by Cynthia Eden
Cadence lifted a brow. “I don’t think he likes you very much.”
“Tell me something new.” He rolled back his shoulders. “You heard the ME. The victim had been dead for eight years.”
“Yes, but that doesn’t mean her body had been in the cave the entire time. Five years ago, she might not have been inside.” She turned away from the scene.
He caught her arm. “Lily was inside.”
She tensed at his touch. His fingers seemed to burn her skin.
“You and I both know he could’ve had the others here. He could’ve been holding a victim in that chamber when the professor and his students came to explore.”
“She didn’t scream,” Cadence murmured.
“He gave her that order. He could’ve given the same order to the others. A victim could have been right there, and she was too afraid to call out.”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye.
“Hell, the professor fits the profile,” Kyle snapped.
Yes, he did. She’d realized that quickly enough, and she’d already gotten Dani to start digging into the man’s past.
“You want control?” Kyle continued. “He’s got it over every one of his students, and he knows this area.”
“But he was at the university when Lily was abducted.” She shook her head. “I already checked.”
She was actually double-checking that alibi. One of his students had backed up Peters.
She wanted more than just the word of the guy’s coed. “There’s nothing else for me to do here today,” Cadence said, not with the night falling.
“He hunts at night.”
She hadn’t wanted to believe the man would hunt again, not so soon, but Kyle had convinced her. Now she was afraid of what the night would bring.
“Maybe he’s gonna start a pattern now,” Kyle said. “Fifteen years, it could be a cycle for him.”
That idea was the best one they had at the moment. But they needed to discover why the killer had seemingly come back full circle. She glanced at her watch. If the perp was going back to the beginning and starting his same hunting cycle again… “The second abduction happened in Tennessee, just over the border outside of a city called Maverick.”
“Then I think we need to take us a little road trip.”
Hitting the road, searching. It would be better than waiting in the darkness.
Shouts and laughter filled the bar. A little place on the edge of Maverick, the bar, with a glowing sign that simply said Dale’s, sat nestled off the main highway, surrounded by thick pines and not much else.
Shirley Wayne had gone into that bar nine years ago. Her boyfriend had broken up with her, left her alone…she’d run out of the bar, jumped in her vehicle, and had never been seen again.
Would the perp really come back here?
Maybe.
Cadence studied the busy bar scene, her gaze darting over the crowd. Wayne’s boyfriend had been the owner of the bar back then, and he still was.
Dale East was big and had a shaved head, with plenty of muscles stretching his shirt. He stood just behind the bar.
Cadence made her way toward him. Kyle was a few feet behind her. When the bartender looked up, Cadence flashed her ID. “FBI. I need to ask you a few questions.”
His gaze immediately slid toward the door marked “Staff.”
Great. The guy probably had plenty of less-than-legal activities going on. Right then, they didn’t concern her, unless those activities related to Shirley.
“It’s about Shirley,” Cadence added as Kyle closed in beside her.
Dale frowned, his gaze coming right back to her. “Who?”
“Shirley Wayne,” Kyle gritted. “Your ex-girlfriend. The one who went missing nine years ago.”
Dale’s forehead cleared. “Oh, her.” He shoved a beer toward a guy at the end of the bar. “She didn’t go missing. That girl couldn’t handle the breakup. She went running home to her mama.”
“Her mother died two weeks after Shirley was last seen in Maverick. No neighbors ever reported Shirley coming back to the area, and she wasn’t at her mother’s funeral.” Cadence had made a point of checking these details. She’d wondered why it took over six months for someone to file a missing-persons report on Shirley, and now she knew. With the mother’s death, there had simply been no one left to realize she was gone. A distant relative had eventually been notified that Shirley’s childhood home was being foreclosed upon, and it had only been then that someone finally noticed—
Shirley’s gone. The perp had taken a perfect victim. One that no one had seemed to miss. The thought made Cadence’s heart ache.
But she wasn’t about to show weakness or the grief that she felt for Shirley’s lost life. Cadence carefully put her ID away. “We have reason to believe Shirley fits a pattern of abductions.”
His bushy brows lowered. “You’re shitting me.”
“No,” Cadence said very clearly, “I am not shitting you.”
Dale grabbed a cloth, swiped over the bar top. “Shirley was crying when she left. Running for the door.” His fingers whitened around the cloth. “I called after her, told her not to drive like that—”
“But she did,” Kyle finished.
Dale nodded and stared down at the cloth. “Abducted.” He shook his head, as if he just couldn’t grasp it. “Shirley?” He swallowed. “We didn’t work. I liked to party—hell, still do. Shirley wanted me to settle down. To have a family.” He tossed the cloth away. “I always thought after all these years she was somewhere with the family she wanted so badly.”
It was possible Shirley was currently on the ME’s exam table. “Did anyone ever give Shirley any trouble?”
His jaw had hardened. “No, no, everybody liked Shirley. She was—fuck, she was one of those people that was always smilin’, you know? She just didn’t like me drinkin’ so much. Said it reminded her of her ex, that jerk Jake Landers.”
