Profile of Terror: Book Two of Profile Series

by Alexa Grace

  Cameron pulled Brody aside. "I saw Gabe here earlier. Where did he go?"

  "I told him to wait for me in my office, but he insisted on Mollie's."

  "Is he waiting for you as a brother, or a suspect?"

  Brody shot Cameron a glare. "What are you getting at?"

  "Conflict of interest. You can't, and no one from your team can interview Gabe about this. He's the sheriff's brother." Cameron paused for a second, and then added, "Right now, Gabe needs his family. We need to get an outside investigator who doesn't know our family to talk to interview Gabe."

  "I overheard Blake Stone telling Carly that he just hired a new detective. I'll call Sheriff Brennan to see if we can borrow him."

  "Seriously? People know how close you are to Tim Brennan and Blake Stone, which leaves us wide open for accusations of conflict of interest. In fact, there isn't another sheriff in this state that you don't know. We need to go to another agency entirely."

  "I'll call Dan Walters with the Indiana State Police. But I hate to turn over a crime that happened in our county to another agency." Brody ran his fingers through his hair, wet from the rain.

  "I don't think we have to. The state police could send one of their detectives to interview Gabe, and maybe they could even expedite the DNA processing of the shoe placed on the victim. We could share the case, work alongside them. We can avoid the potential allegation of a conflict, and still maintain our involvement."

  Brody nodded and fished his cell phone out of his pocket to call Dan Walters.

  <><><>

  On Covington Avenue, a white utility van crawled past the alleyway next to the Morel Bar and Grill so its occupants could rubber-neck the activities in the alley. Inside the van, dressed in white painter's coveralls and caps, Evan and Devan watched as the body they'd left hours before was loaded into the coroner's van.

  "And so the game begins," Devan’s mouth pressed into a smirk as he rolled down his window. "There's no one behind us, so stop the van."

  Braking, Evan peered down the alley. "I don't see Gabe Chase."

  "Neither do I, but there's the sheriff. He doesn't look very pleased, does he?"

  Evan laughed and took his foot off the brake. "I predict he'll become less and less pleased as the game progresses."

  <><><>

  As soon as Gabe sat down in a booth at Mollie's Cafe, he realized what a mistake it was to choose her restaurant to wait for his brothers. Across the room, Mollie Adams honed in on him like a heat-seeking missile. She shot across the restaurant and slid into the seat across from him.

  "Not a good time, Mollie," said Gabe, as his waitress poured a cup of coffee. "Just leave the pot," he told her, then glanced at Mollie, wishing she would leave him alone.

  "After what I did, I doubt a good time will ever come for one of the Chase brothers to want to talk to me," Mollie said, swallowing the tears forming at the back of her throat. "I need your help, Gabe."

  "What do you need my help with?"

  "I need for you to talk to Cameron for me."

  "Mollie, there is no way in hell I am going to talk to Cameron for you. You chose to smother Brody with kisses in his hospital bed after his surgery. What in the hell were you thinking? You knew Brody was in a relationship with Carly. Most importantly, you knew how Cameron felt about you."

  "I'm guilty. I know. I don't know what came over me. When I heard Brody had been shot, I rushed to the hospital. My original intent was to find Cameron and wait for word about Brody's condition. But when I asked at the nurses' station, they said Brody was in recovery and I could visit with him for a minute."

  "And the rest is history. I already lived this experience; I don't need to relive it, Mollie."

  "Please ask Cameron to talk to me and give me another chance."

  "Not going to happen."

  "Why not?"

  "You chose to tell Cam for months that he was the one you were in love with — not Brody. You chose to molest Brody in the hospital. I mean, the guy was still under anesthesia. What were you thinking?"

  "I can't explain what I did. I have no clue what came over me. I've been over Brody for years."

  "You couldn't have hurt Cam more if you'd stabbed him in the chest. He's been in love with you for years. He thought you loved him, too," Gabe said. "If he ever forgives you, that's his decision. I'm not intervening on your behalf."

  Wiping tears from her cheek, Mollie went back to the kitchen.

  Gabe's cell vibrated on the table. The call was from Kaitlyn, the very last person on earth he wanted to talk to right now. What would he tell her? He'd just found a body in an alley that looked an awful lot like her sister. Bryan hadn't made an official identification of the body yet. Gabe ignored her call and prayed she was nowhere near the crime scene.

  Brody was right. If the body was Abby's, he'd be considered a person of interest — the last thing a private investigator building a business wants to be. A sickening sense of guilt washed over him. How could he be concerned about his business when a young woman just lost her life in such a violent way?

  Gabe ran his fingers through his thick hair and thought about the email and how it had come from Abby's laptop. Brody needed to get possession of her laptop and have the crime scene technician team examine it for prints and DNA. The email was signed "Gamers," which meant there was more than one of them. They'd written they'd left a "surprise" behind the bar specifically for him. Were the Gamers people he knew, or people who knew him? If the body was Abby's, did they target her to get back at him for some reason? Or was it his brother, Brody, they had the beef with? If the killers thought of this as a game to test the sheriff's detectives, this would not be the only victim unless they caught them quickly.

