Drained (Edgars Family #6) - Suzanne Ferrell Page 0,29

fear of being caught and stored the newest specimen with the others. But it was time to make a statement. Time to call attention to his work.

He put the van in gear and turned onto the street, slowly driving past the spectacle where the policeman was talking to the media. Just as he glanced their way—like any gawker would—a tall blonde woman moved into view, holding a dog and talking on the phone.

He stared at the dog. It looked a lot like that mongrel the old man had. But it couldn’t be. He’d left it on the highway. It had to have been hit by traffic.

He hated dogs. Cats. Rats. All were good for one thing. Perfecting his skills for killing.

Now, he needed another donor. It was time to go on the hunt.

9

“Yeah, I know it’s the middle of the night,” Aaron said into the phone, aware that Brianna was shifting her attention from him back to the road.

He knew she wanted to refuse him spending the night at her place. Too damn bad. She wasn’t getting a choice in the matter. If he was right and they’d stumbled onto a serial killer—either at the beginning of his spree, which he doubted by the pristine crime scene that spoke of experience, or one who was evolving—he wasn’t taking any chances with her safety.

“What you need, Jeffers?” The former Deputy Marshal’s deep voice rumbled in his ear. A man of few words, Castello always cut to the heart of a matter.

“You still keeping that safehouse up here in Cleveland?”

“Why?” With one word, Castello’s voice changed from grumpy-sleepy to hard and intense.

“I have a couple of witnesses I need to get out of the regular population for their safety.”

“You need it now?”

“Sometime tomorrow. One of them is currently in the hospital. I can keep the other with me until I can move them both into your place.” He wasn’t about to tell him one of his witnesses was a four-legged mutt. Sometimes you just needed to beg forgiveness rather than ask permission.

“Kirk F has the keys. Need me to call him?”

Aaron grinned inwardly. Of course Kirk F had the keys to the safehouse. “Nah, I have the kid’s number. He’s already helping me on this.”

“Details?”

“Not yet. It’s still early on.”

“Place is yours.”

The phone ended without a goodbye. But that was Castello.

“You’re going to put Paula up in a safehouse?”

“Paula and Stanley,” he said, thumbing through his contact list until he found the other name he needed to talk to, not mentioning he wanted her to stay there, too. He knew when to avoid an argument.

The phone rang several times before being answered.

“This better be good, Jeffers,” Jake Carlisle grumbled at him.

“Sorry to wake you so early, Jake, but I need to know if you still have a profiler contact with the FBI?”

Jake Carlisle was a former FBI special agent who retired to start his own private security firm—Edgars Security and Investigations Group named for his wife’s family. He was also married to Brianna’s friend Abby’s sister-in-law, Samantha.

“What do you need a profiler for?” Jake asked, his voice all business now. Aaron imagined the guy had gone from horizontal between the sheets to sitting on the edge of his bed, feet flat on the floor, ready for action. Everyone in that family seemed to be built that way. Relaxed one moment, intense and focused the next. It was one of the reasons he liked and respected them.

“We found a dead body tonight,” he began, filling Jake in on what transpired inside the warehouse, how Art was not only posed but had been almost ritualistically cleaned.

“And you’ve only found one body?”

“So far.”

“But you suspect there will be or are more?”

Where Castello was brusque and to the point, Jake worked more methodically—one question, one step at a time. Which was good, as it made him focus his own thoughts.

“That’s what I’m afraid of. If this is his first, he’s got a taste for the theatrics, maybe a need for recognition. But the way the body was posed and cleaned…it feels rehearsed.”

“As if he’s done it before and now is ready to show off his work?” Jake said, echoing his own thoughts. “You’re wanting to keep this quiet?”

Aaron tilted his neck until it cracked, almost feeling Brianna shaking her head at his action. “The media picked up the call for the coroner, so there is some word on the news, but no details. I doubt we’ll get much traction until another body is found, but I’d