Cadence made a mental note to run down Jake Landers. “Did she have any contact with Mr. Landers?”
“He was in jail, so, no, she didn’t. She didn’t want anything to do with that loser.” His chin lifted. “Shirley was too good for him. Too good for me.” He swallowed. “Missing? All this time?”
Pain rumbled in his words.
“Do you remember anything else from that night?” Kyle asked Dale, his expression tight. “Was there anyone here who was paying too much attention to Shirley?”
A hoarse laugh came from him. “I don’t remember. She was pretty. Like you.” He jutted his chin toward Cadence. “Men always look at pretty women. Always want ’em.”
Cadence pushed her card toward him. How many cards had she given out over the years? Always the same routine. Always wondering if one witness would call her back with the break she needed. Only she never got the calls she needed. “If you remember anything, call me, okay?”
He swiped the card. “That why you’re here? You wanted to see what I remembered?”
“No,” Kyle said, his voice hard. “We’re here because the same perpetrator is hunting again, and we want to stop him.” He pointed to the news blaring on the TV right behind the bartender. “Maybe you should turn that up. You might fucking save a life.” Anger snarled in the words.
Frowning, Dale turned back to the screen where the reporter was detailing the abduction of Lily Adams and the manhunt currently underway for the man who’d taken her.
Dale turned up the volume. “Authorities are cautioning women who are traveling alone The perpetrator may be assuming the identity of a law enforcement officer. If you are approached…”
Cadence turned away from the TV. Her elbow bumped into the arm of a dark-haired waitress. A woman who was staring up at the screen. “Sorry,” Cadence murmured.
The woman—Christa, according to the slanting tag pinned on her shirt—kept staring at the TV. “Someone’s taking women?” Her hold on the tray tightened. “That’s—”
“Christa, hurry up!” Dale shouted. “I
got people waitin’ on those drinks.”
Christa’s face flushed with embarrassment. “S-sorry!” She immediately hurried to obey.
Cadence glanced around. No one else was paying attention to the news.
They were too busy dancing. Drinking.
Making out.
So much for the warnings reaching their target audience.
She saw Kyle’s gaze. Realized he was thinking the exact same thing.
“No wonder he has such easy prey,” Kyle muttered. “No one here even knows to be cautious. That’s damn well changing.” A band was playing in the corner. Blasting out lyrics that rolled with a twang. Kyle jumped up on the stage. Grabbed the microphone from the singer. “I want your attention!”
His voice echoed through the room.
“Who the fuck are you?” one man shouted out as he weaved toward Kyle.
Kyle lifted his ID. “I’m the fucking FBI, and I want you to listen!”
More curses. Obviously, the crowd wasn’t impressed with his badge.
“There’s a killer hunting, possibly in this area.” He pointed toward the TV. “We believe he abducted a woman from Maverick before, a woman who left this bar, and he might do it again.”
She saw some of the women glance nervously at each other.
“If you’re a female, and you’re traveling alone, do not open your car to any strangers. He disables vehicles, isolates his prey, and then he comes in to help them.” Kyle’s gaze took in the women surrounding him. “We think he pretends to be law enforcement so his victims feel secure. It lets him get close enough to take them.”
“Then what?” a man called out, holding tight to a redhead.
“Then they vanish.” His voice was flat. “So pay attention. Stay on your guard—and you might just stay alive.”
The sonofabitch agent had gone to Maverick. He’s tracking me. Following in my footsteps.
He eased back into the corner. He’d picked the most shadowed place in the room. A deliberate choice. He always chose the spot that would let him watch others—even while the location helped to keep him concealed.
The agents hadn’t spotted him yet. In the dim interior of that bar, even if they looked his way, they’d just see a man with baseball cap pulled too low over his brow. They wouldn’t get closer to him.
He wouldn’t give them the chance to get closer.
Time to act.
McKenzie had just jumped down from the stage. The guy was stalking toward Cadence, his face grim.
He caught her arm. Pulled her close.
A little too close for a partner’s hold. A little too intimate. Too possessive.
Interesting.
Kyle led Cadence to the back of the bar and pushed her inside the staff room.
The agents never glanced his way. But then, the bar was packed. Bodies pressing tightly together. Finding him would have been like finding a damn needle in a haystack.
That’s why I picked this place. It was always easier to hide in a crowd.
People started talking again, mumbling. Some of the women looked nervous. Hell. But some of them…
Some of them were already heading back onto the dance floor. Already laughing and flirting once more.
That was the thing about fear. Unless the experience had happened to you, it was often easy to gloss over it. To think it never would happen.
How wrong they were.
“Another drink?” He glanced up and saw the dark-haired waitress, Christa, standing over him. Her smile was hesitant.
She knew he was a good tipper.
“Nah, I think I’ll cut out soon.” He pulled the brim of his hat down a bit lower. “Got to be safe while I’m driving.”
Her smile widened a bit more. Christa didn’t like the drunks. She was just working there to help pay off her mom’s hospital bills.
Christa was good to her mother.
Good.
