertainty still coursed through my body.
He paused his conversation and moved so he was crouched down in front of me. “What is it?”
“It’s a long shot, but maybe it’s someone from work?”
He stood, anger radiating from him. “That fucking barback?”
“Derrick?” I drew my head back slightly because I wasn’t thinking about him at all. I was thinking of one of the other bartenders. I knew Tommy and Frank had a key to Judy’s office because they needed to get money at the start of the day or put money in the safe at closing.
“Is that his fucking name?”
I swallowed. “Yeah.”
“He knows where you live?”
“No. I mean, I’ve never told him.”
“Then why do you think it’s Derrick?”
I sighed. “I don’t think it’s him exactly.”
“Then who?”
I looked over at Shawn and then back at Ethan. “Judy has my address for my W-2 and whatever. Maybe Tommy or Frank grabbed my file and got my address,” I suggested.
“I’ll go check it out. Check out this Derrick guy too,” Shawn said.
“Tommy works the early shift, and I don’t think Derrick is working tonight,” I stated, turning to face Shawn. “We mostly work the same shift because he’s in school too.”
“Same college?” Ethan asked.
I shrugged. “I don’t know.”
“Then we’ll go to his house. I’ve wanted an excuse to rough him up,” Ethan admitted.
“Captain isn’t going to let you work this, man,” Shawn advised.
Ethan turned to face him, pointing a finger as he gritted his teeth, seething instantly. “I don’t fucking care. This is Reagan we’re dealing with. My Reagan.”
Shawn held up his hands in surrender. “I know, but—”
“No buts. My priority is keeping her safe. Some perp is out there killing women and now”—Ethan pointed at me again—“some asshole is coming after my Reagan.”
His words started to slowly sink in. “That has been at my last two murder scenes.”
A murderer was in my condo?
My heart hadn’t slowed since the moment I saw that fucking wood plaque on Reagan’s wall. I had no idea what was happening or how she was involved, but I needed to figure out the connection before I lost my fucking mind. If something were to happen to her … If she was to be taken—to leave me again—I would lose my shit.
I wasn’t going to let that happen.
“Take her laptop too. Have Will do his thing,” I instructed the crime scene tech.
“My laptop?” Reagan asked.
“Remember I told you about the case where someone was watching my murder vic through her webcam?”
“Yeah?”
“She had a wood plaque too, and I’d bet the vic tonight has the same shit on her computer that pings to a shitload of countries.” When we pulled the plaque from Reagan’s wall, on the back was #2 in black marker. Daisy had #9, and that made me even more confused. I needed to find out what number was on the back of Amy’s plaque.
“But … we put black tape over the camera.”
I sighed. “I don’t know how it works, but I want Will to check out your computer. This could be the link.”
Reagan nodded. “Okay. This is crazy.”
“Yeah, it is.” I sighed.
“Will I have my computer back for class tomorrow?”
I frowned. “You’re not going to school tomorrow.”
“What? Why not?”
I looked at the crime scene techs and nodded as they bagged Reagan’s laptop. After waiting for them to leave, I replied to her, “Do you think you can just go on with your day to day life as usual?”
She drew her head back slightly and furrowed her brows. “I … I can’t?”
“Not until we catch this guy. If something were to ever happen to you …” I couldn’t finish the thought. It felt as though everything was spinning out of control. First, it was my sister, and now the woman I loved for most of my life was in danger. Fuck!
“So I need to go into hiding or something?”
I sighed, running my hands down my face. “Let’s see what Shawn finds out at Judy’s, and what Will finds on your computer.”
“Okay.”
“Go pack a bag, and we’ll leave.”
“How much should I pack?”
Everything, I wanted to reply because I never wanted her out of my sight. And it wasn’t only because some asshole might be after her. I wanted to move in with her. We were together every night, and paying rent for two places was pointless. I’d assumed I would move into her place since I was living in Ashtyn’s condo.
“For a few days at least. We can always come back and get more if Shawn and I don’t solve this shit.” I had a door guy, and that was better than nothing. Since the incident with Ashtyn, Jose, one of the door guys, had taken it upon himself to make sure that the security for the building was up to par given that a man had slipped past him and tried to kidnap my sister.
Fuck. I hope we solve this shit
tomorrow.
I didn’t sleep a wink.
The entire night I held Reagan as tight as I could, as though I’d wake up and she’d be gone again. I didn’t know if there was a connection with her laptop, a connection among all three women other than the wood plaques, or if some perp was randomly targeting victims. Reagan was more or less new in town, and when we went on the ride-along, she didn’t seem as though she knew Daisy, and I didn’t think she was hiding anything from me.
The look on her face when she realized that a killer had entered her condo made me scared too. It would be different if I knew who this guy was, but I had no idea. Amy’s murder was clean, in a manner of speaking. We’d found no leads since the person watching her through her webcam was using shit, so we couldn’t trace who it was. Will had said something about a chain connection, but the servers were from different countries. I didn’t know how it all worked because I was muscle, so to speak. I knew how to use a computer, but the logistics were beyond what I knew. What I did know was that there was no such a thing as a perfect murder, and eventually, we would find out who the killer was.
I just hoped it was before anything happened to Reagan.
Unlike most mornings, I didn’t wake Reagan with my mouth or my hand or any other part of my body because I wanted her to sleep as long as she could, given the emotional circumstances. I kissed her temple and then slid out of bed before getting into the shower. The warm water gave me a little bit of energy, but I also knew I’d need cup after cup of coffee to get me through the day.
After the quickest shower I’d ever taken in my life—I was scared to have Reagan out of my sight—I went back into my bedroom, a towel wrapped around my waist. She was awake. “Morning, Buttercup.”
She smiled slightly. “Morning.”
I sat on the edge of the bed and brushed her dark hair from her face. “Did you sleep okay?”
She frowned. “I don’t think I slept for more than thirty minutes.”
“More than me.”
Reagan sat up. “You didn’t sleep at all?”
“How could I?”
“I don’t know.” She sighed. “But what are we going to do?”
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