by Apryl Baker
“But not here.”
“No, he’s too smart, Agent. There’s no reason to do something to cause a bruise after she’s dead.” Pauley stood, his expression almost pained. “I’ll do a deep tissue scan, though. It’s not something we typically do. If he gripped her too tight at any point after her death, it might have left an impression behind. Good call.”
There went one idea out the window. Pauley looked too doubtful, and he’d know. He’d been at this for several years. The man might look like a twenty-year-old, but he had to be in his early thirties or thereabouts. Kade expressed doubts about someone so young handling some aspects of the case when they’d first met, but Bailey only grinned and informed him the lad had been with the ME’s office for over ten years.
“Has anyone informed her parents yet?” Pity mingled with his growing rage as he memorized every detail of her face. She did not deserve what happened to her, and it was because Kade couldn’t find a pattern. How many more would die because of his inability to see the missing link?
“Yes. The captain sent Rogers and his new partner over there.” Bailey approached slowly, his dark tennis shoes blending into the dirty concrete beside the dumpster. Rank odors tickled Kade’s nose, and he scrunched it slightly. “I thought we could give them tonight to get over the shock, and then go see them first thing in the morning.”
Kade would have preferred to do it tonight, but showing up on a grieving parent’s doorstep with liquor on his breath wouldn’t do them any favors. He needed them to trust him, and whiskey breath didn’t inspire confidence.
“Oh, there’s one other thing you should know. He left a witness behind.”
Kade’s head snapped around at the casual statement. “Witness?”
“Two, actually. He dumped the body while they were out here on a break.” Bailey couldn’t suppress his grin anymore. “We caught a break, Kincaid.”
Witnesses? He stood and took several deep breaths, refusing to let his expectations rise. Witnesses were notoriously unreliable. Even though they both might have seen the unsub, their descriptions could be vastly different. Still, Bailey was right. They’d finally caught a break.
“Where are they?” Whiskey breath or not, he needed to talk to them now. While their memories were fresh.
“Inside. One got a good look at our perp, and I’ve already sent down for a sketch artist to meet us here. I want to try to get an accurate sketch before she forgets or starts blurring her memories with what she’s seen or heard.”
“Let’s go have a chat with our witnesses.”
“You don’t want a preliminary from the ME first? I see him arriving now.”
“No. We’ll talk to him when we finish inside if he’s still here. Otherwise, we’ll swing by in the morning before we talk to the girl’s parents. Our priority right now is the witnesses.”
“We are a little concerned.” Bailey fell into step beside him as they walked toward the back entrance of the bar. “The one didn’t just see him. He saw her too. A good, long look at her. She’s scared.”
She had every right to be if he saw her and knew she worked here. “We’ll need to get her police protection.” He wasn’t about to lose another woman to this depraved madman.
“I’ve already got a call in to the captain about that.”
“We’ll need to check all the video surveillance we can find. Traffic cams, local stores and restaurants. Hell, we might as well check ATM cams too. If he left a witness, he might stick around in the crowd, waiting to follow her home.”
“I thought about that. I’ve already got uniforms out on the hunt for potential surveillance cams. Most of the tapes we won’t get until the owners or opening staff arrive in the morning. It’s after three a.m. now. Our tech department is pulling footage from the traffic cams as we speak.”
Kade rubbed a hand across his eyes as they entered the kitchen. The heat hit him in the face as soon as they stepped across the threshold. The place was busy. They served a full menu until closing, and while the kitchen was shut down and they were in the middle of cleaning up, the heat remained.
He followed Bailey into the bar, barely paying attention to his surroundings, his mind focused on one fact. Finally, the unsub had made a mistake. After all these months, he’d made a mistake and left a witness behind. Not that the unsub had much choice, but it was breaks like these that solved cases.
Bailey came to a stop in front of him, bringing his attention back to his surroundings. O’Grady’s was an Irish pub and it looked it with the rich mahogany wood and the back bar lit up to showcase the premium spirits. A man was presently wiping down the bar while another woman stocked glasses for the next shift. The patrons had been replaced with uniformed officers.
He listened as Bailey introduced him and got his first look at one of the two witnesses. She looked like she’d been crying. Her makeup was a runny mess, mascara making wet tracks down her cheeks. Given what she’d witnessed, it was no wonder she was upset.
Bailey stepped aside, and Kade’s gaze landed on the woman currently staring at him with homicide in her green eyes. They spat so much hatred at him, he took an automatic step back. It couldn’t be her. Not after all these years. It felt like he’d just been sucker punched in the gut and couldn’t breathe.
“Agent Kincaid, this is…”
“Angel.” The word tumbled off his lips in a hoarse whisper.
“You two know each other?” Bailey’s surprise paled in comparison to the shock Kade felt upon seeing the best and worst mistake of his life glaring at him.
He barely had time to brace himself before she launched herself out of the chair and straight at him.
“You murdering bastard!”
Chapter Two
It all happened in slow motion. That was the only way Kade could describe it. He saw her jump up, saw her fly toward him. Watched her hand ball up and rear back. And yet it all happened so fast, he couldn’t dodge the first punch. It landed squarely on his chin. Pain ricocheted across his jawline. He’d forgotten how hard his Angel could hit.
