“And complaints?” Daria asked, genuinely curious.
Molly gave her a fleeting smile. “If it was a first complaint on an employee, I let it go. We have some...very particular guests.”
Daria presumed that was her tactful way of saying some of their guests were a pain. She could imagine, having lived both sides of that divide. “The type no one can please?”
“Exactly. So unless it became a pattern, I let it go. If there was a second time, I’d talk to the employee, but if it came to a third—unless it was all from the same guest who clearly just didn’t like the employee—then I’d let Curtis know.” She gave a shake of her head. “And he always handled it well enough, I thought. Fairly, anyway. I just can’t believe this. Curtis, a...a serial killer?”
“I understand the shock you must be feeling,” Daria said. “But we need you to just set that aside for the moment, because right now we have to focus on finding him.”
Molly nodded, although her expression made her feelings clear. Daria didn’t blame her in the least; finding out someone you’d known and worked alongside for years was truly that monster she’d mentioned was enough to rattle anyone to the core.
Daria thought about speaking some platitude that it might turn out Curtis was innocent, but they had to find him to prove that, so she didn’t. This woman had asked for the truth, and if she was this solid after all she had been through, she had earned it.
“Think back, Molly,” Stefan urged. “Did you ever hear Curtis say anything that might be a clue to where he would go to be...alone? Anyplace that was a favorite haunt, maybe someplace he went on vacation or something?”
“I don’t think he ever really took vacations. Not like other people, you know, for a week or two. Just extra days here and there.”
Stefan nodded; that tallied with what his assistant had told them. But Molly went on and instantly had Daria’s complete attention.
“But he did mention once that a friend of his had a place near here that he’d gone to.”
“A place?” Stefan was just as on alert as she was.
“A fishing cabin. I remember it because Curtis never seemed like a fisherman type to me.”
Not for fish, anyway. Daria tried to rein in the inner kick of excitement that hit her. “Do you have any idea where, exactly?”
Molly shook her head. “I don’t think he ever told me exactly, just that it was up above the biggest of the springs, at the west end. Except...”
“What?” Stefan encouraged her, and Daria heard the change in his voice, sensed the same wiredrawn tension in him that she was feeling. This was something, she was certain of it.
“He mentioned how...isolated it was. He said you could scream at the top of your lungs and no one would hear you.” Daria felt a shiver go down her spine at the description of the perfect serial killer hideaway. Molly swallowed visibly. “I thought it was an odd thing to say, but that was all. I never... I should have...”
She stopped, gulping now. Daria reached out and put a hand on her arm. “You had absolutely no way to know, Molly. He’s obviously very, very good or he wouldn’t have gotten away with it for this long.”
“Did he ever mention this buddy’s name?” Stefan asked.
Molly shook her head. “He only said something about him being pretty nice for a...well, he used some nasty slang for someone who’s Japanese.”
Stefan was already on the phone, probably to his office, as Daria tried to soothe the understandably upset woman.
“You promise you’ll find him?”
“I promise I will not give up until I do, one way or another,” Daria said fiercely.
And she meant it. If it took years—which, God help her, it had better not—she would take down the man who had slaughtered those innocent women for no better reason than they matched his “type.” She didn’t care what justification for murder his twisted brain might come up with. All she cared about was stopping him at all costs.
“I believe you,” Molly said. “It’s why I’ll vote for your boss tomorrow. And I don’t care what the Colton haters say about having a Colton for sheriff.”
Tomorrow. One more thing to deal with, Daria thought as the grief-stricken woman left. And Molly had no idea that what she’d said had a double meaning for Daria. That Trey wasn’t the only Colton connection in the department.
Stefan was ending the call as she turned back. “They’re on it, cross-referencing property owners around the springs with any Japanese names. It shouldn’t take too long.”
“Assuming he could even be identified by last name,” Daria said, thinking he could have divided parentage like her own.
“All we have to go on,” Stefan reminded her. “And,” he added with a gentle rub at her shoulder, “a heck of a lot more than we had when we started.”
“Yes.” She turned to look at him then. “Let’s start that way.”
Stefan blinked. “I called for a team, but it’ll be a while before they can get rolling, especially since we don’t have a location yet.”
“But we can be in the area, check it out first.”
“Get the lay of the land, you mean?”
She nodded, so antsy to do something, anything, that she thought she might go on her own if he refused.
“I’m not sure that’s a good idea,” he said.
“I’ve got to do something,” she insisted, feeling as if she were about to jump out of her skin. “I can’t just stand around and wait, not when we finally have him!”
“I’ve had that feeling,” he said cautiously, “but a lot of times that’s when mistakes get made.”
“Look, all I want to do is look around, see what we’ll be dealing with. If he’s even there. And if he’s not, we can search the place for any evidence.”
“All right,” he finally agreed. “But that’s all we’re doing. We’re not going after a guy with this many kills to his name without backup.”
