Page 19 of No Room to Breathe
Chapter 6
“What do you need?Howshould we start?”Hoffman asked as Cade parked in front of the convention center.
“Just let me look around, if you don’t mind.”
He couldn’t believe they were about to escort a civilian through a possible crime scene.But Hoffman believed in Devyn.He reminded himself they were only working on theories.Nothing they found here today would need to be admissible in court.What he hoped for, what he knew Hoffman was hoping for, was a lead to the current victim.
Saving her could be the key to putting a serial killer behind bars.
Assuming Devyn managed to find something helpful.That was a big assumption.He didn’t operate on faith alone.He wanted the evidence.Needed it.Devyn’s word wouldn’t be enough for him, even if they found Dee.
Trailing a stride behind Devyn, he caught Hoffman’s attention.“We can’t take her theories to the state’s attorney,” he murmured.
“Anything that gets us closer.”Her gaze stayed locked on the psychic’s progress as Devyn circled the lobby.
“Where were the major presentations held?”Devyn asked.“Rooms where all the attendees would have been?”
“Um.”Hoffman glanced around.“We can ask.”
Cade moved closer to Devyn.“How about the registration area?”
When she met his gaze, he took a step back.It was that or fall into the depths of her dark eyes.Something was different.This wasn’t the cool detachment he’d seen before.This was intimidating.Fear-inducing.
He felt a prickling sensation along the back of his neck.“You okay?”he asked, reaching out.
“Don’t.”She evaded his touch.“Registration.”
Right.Without a word, he led her that direction.
As she’d done in the lobby, she walked the perimeter of the room, that strange look lingering in her eyes.Locks of her glossy dark hair fell loose around her face, until she tugged the band out of her hair completely and looped it around her wrist.Her hair fell in soft waves past her shoulders and he thought she was more beautiful than any counselor or con artist should be.
She sat down on a chair near a bank of windows and leaned forward, her hair casting deeper shadows around her face.
He sat nearby, giving her plenty of room for whatever she was pretending to do.
Hoffman’s cell phone rang and she moved away to answer.Cade couldn’t help hoping that regular police work brought them the right lead before whatever Devyn thought she could do.
“He was here,” she rasped as if her throat had been sandblasted.“Frequently here.”
“You’re saying he’s local?”
Her chin jerked in a quick nod.“Charlene wasn’t first.Dee won’t be last.”Her voice shook, cracked.“The lion.He treats himself to two a year.More than that is greed.”
Where in the hell was this coming from?He had so many questions they lodged in his throat.A serial killer with two victims a year?Six years from Charlene to Dee.
His stomach twisted.Twelve victims already and according to Devyn, Charlene wasn’t the first.
Cade’s heart thundered in his chest.The skill and resources required to get away with this was hard to comprehend.The man couldn’t just be lucky.By this time, with over twelve victims, the killer’s system must work like a well-oiled machine.
He took a calming breath.It couldn’t be true.Devyn had to be performing.That kind of pattern would’ve emerged long before now.He’d looked for similar cases only this morning.Hoffman sure as hell hadn’t skipped that legwork or she wouldn’t have found Dee.
“Here.Chicago.Five.”The information came out detached, uneven.“Dee.Alive.”She sat back, pushed at her hair and when she looked at him, sorrow filled her eyes.“Family ties to a funeral home.Cremation.Near where we found Charlene’s remains.”She swallowed.“Dee is there now, in a closet.Drugged.”
Hoffman jogged up.She took a knee between Cade and Devyn.“Did she find something?”
Cade held up his phone.“I recorded it.What was the call?”
“We traced the ownership on that empty lot where Charlene was found.”