He caught her fist before she landed a second punch and pulled her into a tight hold. “Calm down, Angel.”
“Calm down?” Her screech might possibly have burst ear drums. “How dare you tell me to calm down! When I get loose…”
“Kincaid?”
He ignored the questioning tone in Bailey’s voice and nodded to the officers who’d come running. “Everything’s fine.”
“Fine?” The spitfire in his arms struggled harder. “Since when do they let murderers join the FBI?”
“Murderer? What is she talking about?”
Kade felt for Bailey. He looked completely lost.
“He murdered my brother!”
The room went as silent as a grave. Kade’s lips thinned and he picked her up and started walking, her struggling and shouting for all she was worth. He only stopped long enough to ask where the office was. The girl behind the bar pointed in the general direction, and he nodded his thanks as he hauled Angel down the hall.
“What…” The owner stood when Kade walked in, Angel screaming obscenities at him. He had to be in his late sixties, early seventies, with a head of what looked more like white peach fuzz than hair. He reminded Kade of a brawler. He’d bet anything the man had been a fighter of some kind in his younger years.
“Out,” Kade barked when Angel managed to bite him. He was done with this nonsense. The woman had every right to be pissed at him, but she needed to understand how dire the situation was. A serial killer knew what she looked like, where she worked, and that she might very well be his next victim. She could be a drama queen later.
“Now, look here, son, this is my office, and I ain’t going nowhere, especially not when you’re manhandling my employee.”
“I’m not manhandling your employee, I’m manhandling my wife.”
“Wife? Angel, what’n the hell is he talking about?”
“I am not his wife!”
The devil in him couldn�
��t resist, even with the seriousness of the situation. “Now, honey bear, don’t be fibbing like that. You don’t want to have to do a full month of Hail Marys again, do you?”
Angel gritted her teeth and kicked backward, her foot connecting with his shin. He didn’t even grunt. “It wasn’t a real marriage, Kincaid, and you know it.”
“I think the priest would disagree with you.”
The sexy tone of his voice hadn’t changed at all. It made that traitorous part of herself she’d worked hard to tamp down swoon. Damn him. Why did it have to be him? Fate had a sick sense of humor.
“Can we please borrow your office, Mr…?”
“Just call me Pops.” Pops didn’t look convinced, and Angel had a moment of hope that he’d throw Kade out on his ass. “I’m not sure…”
“I’m Agent Kincaid of the FBI’s behavioral analysis unit. I need to talk to Angel about what she saw tonight. She’s only being difficult because it’s me.”
“Difficult?” Did he really just say that? How dare he? “I’ll show you difficult…”
“Ten minutes, son, and then I’m coming in to check on her.”
Angel let out a growl of frustration when Pops left and closed the door behind him, leaving her alone with the one man she hated more than anyone.
“Let me go.” The depth of her rage vibrated in those three words. Kade would be stupid not to understand it.
“If I let you go, are you going to behave?”
Angel wanted to say no, but she’d give anything to get away from him and how he made her feel. Being this close to him brought back memories best left buried, memories of how it felt to have him wrapped around her, his lips on her neck, his breath tickling her ear. Being near him was not a good idea. She’d rather keep her distance and let her anger shield all the pain and despair he’d left her with. Anything was better than reliving that. Especially in front of him.
“Yes.”
His arms dropped away and he took a few steps back, keeping his back to the door and effectively trapping her in here with him. They regarded each other silently for several long moments. It was Kade who finally broke the silence.
“Are you all right?”
All right? She let out a hoarse laugh. She’d come face to face with a serial killer tonight, and she’d rather be there with him than here with Kade. She crossed her arms and sat on the edge of Pops’ desk, trying to put even more distance between them. “What do you think, Sherlock?”
“I know I’m probably the last person you want to see…”
“You think?”
His eyes narrowed, but she could see him rein in his temper. It was a knack of his, and one that had managed to submerge him into the crime family her brother had gotten mixed up in.
“Now is not the time for theatrics, Angel. Do you even understand the kind of danger you’re in?”
“Theatrics?” Her entire body ached with the need to hit him. “After everything you put me through, you think I’m being theatrical? You don’t think I have the right to be angry? To hate the very sight of you?”
His sigh only served to fuel the fires stoking her rage.
“I wish you had died instead of Peter.”
He flinched, and she had a moment of self-righteous glee. The man could be hurt. His next words slapped all her anger in the face.
“I’m sorry about your brother.”
Angel closed her eyes against the wash of pain that surged up to drown her. She didn’t want his apologies or his sympathies. She just wanted him gone.
“I didn’t know until later what happened.”
Of course, he didn’t, she thought bitterly. He’d been too busy moving on to his next assignment, not caring about the broken pieces he’d left behind. There hadn’t even been a trial for him to show up to so she could confront him. The cartel killed Peter before he had a chance to so much as open his mouth.
