Seriously? Give me another explanation, man. I knew you two were close, but…”
“I don’t owe you any kind of explanation,” Rafe stated flatly.
He didn’t want to go into it. A couple of people knew he was involved with Laura, mostly coworkers who had been around when Laura was a member of the team, but he’d never talked about her with Brad. Brad was his partner, but Rafe had kept his distance. He’d kept his distance from everyone for the last several years.
Until last night.
Brad kept droning on about some shit, but Rafe’s brain had gone back to the night before.
It had been perfect. He’d taken her, his cock sliding in and out until he couldn’t tell where he began and she ended. He’d pumped into her, giving up his cum while his tongue slid against hers. He’d tasted her at one point. Cam had held her, her back to his front. Cam’s legs had held hers apart, her pussy on full display and available to his lips and tongue. Her pussy was sweetly pink and swollen from use.
Rafe had tenderly washed her with a warm cloth before he’d settled between her legs and licked every inch of her. When he’d looked up her body, Cam’s hands had been there, holding her down when she tried to wiggle, keeping her still so Rafe could have his way.
Cam was his partner.
Brad was just a fellow employee.
“What’s this new information?” Rafe asked, cutting off whatever diatribe Brad had gone on.
Brad stopped and turned to him. His eyebrows rose over his angular face. “You like this girl, don’t you? Were you involved with her before she left?”
Rafe tightened his grip on the steering wheel as he turned out of the small cluster of cabins in the valley toward the center of town.
He’d been here less than twenty-four hours, but he was learning his way around. “It doesn’t matter.”
Brad’s eyes narrowed. “It matters, Rafe. If you’re involved with this woman, it affects this case. She’s the only person we know of who’s survived this guy. She’s a victim. You don’t fuck victims.” Rafe stopped the SUV in the middle of the highway. “She’s Laura Rosen. She has a fucking name, and you’re going to treat her with some goddamn respect.”
Brad’s whole face fell. “Shit, you’re in love with her.” Rafe cursed himself. Brad was very by the book. Joe knew about him and Laura, but Joe understood. He’d agreed to keep it quiet and not take Rafe off the case. Brad could make a stink. Rafe didn’t want to find himself on the sidelines. This was just one of the reasons he hadn’t gotten close to his “partner.” He would never have been able to keep something like that from Cam when they had worked together.
There was a long sigh. “I’m not going to say anything. I don’t know why you think I’m such a dick.”
Rafe slid a glance his way.
“Fine, I’m a dick,” Brad replied. “I’m a thrice-divorced dickhead with very few friends. I’m not going to out you. You’re my partner.”
“Joe knows.” He’d poured his heart out to the SAC after Laura had disappeared.
“Then you’re fine. I’m not going over Joe’s head, but you have to be careful. There’s a reason we don’t get emotionally involved with any case.” Brad sat back. “Okay. As long as we’re putting all our cards on the table, I received a package yesterday. It came to my apartment, but it was addressed to Laura Rosen.” Rafe’s gut clenched. “Why would he send a package to you? He doesn’t send packages. He’s sent notes before.” De Sade had sent a couple of notes to both the Bureau and the newspapers, but he’d never sent a package before. And why would he send one addressed to Laura?
“I think I know why.” Brad gingerly touched his nose, looking in the passenger side vanity mirror. “I don’t have a family, and my building doesn’t have security cameras. And I’ve filed the last three official updates on the killings. I think de Sade has been watching for any sign of her.”
“How could he have known?”
Brad slumped back. “Because we have a leak somewhere. Jana Evans being here in this tiny piece of hell proves it. I’m sure she’s already filed a report back home. It will be the top story on the evening news. If reporters already have the story, why couldn’t de Sade? The package was sitting in front of my door when I went home yesterday afternoon.”
That would have been right around the time Joe had called. They had moved damn fast. And de Sade had done his homework, as always. He was everything Laura’s profile said he would be. Ruthless.
Intelligent. He had to have known that Brad’s building didn’t have great security. Damn, he probably had a file on every agent on the case. It would be easy, if he was law enforcement. “What was in that package?”
There was a little hesitation that let Rafe know it was going to be bad. “A single pair of women’s underwear. A small, pink thong.” Fuck. Laura had been found naked with only a thin sheet wrapped around her bleeding body. Among the clothes she listed as missing was a pink thong. Rafe had to swallow back the bile that threatened to come up. “No note?”
“No, but the message was clear. He knows we’ve found her. We have the lab working on DNA, and the box has been sent to forensics, but you know we won’t get anything off it. He’s too careful.”
“He does seem to have a working knowledge of forensics and how to avoid detection,” Rafe murmured.
“Yeah, anyone who watches TV does these days. I don’t buy that this guy is one of us. And you shouldn’t, either. I don’t want to argue about this. The Marquis de Sade is not an agent. He’s some asshole who has connections, I can buy that. We need to check into Jana Evans.”
Rafe had already thought of that. Jana herself wasn’t capable of breaking a nail, but it was obvious that whoever de Sade was, he was carefully watching the reporter. “I agree. Run a check on everyone around her, including that cameraman of hers.” She’d worked with this particular cameraman for as long as Rafe had known her. Bob Lewis or something. It couldn’t hurt to run a check. Including financials.
Brad pulled out his phone and started making notes. Rafe had to give that to Brad. He was an asshole, but he was organized. He was always on top of things. Cam forgot. Cam’s brain was always flitting around. Rafe had been the one to write things down. Sometimes Brad’s brutal efficiency bugged the shit out of Rafe.
Rafe sped down the road. It wasn’t like the locals were going to pull him over. The sheriff had his hands full of Feds, and the disgruntled deputy had Laura. “So why did Joe decide to go mobile?”
“Joe was worried about that package. He thought it was best if we came out here and talked to the vic…to Laura again. She’s our only connection. We need her.” Brad was silent for a moment. “We need you, too. I need to know that you can keep your head on straight.” Up ahead, Rafe could see the truck Wolf had driven off in parked in front of the Sheriff’s Office. Two Broncos sat in the parking lot, too, and several black SUVs. It looked like the gang was all here.
Woohoo.
“My head is on straight,” Rafe assured his partner. “I promise you, my brain is thinking about this case twenty-four-seven.”
“That’s what I want to hear, man.”
Rafe pulled into a parking space. His brain might be on the case, but Rafe had the sinking feeling that his brain wasn’t in charge anymore.
He knew he wasn’t in charge of anything when he walked through the double doors of the Bliss County Sheriff’s Department. It was utterly transformed from the quiet little station house he’d visited yesterday. Rafe had dropped by the station to officially introduce himself and inform the sheriff why he was in town after Cam had finished talking to the conspiracy kook.