Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,105

life she’d never wanted to comfort anyone more than she did this strong man.

“And then striking out with Hondo and the picture…” The words just drifted into the steam of the hot water pouring over them.

Reaching for the soap dish on the ledge behind him, she lathered the gardenia scented soap in her hands. With a step back she began washing him, letting her hands work into his muscles front, back and even up his neck. Cleansing, comforting and caring for this man who gave so much to her and to others.

Then it was his turn. First, he worked shampoo into her hair, his fingers massaging her scalp until she purred. Laughing at the sound, he rinsed her hair, then lathered the soap all over her, his fingers taking the time to trace the scars on her shoulder and arm from her injuries sustained years ago from the depraved Senator and his son. Finally, he leaned in and kissed the microscopic scars around her left eye and cheekbone. More remnants of that horrible time.

The water grew cold as they held each other.

“We’d best get some sleep. It’s going to be an ugly day tomorrow,” he whispered, breaking the peaceful spell.

And he was right. When the news hit the airwaves, they could only pray they caught the man before more tragedy hit.

31

“The son of a bitch is notifying the news stations now?” Captain Stedaman said as he paced the detective’s room early the next morning. “Any chance he left his name and address with them? Seems to be the only way we’re going to catch this guy.”

Aaron cringed inwardly at his boss’ sarcastic anger. Brianna and Kirk F sat at a vacant desk behind him, uploading her video from both Art and Kyle’s crime scenes to the station’s computers.

“We’ve contacted all the stations to send us their videos from last night, along with video from the stadium’s security cams,” Jaylon said from his desk.

“Okay, what else do we know?”

“Your man wants acknowledgement for what he’s done,” Carson said.

“Well, hell, why don’t we just send him a congratulations card?”

Oh, man, the captain was on a roll.

Brianna let out a soft snicker behind him, thankfully not loud enough for Stedaman to hear.

“Which means he’s going to get sloppy,” Carson continued as if he hadn’t heard the sarcastic comment. “And he’s made his first mistake.”

“How so?” Jaylon asked.

“What was the description your witnesses gave you last night?” Carson asked Aaron.

“Average.”

“Right. Average.”

Stedaman stopped pacing, leaned his hip back against a desk and folded his arms over his chest. “How is that a mistake?”

Carson pointed to the image of the Browns’ stadium taped to the whiteboard. “He may blend into a crowd, but displaying his latest kill in so open and public a place, even if he managed to conceal his face, his truck or van is going to hit on the video. So, we’ll have a time and place for when your football player was posed.”

“Plus, we may have caught him on my camera in the crowd,” Brianna said, drawing the captain’s attention to her.

He arched one brow her direction. “How is that going to help us if we don’t know what he looks like? Probably gonna be lots of average people on that video.”

“I also got video of the small crowd outside the building where we found Art.”

“Maybe the same guy pops up on there,” Jaylon said hopefully.

“It’s a place to start,” Kirk F said.

Stedaman shifted his attention to him. “And why are you here on a Sunday?”

“Helping Ms. Matthews upload her videos, sir, and still searching the city’s databases for a building our guy could use to kill his victims and freeze at least one body for months.”

The captain nodded as he considered this. “You’re still working for free, right?”

Kirk F flashed him his patented grin. “Just working for experience.”

“Okay, but you stay out of the news and out of trouble, okay? Jeffers,” he said, this time focused on Aaron.

“Yes, sir?”

“You and Special Agent Smith need to be with me for the news conference,” he looked at the clock, “in forty minutes. I want to give a minimum of information about our victim, the situation in which we found him, and limit the questions.”

“Yes, sir.”

Stedaman arched a brow at Carson. “Any chance we can keep the serial killer part out of the news or is it better to just get it out there?”

Carson tilted his head in a half-shrug. “The less attention we focus on his process and the serial nature of the