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She let out a bitter laugh. “And in the meantime?”
“In the meantime you keep working your other cases. You feed Brian everything you’ve got. And you don’t give them any excuse to take your badge.” He stared at her, practically looking into her soul. “You didn’t tell me he showed up at the crime scene.”
She winced. She’d told her boyfriend because she didn’t like keeping secrets from him, though she hadn’t told Mac about all the times she followed Calderon. She wasn’t sure he would understand, and instead might draw a line she wasn’t certain she wouldn’t cross. “Dammit, Mac shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, he shouldn’t. You should have. I don’t like it, Skye.”
“Well, not my case anymore.”
“Calderon may have taken the case off your plate, but he’s still obsessed with you, and don’t you forget it.”
She thought back to their stare-off in the parking lot. “I won’t.”
She glanced at the television when she saw the governor step to a podium in a prerecorded press conference. She narrowed her eyes when she spotted Calderon standing on the stage behind her, looking serious. Skye read the subtitles.
Governor Janice Brown announced a new initiative to provide much-needed funding for crime victims. Brown: “Too often crime victims are from lower-income neighborhoods. They don’t have the resources for counseling, expensive medical bills, or paid time off. My initiative will help them get back on their feet.”
Her fists clenched. Her dad mumbled, “It’s all theater. Don’t let this bullshit get to you.”
“It doesn’t,” she lied, staring at the bastard standing behind Brown.
He nodded toward the door. “You know that rookie?”
Skye pulled her eyes away from the screen. Maggie James stood just inside the bar in plain clothes, scanning the room like she wasn’t sure she belonged. When their eyes met, Maggie gave an uncertain wave.
“Yeah. Good cop. Still green.” Skye raised her glass in invitation. “Put whatever she wants on my tab.”
Nick chuckled, the familiar sound settling her nerves. Their private joke, because her dad never charged her.
Skye managed a tired smile as Maggie crossed over. She introduced the rookie to her father, then Nick slid her the requested blond ale, and they moved to a quiet table in the corner. Skye felt her dad watching her. Worried? Maybe. She hadn’t felt like herself since the first time she interviewed Calderon.
After a few minutes of small talk, Skye leaned in. “You were looking for me?”
Maggie bit her lip. “I’m sorry Garcia took the case from you.”
“It is what it is.”
“It’s not fair.”
Skye snorted. “Fairness has nothing to do with it. You get used to it, or you walk.”
Maggie hesitated, then plunged ahead. “I have an idea. If it’s stupid, just say so.”
“Shoot.”
“After working the crime scene Saturday, I went back and read everything on this case. Your notes, reports, victim statements. Then I overheard Brian telling the guys that the suspect showed up at the scene. Killers do that sometimes, but this guy hadn’t before. So I started digging.”
Skye’s jaw tightened. “Why?”
“Because I wanted to understand who we’re dealing with.” Maggie pulled a folded paper from her pocket and smoothed it out. “The first three rapes were spaced roughly three months apart: early October, New Year’s Eve, a quiet Sunday in April. But the last three were all in the last five weeks.”
“I know the timeline,” Skye snapped.
Maggie didn’t flinch. “After the second rape, you were already onto him. The third one, he had an alibi, claimed he was visiting his mother in Eugene. It was risky. He couldn’t keep driving down there every time the urge hit. So he started dating Natalie Brown. Central location. Perfect cover, perfect alibi. He can slip out, hit any of his hunting grounds in under fifteen minutes, and have a built-in excuse if she wakes up.”
Skye leaned back, the pieces clicking despite herself. “Maybe he drugged her. Wouldn’t take much. If she wakes, he tells her he couldn’t sleep, went for a walk, had to grab notes from his house. Whatever excuse worked.”
“Exactly. And he’s not grabbing victims spontaneously. I think he stalks them first. Maybe not for long, but long enough to know when they would be alone. But you were asking questions and wanted his DNA, so maybe he realized he screwed up, either with Ashley or Christina, the first two victims. He began to pick his victims more carefully, making sure he always had a viable alibi.”