Daria knew better than to think it was his own safety Stefan was concerned about. He was just worried about Shruggs getting away. And he had a point, she admitted. It just wasn’t enough to tamp down her impatience.
“And,” Stefan added, “I take the lead.” She pursed her lips. Waited for an explanation of what had sounded rather peremptory. Because she knew this man now, and knew he usually had a good reason for such decisions. When it came, it made perfect sense. “Just like at his house. He’s seen you, but I’ve never been face-to-face with him.”
“All right.”
It wasn’t until they were gathering up gear—Kevlar vests, tear gas, the Remington 700 rifle Daria hoped never to have to fire in a real-life sniper situation, and for good measure a couple of flash-bang grenades—that it occurred to her to wonder if maybe, just maybe, it wasn’t just Shruggs escaping that Stefan was thinking about.
Maybe it was her.
Chapter 25
As he drove the department SUV, Stefan’s instincts, honed by intensive training, warned him this was not what he wanted to do. Not what the Bureau would do. Barring interference from above, thankfully rare this far from the halls of power, they would wait until they had all the pieces in place, all possibilities they could think of covered. But Daria was so determined he knew there was no stopping her. And if he let her go alone, it could all too quickly devolve into disaster. Because he knew she’d risk herself, if it came down to it, to take this beast out. She was too damned fearless for her own good.
And for his peace of mind.
And that simple realization—that he was worried as much about her as this case—was a screaming warning that he was in way over his head with this woman. Never before had his emotions interfered with an investigation, and most especially a case like this, particularly when they were this close.
He tried to focus on the fact that she did have a point, about scouting the area. They needed to know the surround
ing terrain, scope out possible escape routes, and if they could get that done before the backup team arrived, they’d be that much further ahead. And if they came across the target alone, he would just have to keep Deputy Bloom reined in until help arrived. No way in hell was he letting her go in after Shruggs without a full team, including a sniper—maybe two—in place and ready.
The old nightmare rose in his mind, and full daylight made no difference. That horrendous night, back in the killing fields of Chicago, when bodies had been strewn in the street, among them two agents who had moved too fast, without backup. True, they had done it because they had to—the suspect and his gang were shooting random citizens—but the aftermath had looked like a battlefield.
And two of their own had been among the dead.
This isn’t the city. And we’re going after one man, not a mob.
Not, of course, that one well-armed psychopath couldn’t do a great deal of damage. And just because Shruggs had no concealed carry permit meant nothing. Less than nothing. Expecting a serial killer to abide by the law was a fool’s game.
But he didn’t do his kills with a weapon—he killed with his hands, up close and personal. Stefan had seen interviews, and done one himself, where the killer professed his delight in seeing life fading out of his victim’s eyes.
He gave himself an inward shake; this was accomplishing nothing. Right now he needed to focus on keeping Daria out of trouble while they gathered the intel they could pass on to the backup team. At least she had realized he was right about him taking the lead, just in case the worst happened.
“Thank you,” she said suddenly.
“For?”
There was a half second of silence, enough to make him glance at her. The slight smile that barely curved her lips warmed him inside in a way such a minute expression shouldn’t have been able to. And the warning bells sounded again.
“Many things,” she answered just as he had to turn back to driving, “but right now, for agreeing to this. I know you didn’t want to.”
“No, I didn’t. I’m more of a get-your-ducks-in-a-row-first kind of guy.”
“And what if while you’re lining up those ducks, the vulture escapes?”
He glanced at her. “I wouldn’t have thought of you as...impulsive.”
Before he had to look back at the road ahead, he saw her expression change slightly as the word registered. “I’m not,” she said. “I make very sure I know what I’m doing before taking a big step.” He had time to wonder if that applied to what had happened between them yesterday as she hesitated for a moment. But then she said, very quietly, “I have a feeling my mother acted on impulse, and look where it got her.”
He thought of what else the DNA testing he’d arranged had shown, but this was hardly the time for that discussion. He’d never pushed her about her parentage, and he wasn’t about to now—not when they were heading into a situation that required them to be completely focused.
“She did what she had to. To give you both the best chance.”
“I know.” His next glance at her caught a very speculative look in her eye, but all she said was, “And it probably did work out for the best.”
“You were adopted.”
“Yes. And they were...wonderful to me.” Again that speculative look, but it was the last time he was able to notice her expression, because they’d reached the area above the west end of the springs the town was named for, which also meant they’d reached the end of paved roads. Hence the SUV. Daria had known the roads up here were gravel at best, more often dirt and too often mud. He could already see she’d been right.
He paused the vehicle once, to get oriented in his mind. They’d called up the satellite imagery and he’d studied it until it was set in his mind, a knack he’d often put to good use. He was looking at a thick stand of trees off to the left when she spoke again.