  Gabe was so engrossed in his thoughts, he didn't notice that Brody had entered the restaurant until he sat down at his booth. Within seconds, Mollie was hovering over them with a pot of hot coffee. Once she warmed up Gabe's brew, she poured coffee into a mug for Brody.

  "Are you having breakfast, Brody? We've got fresh cinnamon buns this morning."

  "No thanks, Mollie. Just the coffee."

  Brody waited until Mollie headed back to the kitchen, then leaned across the table. "Talk to me. Start from the beginning."

  Gabe explained how he'd learned Abby was missing and that he was looking for her.

  "Why didn't you or Cam discuss this with me?" Brody interrupted, obviously annoyed his brothers left him out.

  "There was nothing you could do. She was missing from Tippecanoe County, out of your jurisdiction."

  "Besides being the sheriff, I'm your brother. A woman you dated goes missing. You don't think I'd be interested in that?"

  "I'm sorry, Brody. Everything was moving so fast. All I knew was that I had to find her." He paused, remembering the email the killers had sent him. "You have to get Abby's laptop from her apartment. I traced it back to its IP address, and the email I showed you from the killers is from her laptop."

  "How do you know where Abby's laptop is? I thought you two broke up?"

  "It was there when I searched her apartment."

  "When was this?"

  "The day I found out she was missing, and talked to the West Lafayette police."

  "They gave you permission to search Abby Reece's apartment?"

  "She'd given me a key, and I wanted to see if there was anything in her apartment that would tell me where she was."

  "In other words, you compromised what could have been the crime scene and illegally searched a missing person's apartment. What were you thinking, Gabe?"

  A tone sounded and Gabe looked down to read a text from Kaitlyn. She was waiting for him at his office. That's all he needed. What in the hell was he supposed to say to her?

  Slapping a twenty dollar bill on the table, Gabe said, "I have to go."

  "We're not through talking, Gabe," Brody insisted.

  "Kaitlyn is waiting for me at my office."

  "Who's Kaitlyn?"

  "Abby's sister. She hired me t
o find Abby."

  Brody shook his head. "You've got to be kidding."

  "No." Gabe slid out of the booth.

  "Gabe, you have to be interviewed. If the body is identified as Abby Reece, you not only dated her, you found the body. A detective from the Indiana State Police will be here this week. Stick around so I can find you."

  "State Police?"

  "Yes, since you're my brother, it's an obvious conflict of interest for anyone from my staff to do it."

  "Right," Gabe muttered.

  "Another thing. I have to suspend you as our computer forensic consultant."

  "Really? Then who is going to examine the contents of Abby's laptop?"

  "I'll have to find another consultant."

  "Wait a minute. I know who you can hire. Call Anne Mason-Brandt."

  "Anne? I know she used to own a computer-related company, but she's not qualified to do computer forensics."

  "Yes, she is. She got certified about six months ago. Anne does a lot of work for Frankie Hansen's P.I. business. She'd do a good job, Brody."

  "I'll call her, but in the meantime, stay close."

  <><><>

  Later that day, Brody was in a dark rage when he barged into Michael's office, hitting the door back against the wall with the flat of his hand.

  "I just heard something that can't be fucking true!"

  From behind his desk, Michael leapt to his feet and held up a hand in restraint.

  "Calm down, Brody."

  "Seriously? Calm down?" Brody was incredulous. "I just heard that Ryder's been moved out of maximum security to an undisclosed location. Is this true?"

  "Yes, the FBI moved him yesterday."

  "What the hell is going on?" Brody couldn’t stop the raw fury that slammed into him every time he thought about it. "Is it also true you're working on a plea bargain with that animal?"

  "Quiet down, Brody. The entire floor can hear you."

  "How can I calm down when I just heard you're talking about a plea bargain with Jim Ryder?"

  "Sit down so we can discuss this," Michael motioned to a guest chair on the other side of his desk. "You may not know that I started my career as a cop. I've been on your side of law enforcement. I understand what you're feeling."

  Brody sat down, but on the edge of his seat and leaned toward the prosecutor. "We risk our lives to get the bad guy, and then once he's in the legal system, everything works to his favor. He gets out and commits the same crimes and the cycle starts again."

  "It's not like that," Michael explained. "We have him on seven counts of murder. I'm one hundred percent certain he's going to get the death penalty."

  "Then why the plea bargain?"

  "We have him for killing seven girls, seven counts of murder, and if we give him death, that's all we'll ever have a chance of solving. We think there are more victims." Michael paused, elbows on his desk, searching Brody's face for signs of understanding. "We have DVDs of Ryder beating, torturing and raping ten additional victims, and we have no clue who they are or where he put their remains. Ryder is the only one who can tell us. He says if he gets the plea agreement, he'll tell us who they are and show us where their remains are."