When she opened her eyes, ready to lay into him, her breath caught. He looked so sad, his onyx gaze full of compassion and regret. Kade hadn’t changed all that much in six years. He’d filled out, becoming the man his youth hinted at. His face looked more rugged, but it only served to enhance his appeal. He’d always been beautiful to her, and that hadn’t changed. He was still the sexiest man she knew.
And when he looked at her like he was now, she always melted, but she made herself ignore it, made herself harden her resolve. She wouldn’t be fooled by him again. He was a bastard who’d left her high and dry, sobbing in the hospital with nothing left but a broken and empty heart.
“Can we get this over with so I can go home?”
“Of course, moye serdtse.”
“Don’t do that.” She knew exactly what that phrase meant—my heart. He used to call her that all the time. She’d looked it up after the first night they’d made love and he’d whispered those words to her when he thought she’d dozed off.
“What?” He cocked his head curiously.
“Don’t call me that. You don’t have the right to call me that.”
“I…”
“Just don’t, Kade. Please.”
Her soft-spoken plea nearly did him in. He wanted to console her, but knew it would be a futile attempt. She was too angry. The only option left to him was doing his job.
“All right, then, can you tell me what you saw tonight?”
She took a deep breath and stared out the only window in the small office. The flashing lights of the patrol cars blinked at them as Kade watched her gather her thoughts. “I was on a break. Jess had gone back inside, and I was about to when I had the bright idea to pick up some trash and throw it away. That’s when he pulled up and set that poor girl down…” Her voice trailed off, and Kade forced himself to stay where he was. She wouldn’t welcome any comfort from him, even though every instinct he possessed told him to hug her tight and reassure her.
“I think I made a noise or something, because he looked right at me.” She frowned, thinking. “I might have dropped the dumpster lid, I don’t know. It’s all starting to blur together on me.”
“Take your time. Close your eyes and think about the moment. Remember the sounds, the smells…”
“You don’t have to tell me, Kincaid. I do watch Criminal Minds.”
Sarcasm dripped like vinegar from her tongue. Kade refrained from making a snarky comeback. She used it to cover up how afraid she was. He understood that.
“It was the strangest thing. You think in that situation you’d scream or run, but I couldn’t. My feet refused to move, and we just stared at each other. It could have been minutes or an hour. Again, I don’t know. Jessie came back out to check on me, and when she started screaming, he left. Only he didn’t run. He moved slow and casual. That’s what really freaked me out. He didn’t care if I’d seen him or that he might be caught.” She rubbed her arms, her face pensive. “He just seemed so…carefree, almost blasé about the whole thing. It scared me.”
“Bailey said he might know your name?”
“Yeah, Jessie said my name before she saw him. That’s bad, isn’t it?”
He didn’t want to scare her any more than she already was, but he refused to lie to her. “Yeah, Angel, it’s really bad. He has your name, and he knows where you work. It won’t be difficult for him to figure out who you are and where you live.”
Her breath whooshed out and her head dropped.
“It’s going to be okay, sweetheart. I promise.”
Her head snapped up, eyes spitting fire at him. Such a temper. He’d rather have her angry than scared shitless, though.
“What did I just say, Kincaid?”
“Sorry.” He held up his hands in surrender. “Old habits.”
“Can you at least try to be professional, Agent Kincaid?”
“I can try, but it probably won’t last. Back to your serial killer adventure…”
“Did you honestly just call the most terrifying moment of my life an adventure?”
“Too soon for jokes, huh?” He smiled and saw her
fight not to return the smile. “Okay, then, back to business. What do you remember about him? Short, tall? Was he white, black, Hispanic?”
“White, tall, but not as tall as you, maybe six feet or a little under. He had a five o’clock shadow. Dark hair, his eyes were blue. I saw them in the light. Pops always keeps it well-lit back there. He had on a green hoodie. It slipped off his head at one point. Jeans. Dark sneakers, I think.”
A knock sounded, and Kade turned to open the door. The owner of the bar and Bailey stood there, a mixture of morbid curiosity and concern on their faces.
“Is everything okay in here?” Pops eyeballed Kade warily.
“Everything’s fine.” Kade stepped aside so they could enter. “Angel was just telling me about what she remembers.”
“You good?” Pops, as he’d told Kade to call him, went over to stand by Angel, his arms crossed much like her own were. His stance breathed hostility.
“Yeah, I’m good, Pops.”
Kade gave the detective a brief rundown of everything she’d told him, while she and Pops spoke quietly.
“Do you think you can describe him to a sketch artist?” Bailey asked Angel after Kade finished filling him in. “I have one waiting outside if you’re up for it.”
“Yeah. I think I can do that.”
Kade watched her fidget. Her emotions were brimming like storm clouds in her expression, her movements, her voice. Shaken. That was the word he’d use. Seeing him hadn’t helped either. He wasn’t in much better shape himself. Coming face to face with her tonight had thrown him off his game. Add in the whiskey, and he was all over the place.
Angel had changed a lot since he’d met her almost eight years ago. She was what, twenty-six now? She looked older, more mature, but it only enhanced her natural beauty. Even wearing her black tank and jeans, she looked graceful. He’d gone out with more women over the last three years than any of his brothers, including Nikoli, but none of them compared to Angel. She was magnificent.