“Isolated,” she said, “could mean different things to different people. Did he mean out all alone with no neighbors close enough to hear, or just secluded among trees, so no one can see, either?”
“Could go either way,” he replied. “But...”
“You’re thinking trees?”
“Just a gut feeling.” He knew she’d get this. Most cops of any persuasion did.
“Me, too. Something about his house, the log cabin look...”
“So...north-facing?”
“A good place to start,” she murmured.
“Then that narrows down the escape routes, unless he’s got a plan to get out on foot if he has to.”
“He struck me as even less of a hiker than a fisherman,” she said.
“All right. We’ll go with that.”
* * *
It took Daria a moment to realize what had caused the oddly emotional reaction she had to what should have been a strictly businesslike, even grim decision-making process—to hunt for a serial killer was hardly a heartwarming subject.
But what was heartwarming was Stefan’s easy acceptance of her assessment of Shruggs. He’d always been respectful of her and her skills, but this, so close to what she hoped and prayed was the end, was bigger, and if he’d ever been going to take over it would be now. But instead he respected her instincts, her training, trusted her judgment as a cop, and she was a little taken aback at how much that meant to her. That he took her word as an equal, not just as a woman to a man, but a small-county sheriff’s deputy to a federal agent.
But then she realized she must have already known it on some level. Because if she wasn’t certain, even subconsciously, that she had that respect from him, yesterday afternoon never would have happened. And the very thought of having missed what she had found in his arms, the sheer joy his hands, his mouth, his body had given her, was chilling. She was old enough to know such perfect matches came along rarely in life. What she didn’t know was where they went from here. He’d said—
A bounce that jarred her teeth interrupted her thoughts.
“Sorry,” Stefan muttered. “That was more of a pot fissure than a pothole.”
She found herself grinning at that, and given the circumstances, she took it as a sign of how far gone she truly was for this man.
The road got even rougher, and Daria saw some patches of lingering snow as they entered the shade of the evergreen trees standing amid the deciduous ones.
“At least the leaves are mostly gone from the cottonwoods, or we’d probably have some branches down,” she said.
“And it means we can see farther,” Stefan added, not looking at her as he negotiated another rut in the rural road.
“It’s nice out here, and I’ll bet the view of the mountains is spectacular, but...”
“I like your place better.”
She turned her head to look at him. “You do?”
“I like your place a lot.”
“I’ll...keep that in mind.” The emphasis he’d put on that last word sent her mind racing in a direction she couldn’t deal with right now. She needed to focus. How would she feel if they lost Shruggs because she was mooning around planning a rosy future she wasn’t even sure he wanted?
But Stefan had said he wanted more.
With great effort, she tamped down thoughts of forging the kind of future that she’d almost given up even hoping for. Because if this failed and Shruggs got away because she wasn’t focused, Stefan would find that hard to forgive.
And if this failed and it was her fault, she would never, ever forgive herself.
Chapter 26
When the steering wheel jerked yet again as they went over a rough spot in the dirt road, Stefan realized he missed that aspect of the city. It startled him, because he hadn’t missed anything about the city for quite a while.
Spoiled. You want the whole planet paved? Even beautiful places like this?
Of course, that beauty was tainted at the moment by the pres
ence of the human scum that was Curtis Shruggs. This place—and the planet—would be a lot better off once he was put away.
He glanced over and saw Daria studying something on her phone. It gave him a chance to see her in profile, to appreciate the delicate line of her jaw, the way her hair caressed her neck, the place in her throat where her pulse beat, where he had nuzzled and licked and kissed her...
He snapped his eyes back to the rough road. He was going to drive them into a tree at this rate. But the combination of her strength of will and body, her quick mind, and her unassuming beauty was intoxicating. And unlike this place, nothing could ever taint that beauty.
He had a sudden vision of her a quarter century from now, her hair perhaps gray, or even his mother’s almost glowing silver. She would still be stunning, probably regal, an elder who demanded and got respect. And him? He’d be pushing sixty then, maybe thinking about retiring. Or flying a desk, something that seemed anathema now, but if he had her to go home to...
Damn.
Rattled, he stared at the road ahead. But he still saw that picture, of his future life, so full and complete in his mind, as if it were a given. Complete with the woman at his side now still at his side then.
Then again, why not? He admired her. Respected her. He’d thought her beautiful from the first moment he’d turned to see her coming into Trey Colton’s office. He’d already known she was sharp, smart, or the equally sharp and smart sheriff wouldn’t have signed this case over to her. But he hadn’t expected the lithe, graceful knockout that had walked in, hadn’t been—could he have ever been?—prepared for those gorgeous gold-flecked brown eyes.
And now you know you’re hotter than hell together.
Well, yeah, that, too. They’d damned near set her hillside on fire.
And he was about to drive off this one. He scrambled to regain control of his thoughts. This was not the time to be lost in envisioning a future like he’d never even dared hope for before.
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