Page 45 of Skin Deep

The bag crinkled and his crunching paused. “You know, I have no clue. I think this bag is in Japanese, but it’s good. And spicy.”

Oh, yeah. Shepherd was going to be pissed. Hehatedspicy food.

“Let’s see. Appointment at Twin Valley Forensic Behavioral Health…Talk to the bank…Call Life…Ah, here it is,” Bryce said, still munching on his snack. “It says: If War calls about the ripper, tell him to come over for dinner. Then there’s a bunch of gibberish about where to find his profiling notes. As if I don’t already know. By the way, if you’re coming over from the hospital, could you stop by that Thai place I like?”

“I’m not at the hospital today,” I told him. “So no.”

“Wait, what? Are you having a bad day or something? We can come cheer you up if you need it.”

“No, I’m fine.” I sighed into the phone when it beeped, letting me know Xavier was calling me back. “I’ll see one of you at dinner.” Maybe more than one.

“Later, War.”

I hung up with Bryce and accepted Xavier’s call.

Before I could speak, Xavier blurted, “This dude is bad news, War.”

“I know,” I said. “Tell me you have my files.”

“Yep, emailing them to your secure address now, but you’re not going to like it. The guy’s a digital ghost. It’s mostly cash withdrawals.”

“That’s never slowed you down,” I said with an irritated grunt. “Do you know which ATM?”

“Bro, it’s me. Of course I do. I can also tell you that you shouldn’t be looking at this guy. You do know he’s vory, right?”

“I’m aware,” I said flatly.

“Do I even want to know what kind of shit you’ve stepped in?” He slurped his drink loudly in my ear, much to my irritation.

“The less you know, the better you’ll sleep,” I told Xavier. “Anything else you can give me will sure make my life easier, though.”

“On it,” Xavier said cheerfully. “Let’s see. He’s got an ADT security system. Trash. If you need to get into his house for a search, say the word. Three racoons in a trench coat could break this security.”

“No, Xavier. I need to figure out where he’s been and where he’s going.”

“Recon, huh?” He hummed in my ear, continuing to type. “Oh, here’s something interesting. Dude’s got some recent activity on his criminal record. Looks like he got acquitted on a sexual battery charge. Assault. DV charges out the ass that got dropped suspiciously fast, two statutory rape charges that got dropped… Fucker’s behind on his child support by two months, too. My god, this dude is the infected hair on the vory’s asscrack level of gross.”

“Thank you for that visual,” I said, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“My pleasure. I’m gonna need two showers after this. I’ve already pinged his cell. I can tell you where he is right now if you want. Or at least where his cell is.”

“Xavier, you’re a fucking genius,” I said, standing and grabbing my coat from the back of my chair. “Where?”

His fingers raced loudly over the keyboard. “Well, as of two minutes ago, he was over in Holly Hill in the vicinity of… Looks like one of his three ex-wives lives out there.”

“Thanks for the info, Xavier. Can you forward that to my phone so I can track him?” I asked, headed for the door.

“Done,” he said with a few keys. “Anything else?”

“Stay on standby,” I told him. “I might need you again in the next few days.”

“Copy,” he said. “I’ll start researching the ripper a little more later today. And War? Don’t get yourself into too much trouble, huh? I got a weird feeling about all this. Like we’re in the calm before a grade-A shitstorm.”

I scoffed. “I’ll be fine.”

On my way out the door, my phone went off. I thought it might be Xavier updating me on Bowen’s movements, but when I saw it was a text from Pax, I halted on the sidewalk to open it, excitement fluttering through me.

Pax

---