Page 20 of Ace of Spades
CHAPTER SEVEN
“He claims he hasn’t seen her for three or four months,” Taylor said.
“When we told him she was dead, his reaction seemed legit. He was shocked, and then his eyes teared up.” Josh shrugged. “I’m leaning toward believing him.”
Nate hadn’t thought Hector Ramirez was their killer. Not that the man would hesitate to kill someone who did him wrong—even if he only thought they had—but he was a look-you-in-the-face-while-he-put-a-bullet-between-your-eyes type.
He glanced around the conference-room table where he, Taylor, Alex, Rand, Josh, and Rothmire were seated. The team assigned to this case was, in his opinion, the best of the best. The only one missing was Court. Besides being a wizard on a computer, he also had a talent for seeing patterns. Court and his bride would be back home Sunday night, and as soon as he was available, Nate would get him started on doing his magic.
Alex’s strength was his ability to understand a killer’s mind. His baby brother felt things too hard. Nate wasn’t sure how else to explain it than that. He attributed Alex’s compassion for suffering souls to thehurt their mother had put on Alex’s heart the day she’d left them. How that understanding worked for Alex, Nate didn’t have a clue, but that particular talent had helped them catch bad guys more than once.
As for Rand, his talent was his willingness to follow through on any task assigned to him, no matter how laborious, boring, or distasteful. Ask the man to interview one hundred subjects in a day and, by damn, somehow he’d get it done.
Then there was Josh Sheridan, their newest and youngest member of the team. He had a good head on his shoulders, but he was a little too eager to prove himself. He’d grow out of that soon enough, so it wasn’t anything that was worrisome.
Nate had always been honest with himself, and if he were asked what he contributed to the team, he would say it was his ability to see the overall picture, along with getting each member to do what he wanted. He also had common sense, something he’d decided too many people didn’t have, and if offered a choice between that and being the richest man on earth, he’d take the common sense.
Rothmire? The man was a people manager, one of the best Nate had ever known. Their boss recognized his agents’ abilities and gave them free rein ... within reason. He was also loyal to his people, the reason every agent in the Miami office prayed that the powers that be never decided to relocate him.
And then there was Taylor, the smartest and most dedicated, and as deadly as any of them. As a rookie, without blinking an eye in hesitation, she’d put a bullet through the brain of a pedophile she’d caught raping a six-year-old boy when the man had laughed as he’d held a knife against the boy’s jugular. The woman was a true do-gooder, especially where children were concerned. She was Nate’s personal hero.
“Are we all agreed then that Ramirez isn’t our killer, although we’ll keep him on the list?” Rothmire said, bringing Nate back into the conversation.
Everyone nodded.
“Our man is much like a cockroach,” Taylor said. “He doesn’t like the light of day, but in the dark, he scurries around, looking for his next crumb to feed on. Hector’s a puppy dog compared to our killer.”
Nate glanced at her. He’d discussed all this with her last night over pizza and beer on his balcony, all the while reminding himself he would not kiss her again. But he wanted to. That one kiss had slayed him. It had put a knife through his heart because he’d learned the second his mouth had touched hers that he’d want to kiss her every day until he took his last breath.
“Hector said that he stopped seeing Alana when she started talking about being in love with him,” Taylor said.
Josh nodded. “He said that he didn’t think she was really in love with him, but that she saw him as a way to get off the streets. He went on to say that when he first started seeing her she was pretty and fun, but then chasing the dragon became her life goal. When the heroin and crack she was addicted to made her”—he made air quotes—“‘ugly,’ he had no use for her.”
“Nice guy,” Alex said. “Did he try to help her?”
That was Alex for you, wanting to see everyone happy. Nate raised a brow at his brother. “You know Hector. Is he really a nurturing type?”
“Guess not.”
Nate wanted to wipe that sad-dog expression from Alex’s face with a hug, but touchy-feely was not in his DNA. His baby brother needed to toughen up. Life was a bitch, a lesson Alex hadn’t learned.
Maybe that was his fault. He hadn’t wanted either of his brothers to be as numb to life as he was, so he’d done his best to help them believe they deserved to be happy. He loved the hell out of them, and no one had been gladder than he was to see his brothers married to women who loved them.
And love was obviously too much on his mind, considering how many times he’d just thought the word. He blamed his lovesick brothersfor that. Seeing them happily married was putting stupid ideas in his head.
He stole a glance at Taylor, only to see her watching him as if she could read his every thought. That was the problem with having a friend who knew you too well, maybe even better than his brothers did. He blanked his face.
“We should have Harding’s autopsy report tomorrow,” Nate said. “The first two victims had been thoroughly cleaned before being dumped in the Everglades. I’m sure we’ll learn he did the same with her.”
“Yeah, he’s obviously bathing them to wipe away any DNA he might had left on them. If he had sex with them, he used a condom.” Taylor chewed on her bottom lip.
Nate wished she wouldn’t do that. For some odd reason, he found that sexy as hell.
She nodded, as if coming to some conclusion. “He’s not having sex with them. He’s purifying them.”
“Meaning?” Rothmire asked.
“Saving their souls?” Alex closed his eyes for a moment.
