Page 110 of In Her Eyes

“No, she disappeared right after. Do you have any idea who he is?”

His face turns into a mask of cold fury. “Yes, I think I know who he is, and if so, you’re right. He’s a cop.”

“Can I touch something from him or something on his desk? I might be able to intuit something.”

He takes my hand and opens his office door so hard it slams on the wall. He practically drags me behind him and into the main area of the station. He stops in front of a desk and releases my hand. Then, steps aside. The room is deadly quiet, and all eyes are on us. Chief Malone comes to his door with a frown on his face. I have zero fucks left to give.

I hover my right hand over the desk, and a sting on my palm draws it to the right, over a mug filled with pens and a knife-shaped letter opener. I take the letter opener, and pure evil assaults me. I brace myself on the desk as the images assail me.

Blood, so much blood, all I see is red. He likes to play with the letter opener when he’s at work. It’s his idea of a joke. He plays with it and relives all the things he did. This is too much. Too much. I don’t want to see any more. I open my hand, and the letter opener drops to the desk with a clank. I nod at Jake.

Chief Malone steps into the room. “Into my office, now.”

We follow him, and every person in the station watches us as the chief closes his door on all of them.

Chapter56

Jake

“It’s Jeff.”

The chief’s eyes widen. “How do you know?”

“Ava saw it when she checked another piece of evidence.”

“I thought she found nothing else in the evidence bags.”

“Not those. I gave her Emily’s cell phone.”

His hands go to his waist. “What?”

Ava takes a step closer. “It’s the same person. The man who kidnaped Emily is the same man who kidnapped and killed all the other women.”

Chief Malone is shaking his head. “That’s one hell of an accusation, and an accusation to which you have no proof.”

“But we do. Jeff drives a white SUV, and he lives less than a quarter of a mile from the park. We need to get a search warrant for his house.”

“That’s circumstantial evidence at best. For a warrant, I need something more substantial to take to the judge.” The chief widens his stance. “This will rub the entire team the wrong way.”

I mimic his posturing. “And where is Jeff today? Off. I bet if you cross-reference when the women disappeared, it will match to his days off.”

“That’s easy enough to check.” The chief goes to his computer.

His fingers fly over the keyboard, and the printer churns to life. We all watch as the single sheet of paper slides off it.

Chief Malone lays the paper on his desk. “Here’s his schedule for the year, and each day he was off.”

I run my fingers over the dates. “Here. June fifteenth. That’s when Alice Thompson was reported missing. He was off that day and the next two days. March twenty is when Victoria went missing. He was off that day and for two days after. The girl from the bowling alley went missing on January sixteenth.” I run my finger across the lines for January. “He worked that day. But look at this. He took three sick days after. For everyone, he was off for three days.”

“Son of a bitch.” The chief grabs his phone. “This doesn’t leave this room. I don’t want anyone leaking this information and alerting him. I’ll call Judge Marshall and get a search warrant. I don’t want our guys in on this. I’ll take the two detectives we borrowed from Portsmouth with me.”

“Chief—”

“I don’t want you in this search, Knox. You’re too emotionally involved. You stay put and watch your lady friend. Keep her safe or have you forgotten the threats to her life?”

I’m about to protest when Ava kicks my foot and glares at me with a silent request for compliance.

The chief nods at the door in an obvious order for us to get out, and we leave. Everyone stares at us. We retreat to my office, where I close the door, slumping against it. Every conversation I had with Jeff is rushing at me. “Jeff was always around, even showing up at mealtimes. I never really clicked with him, but I felt sorry for him. His family was an even bigger mess than mine. More than once, he came by with a black eye or busted lip. His father was a mean SOB.”

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