  "How do you know he's telling you the truth? Ryder's a prolific liar."

  "We have an interrogation analyst from the FBI listening to every conversation we have with him. So far, the analyst says he's telling the truth. There are more victims we haven't identified and remains we haven't found. Jim Ryder is the only way we'll find those victims and give closure to their families."

  "After what's he's done, that freak doesn't deserve to live. He should get as much mercy as he gave his victims."

  Michael leaned back in his chair. "Does he deserve to live? Hell, no. He's a monster. Do the families of the unidentified victims deserve to know what happened to their missing daughters so they can give them a decent burial? Yes, they do. If we can give it to them, we owe them some sense of closure. In the end, they are the only people who matter in this. They've suffered enough."

  Chapter Five

  A clap of thunder vibrated through Gabe's office, shaking the windows, vibrating the floors, and startling Kaitlyn. The wind had picked up and rain pinged against the windows, blurring the glass and collecting on the sidewalk and street below. She turned on Gabe's desk lamp to illuminate the darkened room. It was morning, yet the stormy skies made it seem like evening had come.

  Another siren, the third one within thirty minutes, pierced the momentary stillness. Kaitlyn returned to the window in time to see another county deputy cruiser racing toward the other side of town. The car created a wave of water that drenched a woman huddled under an umbrella, entering the building's lobby below.

  Lifting her mug to her lips, Kaitlyn discovered the coffee was cold and bitter, which made her wonder just how long she'd been standing at the window. She heard more sirens, and wondered what had happened so early in the morning. For that many officers to race to a crime scene in this small town, it must be serious.

  Anxiously, Kaitlyn paced in front of Gabe's office window and looked for him in the street below. She checked her watch. Where was he? Why wasn't he responding to her texts? She told him she'd return this morning. Why wasn't he here?

  Remembering the night before, the thought of his kiss sent shivers of desire racing through her body. It shouldn't have happened. What was she thinking? After all, she'd hired the man to find her sister. Starting something with him would only complicate things. Besides, was she ready to trust another man after what Mitch did to her?

  Footsteps sounded from the stairwell, and soon a shadow appeared on the frosted glass of Gabe's office door. Kaitlyn raced to open it.

  To her surprise, a woman stood before her, squeezing rain water from her long, dark hair. Every piece of clothing the woman wore was soaked and dripping water onto the floor.

  Carly did a back-step to make sure she was indeed at Gabe's office. Yes, his name was printed in black letters on the frosted glass of the door. She was as surprised to see the young fair-haired woman at the door as the she seemed to be to see her.

  She smiled and extended her hand. "Hi, I'm Carly Stone. I'm looking for Gabe."

  "Gabe's not here."

  "Are you one of Gabe's clients?"

  "Yes, I'm Kaitlyn Reece. I hired Gabe to find my sister."

  Carly's heart thudded when she heard the last name "Reece." Was this woman Abby's sister? "Your last name sounds familiar."

  "My sister, Abby, is missing. You may have seen one of the missing flyers, or maybe heard her name on the news."

  "That must be it." Shedding her soaked raincoat, Carly folded it over her arm.

  "Please come in. I'll find some towels for you. You must be freezing in those wet clothes."

  Carly watched as Kaitlyn opened a set of pocket doors and entered Gabe's private living area. Clearly it wasn't the young woman's first visit to Gabe's office. She knew her way around. Why hadn't Gabe told her that he was hired as a P.I. to find Abby Reece? Soon Kaitlyn returned with a couple of thick white towels. Carly wrapped one around her shoulders and began dabbing at her wet blouse and pants with the other.

  "I think they call this kind of storm a toad strangler," said Kaitlyn with a giggle.

  "I don't know about the toads, but it looks like it made a good try at strangling me,"

  Kaitlyn eyed Carly with renewed interest. "I think I've seen you in the paper. Aren't you the profiler the sheriff hired last year?"

  "Yes, I am."

  "Has the sheriff made any progress finding my sister?"

  "I believe the West Lafayette police have your sister's case in Tippecanoe County. It's outside the sheriff's jurisdiction. But I'm sure they're doing all they can to find her," Carly said. Although if the woman's body they'd found earlier in the alley turned out to be Abby Reece, the case would be turned over to Shawnee County and Brody's team. She prayed Kaitlyn didn't ask more questions about her missing sister. Glancing down at her watch, she realized Abb
y Reece's autopsy would begin in a couple of hours. She couldn't stay much longer, but she really wanted to see Gabe and make sure he was okay.

  Loud footfalls on the stairs caught their attention, and soon Gabe burst into the room, out of breath, as soaked from the storm as Carly was. He glanced at the two women, muttered something under his breath, and stripped off his jacket to hang it on the coat rack.

  Grasping Carly's arm, he glanced at Kaitlyn. "Sorry I'm late. I need to talk to Carly about a private matter in the hallway. I'll be right back."