When she went to move his empty bottle, his hand slid out and his fingers caught hers. “I want you to be careful tonight, Christa.” He’d been coming to this bar for a long time.
Off and on for ten years.
He liked to visit the places that offered him fond memories.
“I will be.”
“Is your car out back?” He injected a note of concern into his voice. His voice had always been a gift. He could adopt any accent, any pitch, any time he wanted. He’d played around in the drama club back in high school. The girls had loved it when he ditched his twang and used an English accent on them.
He’d always had an easy time with the girls.
“It’s across the street. I have to leave a little early, and I didn’t want to get penned in by the customers.”
He rubbed his thumb over her wrist. So delicate. So perfect for his ropes. “Then I guess I’ll see you next time.”
A little nod. She pulled away from him. Christa never liked to touch the customers too long. She didn’t get too friendly with anyone. She was like Lily in so many ways.
Christa hurried away.
His gaze slid back to the staff door. Just what was Kyle doing in there with his partner?
Maybe he should take a look. If Kyle was following in his steps…then how about I follow in yours?
He tossed a generous tip down on the table and rose. Kyle had come after him. Now it was his turn to go after the agent.
“They’re making it too easy for him,” Kyle snapped as he paced the small confines of the storage room. Boxes. Booze. “Did you see them? They didn’t even care about what was happening.”
“Some of them did. I noticed one of the waitresses—Christa—she stopped to watch the news. She was listening.” Cadence’s voice was cool. Easy. Always the voice of reason.
He didn’t want her so reasonable.
He didn’t want to be the only one who was so screwed up.
He whirled toward her. “This is one bar. One. He could be in any of a hundred other places just like this. Only we’re not there, telling those people to be on guard.”
She caught his hands. Held them tightly. “You have to let it go.”
His back teeth ground together. She sees too much.
“You weren’t there when Maria was taken. You couldn’t tell her to be on guard, I get it. But Kyle, this is destroying you. Let the past go.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” The words were an angry growl that he hated, but couldn’t stop. “You never lost someone you cared about, you never saw—”
Her eyelids flickered. She dropped her hold on him and stepped back. “I’ve seen plenty.”
“On the cases, from a distance. It’s never been personal for you.”
She’d turned away. He was a damn asshole. He hurried after her. “Cadence…”
She swung toward him. Her cheeks were flushed. Eyes glittering. “My mother.”
He stilled.
“You want to know why I’m in the FBI? My mother. I became a doctor for her, too, but it wasn’t enough. It was never enough.”
Kyle didn’t know what to say.
“I was ten when she died. Ten when the man came into our house. My dad was gone, out on a deployment. Mom and I were having a girls’ night. Painting our toenails. Doing those silly things a girl does with her mother.”
Her words were painful, and he wanted her to stop. He tried to reach for her, but she backed away.
“She knew something was wrong. Glass shattered. I remember the sound so well. It came from downstairs. She told me to get under the bed. To stay quiet.”
Oh, fuck. No wonder she’d gone white when Lily had said…
I didn’t scream.
“He never knew I was there. He came in, and he hurt her while I was hiding under the bed. When I crawled out and found her”—Cadence’s words came faster. So much faster—“there was blood everywhere, but she was still alive.”
“You tried to save her.” His hands had fisted. How had he been so wrong about her?
“I didn’t know how to save her.”
“And an agent so I could stop the killers.” Her shoulders straightened. Her chin lifted. “So don’t tell me I don’t understand. I do. I get it. I also understand that if you don’t let the past go, it will destroy any chance you have for a future. For a life.”
He was staring at life. At the one thing that made him feel.
She spun away from him. Reached for the door.
His palm slammed down against the wood, sealing them inside. He bent his head over her, inhaling her sweet scent. Flowers. “I’m sorry.”
He turned her toward him. Cadence. She’d given him the best damn night he’d had in forever, and what had he done? Not even talked to her about it all day. Been driven by the killer. “Last night—”
“Maybe we shouldn’t talk about last night.”
“No, we should. That wasn’t some fluke.” Standing there, so close to her, he wanted. Ached. Craved her. “That was the best sex I’ve ever had.” Because it had been with her. “I want more. I want you.”
Whatever kind of chance she’d give to him. He’d been wrong about her. She still didn’t know the real him, but until she found out about the darkness that haunted him so much, he would hold tightly to her.
So tightly.
Maybe then she’d never be able to slip away.
He pressed his lips to hers. He wasn’t sure how she’d respond. Part of him expected Cadence to shove him across the room.
Instead, her tongue licked against his lip.
His cock jerked in reaction.
The kiss deepened. His tongue slid into her mouth. Cadence was the one thing that calmed him, that centered him.
What would I do without her?
The thought, dark, sinister, twisted through him.
I won’t be without her.
He kept kissing her, tasting her, as his hands and mouth became harder on her. But Cadence liked the rough edge they shared. He knew. He could feel it in the tightness of her nipples. The arch and thrust of her hips against his.
He wanted her naked again. Beneath him, above him, any way he could get her.
Soon.
Kyle forced his head to lift. His breath came out in a heavy pant. “Cadence.”