"You can report it, within reason," Rhoan said. "Once the case is solved."
"That I can agree to." He eyed Rhoan warily, then added, "Is that deal solid, or is it more a ‘have to check with my superiors first' arrangement?"
"It's solid. I'm second in command in the guardian pision."
Jak grunted. "Good."
A phone rang sharply into the brief silence. I jumped slightly, then reached for my phone—only to discover it was Rhoan's. He answered it, and his expression got progressively grimmer.
"Get another team out there," he said eventually, "and tell them to report in as soon as they have prelim results."
"Oh no," I breathed. "Don't tell me—"
"Yeah," he said, as he shoved his phone away. "Jacinta Nadler is dead."
"Fuck," Jak said. "Nadler really is clearing the remnants of the past, isn't he?"
I closed my eyes and took a slow, deep breath. And wondered if Azriel was right—that Mom's murder, and these, might be connected. But if Mom had known something about Nadler, how had Nadler known she did? As far as I knew, she'd never met him.
Did that mean Azriel was also right in suspecting there was a rat in the ranks?
It wasn't a thought I was willing to entertain, yet I couldn't entirely ignore it, either.
"It would appear that he is," Rhoan said. "Although she wasn't murdered like this. It's been made to look like a home invasion—she was raped, brutalized, and then her throat was cut."
I closed my eyes. God. We'd done that. We were responsible for that. If we hadn't talked to her—
"Risa," Rhoan said gently, obviously guessing the direction of my thoughts. "We've also talked to both her and Blake. The only person to blame for these deaths is the monster behind all this."