Page 70 of Only You

“So, why don’t you turn it off just for a few minutes while you eat this,” he said, setting a plate on the counter in front of her. It was probably the most perfect omelet she had ever seen in her life. How did he do that?

“You want anything to drink with it?”

She looked up at him. “Yeah…just some water would be great.”

“You sit right there and let me take care of you. Then we can get to bed, and you can get some rest.”

She wanted to argue, but her stomach protested.

“Eddie will be here before you know it, and you can start obsessing again.”

He was right. She would think more clearly if she had some rest. So, she decided to give in to the amazing food he’d cooked for her and then get that rest.

Eddie walked into the precinct.He’d been home, unable to sleep, because something was nagging at him. Marguerite had ordered him back to work because he was disturbing her beauty sleep. Something was always happening at a police station, especially in a city like Baltimore. They had their share of crime, so it was hard to get any privacy there. Still, at least there is less activity at night.

As he sat at his desk, he pulled open his laptop. There was something that was bothering him about this case. It just wouldn’t leave him alone. The fact that someone had tied that old cold case in was weird. It was like this case wasn’t about these women…or not only about them. They had been picked because they resembled the first victim, but they also looked like…fuck.

Yeah, he should have picked up on this. The perp was fixated on Eileen. This killing spree might have been inspired by her. But why? He knew that she hadn’t dated anyone in the last few months, and from what she’d said, she had been pretty focused on her rehab from being shot and then getting back to work. Now, though…there was something off.

“Francisco, what are you doing here?”

He looked up to find the captain walking into the bullpen.

“Couldn’t sleep. I’m connecting things on this case, and I don’t like it.”

He nodded with his head towards his office. “Let’s talk about it because I am too. Before we talk to her, I want to get on the same page.”

Mathers didn’t have to say who theherwas. Eddie did as the captain suggested and followed him into his office.

“Someone who knows her,” he said as he shut the door.

It wasn’t a question. It was a statement from his captain.

“Someoneherewho knows her. It wasn’t known outside the precinct that she was working on that cold case.”

The captain sighed and settled in his chair behind his desk. “So you don’t think it’s the same person?”

Eddie shook his head. “Eileen doesn’t either. Or, at least, she didn’t. She was basing it on the fact that Irene might have dated the perp.”

Another long sigh. “That means we need someone here who might have been dating the victim and had a connection to Eileen.”

He nodded as something nudged at his brain. Something that he couldn’t seem to grasp.

“You thought of something.”

He rubbed a hand over his face, trying to concentrate. “I’m exhausted, and my brain is trying to shut down. I know that we would do better with Eileen here.”

“I heard Comstock wanted to be her guard,” Mathers said with a chuckle. “That boy done fucked up years ago with her, and he has never accepted it.”

Eddie straightened. “Fuck. Comstock.”

He shot up out of his chair and hurried out to his desk.

Mathers followed him out. “What?”

“Comstock. He’s been all up in her business. Eileen admitted to me that she told him way back at the academy that she wanted to solve the case for her mother.”

“That’s a long time for him to be planning this.”

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