Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,102
out myself the past few days. Almost like I’m on vacation.” She paused. “Does that make me a horrible mother?”
“No,” he hurried to reassure her. “You’re a fantastic mom and Russell loves you. But little toddler boys are a handful. Just think how much fun we’ll have when we get home and have rested. I’m thinking a trip to the cabin might be in order.”
“I like that. You know how much I love that cabin, hiking in the woods, fishing in the creek.” She rested her head against his shoulder. “You know this place reminds me of the cabin. The wood trim, the huge river stone fireplace. It’s not a bad place to recuperate. Paula’s lucky Castello loaned it to us. From what she’s said and what Brianna told me, her place is not in a very safe area of town and in need of repairs. It’s a shame she’ll have to go back once this killer is found.”
“Maybe you should have a talk with Frank about that,” he said, lacing his fingers with hers.
“What do you mean?” she asked, turning her head to stare at him.
“He’s not in the Marshal’s anymore. And he already has two other safehouses besides this one. Perhaps he could be persuaded to make it a low rent home to help out women from Brianna’s shelter. I’m just saying.”
“And you think I should be the one to bring this up to the big guy.”
“Well, he does think of you as his little sister.”
She laid her head on his shoulder and was quiet a while. Matt knew not to push her. All her life Katie had needed to weigh the results of every decision she made—her life more often than not had depended on it—and she’d get to her conclusion without any more pressure from him.
“You know,” she finally said, “I should be mad at you for trying to use me to manipulate our friend, but in this instance, I’ll forgive you. I think it would be a very good idea, too. And Brianna could sift through the possible candidates to be roommates for Paula.”
Pleased with himself, he grinned.
“You can wipe off that smug look,” she said, without turning around. She knew him too well. “We haven’t convinced Castello yet.
“You will.”
“Has Aaron or Brianna checked in with you about the dead body they found? Was it our killer?” she asked, already back in serious mode. His wife could handle many things at once and always focus on them as needed.
“Talked with Aaron just before you sat down. He says it’s our guy. They found a former football player on the stadium steps, dressed in a uniform, cleaned head to toe and drained of nearly all his blood. That’s three bodies inside a week.”
“Will they be coming back here? Or are they going to be at the crime scene all night?”
“He said, they’re done at the crime scene and were headed out to notify the victim’s family before it was plastered all over the news.”
“That’s got to suck.”
He couldn’t agree more. He’d had to do it a time or two when he was with the State Highway Patrol. Never got used to it. “And then he and Brianna are going in search of a homeless guy they met the other night.”
“Why?”
“They’re hoping hearing about this new victim, he might remember more about the journalist who interviewed him.”
“You mean our killer posing as a journalist.”
“The same. Aaron said they’d be by in the morning.” He lifted his arm over her shoulders. “That means we’re on our own for the rest of the night.”
Leaning closer, he claimed her lips in a slow, deep kiss. When he pulled back, she gazed up at him with a mischievous twinkle in her eye.
“What?”
“You forget you’re married to a nurse who has a patient in the house. Meds are due at midnight.”
He pulled her closer with a grin. “Then we’d better get down to business.”
Aaron hadn’t said a word since he’d gotten back into the car outside the Dandridge’s home. He drove them out of the middle-class suburban neighborhood back into the downtown Cleveland area where the homeless lived their lives. Only the flashes of streetlamps and headlights from other cars breaking the dark silence in the car.
Knowing how horrible a task death notification was, Brianna wanted to comfort him. She also wanted to ask him how the parents took the news their son was murdered and find out what he hoped to gain by talking to Hondo again, but she knew from