us. Standard protocol for this sort of thing and the man had an air of authority around.
“Nice to see you again, Ralph.” Mike extended his hand and confirmed my assumption that this was the man in charge since he knew him by name. “A nasty one you’ve got on your hands.”
“Nasty as it comes.” Ralph gave Mike’s hand a firm shake. “Glad to have you aboard on this one.
The entire city is in a panic.”
I laughed softly. “Wonder why? Some psycho offed seven young women and made them look like Barbie. Now, two more are hidden somewhere with no answers as to where they are.”
Mike shot an annoyed glance my way. Ralph squinted his eyes at me, a move that nearly made them vanish from sight. The warmness I’d witnessed before was now gone.
Yikes! Then as if I said nothing at all, they completely ignored me, swiftly heading off down the hall.
“Not funny then, I take it?” I whispered to Chase.
He just laughed and shook his head.
“No one has a sense of humor anymore.” This was how I dealt with the bad. It might seem cruel at times but if I took it all too serious, getting through the emotional part of this would devour me. I may be a vampire, but it wasn’t how fantasy declared—I did have a soul.
Only a few steps down the hall, we stepped into a meeting room. I cringed the second I cleared the doors and saw the photos that hung on the walls. Seeing what the woman looked like before and what remained of them after was a bit much to take.
Pushing away the unhappiness that rose within me, I took a seat at the table beside Nick and placed my briefcase on the floor as Ralph said, “We’ve given up this workspace for you and your team.”
He pointed down the hall. “We’ve set up our group over there.”
Mike nodded respectfully. “You keep going at the investigation and we’ll start fresh.
Having both teams working independently can only help here.”
That statement almost made me laugh, yet I restrained myself to not get any more stare downs.
Mike was only saying that to keep the peace. He’d never let any other officer into our investigation, nor would he listen to what any of them had to say. He always made it appear as if he cared. I never knew why he bothered with such niceties.
Ralph grabbed the door handle and swung it open wider. “If we find anything new I’ll let you know.”
“Much appreciated,” Mike responded.
The moment Ralph closed the door behind him, Nick laughed. “Why do you placate them?”
Mike grinned with no shame. “Keeps them out of our hair.” We all laughed at the truth in that statement as Mike took a seat at the table. Once he sat, he hushed us with a wave of his hand. “All right, team. Let’s get to work.”
I took the file out of my briefcase and opened it. A picture of the blonde woman appeared before me. I let my mind drift away with thoughts as I tried to get an idea of who this Chad McKinney was. There wasn’t any hatred in these murders. He made them pretty, peaceful even. That scratched the idea that he was a sexual sadist. He appeared to love these women. However, I doubted he could really have known all nine.
“What are you thinking?” Mike asked.
As I glanced away from the photo to him, I saw that the question was directed at me.
I shrugged. “It’s the position of them. It keeps sticking out to me. Why is he doing this?
What compels a man to make his victims look…”
“Angelic,” Chase offered. When my confused gaze hit his, he looked down at the picture then those deep blue eyes met mine again. “When I first looked at the photos, that’s what came to my mind.
They look angelic in the poses he leaves them. So beautiful, almost perfect.”
I knew what he was saying was important and something I should focus on, but I found myself a little lost in those eyes. He was mine—every last little bit of him. There was nothing in Chase I didn’t love. More than once, I found myself acting like a lovesick puppy dog when he was around. Which apparently was what I was doing right now.
“I agree with Chase,” Mike said, breaking the love song playing in my head. I gave my head a good shake to find some sort of sense and focused on what Mike was saying.
“This