Page 65 of Investigate Away
Digging her fingers into his back, she gasped. Her body jerked and shuddered. She couldn’t catch her breath. She tried to fill her lungs, but all she managed to do was make herself dizzy.
She wrapped her arms and legs around him as tight as she could while he buried his face in her neck. Their bodies moved as one while their orgasms collided in a fiery ball and exploded between them, connecting them as one soul.
“I love you,” he whispered.
A single tear rolled down her cheek. “I love you too,” she said. “But it doesn’t change anything.”
14
Jag stared out at the water as the ferry made its way across Puget Sound from Whidbey Island to the mainland. He had spent most of the morning grappling with his feelings for Callie. She said the words. She might have tried to discount them, but she still let them come out of her mouth.
That was a start.
Of course, she’d said nothing about his thought on them co-writing the book, which had honestly come out of nowhere, but it made sense in a weird way. Hell, he’d already helped her rewrite a few chapters, and he’d worked a little bit on his chapter this morning before leaving for work. She seemed to like his suggestions. Well, most of them.
And she didn’t argue with him on the few things that he asked she remove, though she did ask for clarification.
While he hated dealing with the Trinket Killer again, he loved working with Callie.
Now he was going to spend the afternoon dealing with three dead bodies, bringing the count to five.
He pulled off the ferry and headed toward Carkeek Park where all three women had been found. The Trinket Killer had never gone on a mass killing before. Nor had she accelerated her murders like this. It had taken her six years to kill twelve people. And if she was responsible for the Mood Ring victims, six in a twelve-month period.
Those numbers churned up his heartburn. They could mean something. Then again, the Trinket Killer seemed to be acting erratically lately by not following her usual MO. There had to be a reason.
There was always a reason.
He pulled into the parking lot of the park where it was already a bustle of activity. His heartburn kicked up as he rolled past the Channel 5 news van and Bailey and her crew. He parked his vehicle near all the other police cars and made his way to the crime scene tape. He flashed his badge and signed the log before ducking under the tape and finding Albert.
“Hey, thanks for coming out,” Albert said.
“Can’t say I’m thrilled to have an invite to this party.” Jag swallowed the bile bubbling up his esophagus. He took a deep cleansing breath, mentally prepping his mind for what he was about to see. For the last year, he’d lived a quiet life. No murders. No deadly crime that required him to harden his soul. Sure, there had been a deadly car crash on the island, which affected him just as deeply, but the emotions were different. “So, tell me why I’m here.” Jag already knew the answer, but he wanted Albert to give him the rundown.
“We’ve got two prostitutes.”
“The Trinket Killer never murdered a prostitute before,” Jag said.
“Maybe not and as we’ve both said, this could be a copycat who doesn’t know that or doesn’t care, but we’ve got rose gold trinkets in their left hands. However, a big difference is the bodies were just dumped. Tossed into a shallow grave together. And they’d started to decompose, so they’ve most likely been here a few days.”
“We still don’t have an ID on the girl from the island,” Jag said, rubbing his temples. The killer had burned off the victim’s fingerprints, and so far, they couldn’t match the victim to any missing persons. “Any idea who these girls are?”
“Yeah.” Albert led Jag toward the shallow grave where the medical examiner was still working on the bodies while the CSI team set down numbers and took pictures of evidence. “Both had licenses on their persons. They were reported missing by a friend last week.”
“Another sex worker?”
Albert nodded. “They use an adult chat room sometimes to meet clients. According to their friend, they were both to meet someone on that app the night they went missing.”
“That’s a bit of a coincidence.” Jag eased down a slight incline, careful not to slip on the muddy hillside. The sound of a camera shutter echoed in his ears. The CSI team milled about, logging in evidence. The medical examiner knelt over the bodies.
“Hey, is that a wig?” Jag made his way to the head of one of the victims. A blond wig had been tossed to the side, exposing short red hair.
“I wonder if our killer knew or even cared.”
“This doesn’t feel right,” Jag said with his hands on his hips. He glanced around the wooded area. “The bodies aren’t presented in the same way the others were.”
“But we have rose gold raven trinkets in their hands, and we have this.” Albert waved to one of the other detectives who strolled over and handed Albert a plastic bag with a note inside. “This is really why I wanted you out here now.”
Jag took the bag into his hands and held it up high. It was a white piece of computer paper with bold words written in dark ink matching the last note that Callie had gotten. He drew it a little closer to his face and squinted.
