Page 4 of Saved By the Lieutenant

“Get to the fucking point,” I snarl. “What happened?”

“She’s been calling me for over a week, I’ve been dodging her calls.”

Anger works through my veins. “Why?” I hiss.

She’s not just some reporter, she’s always been a fuck of a lot more than that.

“I fucked up. I have my partner and other detectives riding my ass about how close we are. Fuck, I made a mistake.”

“What aren’t you telling me, Peter?” I’m getting frustrated, beyond that. He’s keeping something from me, and I need him to get to the fucking point.

“I answered her call today. She uncovered a serial killer in Pennsylvania. How she managed to do that, I don’t know, but Mandy’s smart. She’s so fucking good at what she does, she’s been paying attention and tonight she had confirmation that the sixth woman was murdered. She was to meet me at a diner and when she didn’t show, I went to her office—” he pauses and my heart fucking crashes against my chest. “She’s beaten, strangled and if I hadn't shown up, she’d have been dead.”

A red haze forms over me. “What?” I ground out. “Tell me you’re fucking joking?”

“I wish I were,” he snaps. “Christ, Jake, she’s battered to hell, when my car approached, the asshole ran away. The moment I got to her she passed out. She’s still unconscious.”

Fear unlike anything I’ve ever felt grips me. I’ve been in some of the shittiest positions in my life, I’ve lost so many brothers, friends, men, but nothing compares to how I feel right at this moment.

“I called for backup, but the perp was long gone. Jake, fuck, her face is a mess. She’s got finger marks on her throat. I had the EMT’s look over her and they’ve said she’ll be sore, but nothing’s broken. I didn’t want her out of my sight, so I brought her home.”

Silence spreads between us, I’m trying hard to keep my emotions in check. “Does this have anything to do with what she’s uncovered?” I ask.

“What she told me so far. The killer likes women in their mid-to-late twenties, brunette, with green eyes. He beats and strangles them—” he trails off.

“And what?” I snap. “What else does this motherfucker do?”

“Stabs them to death,” he tells me, his voice low and filled with fear.

Peter and I met when we were in basic training, it was a few months after that when we met Adam. He was determined to give his sister the best life. Amanda is almost a decade younger than Adam and he raised her. I met Amanda on her twenty-first birthday, the moment I saw her I knew she was the one. I don't know how to explain it, it was a consuming feeling that took over me. From that moment on I was hooked, but when Adam died two years later, that was when Amanda and I grew ever closer. She was devastated, rocked to her core by the death of her brother. Peter and I helped her pick up the pieces and although none of us were ever the same after Adam's death, we did what we could to move on.

Amanda and I started dating a year after Adam's death, we were together for three years before I walked away. Doing so was my biggest mistake, but I didn’t have a choice, it was what was best for her.

“Tell me you have a fucking lead on this monster?” I growl, the fear has grips me tight, like a noose around my neck. “This fucker knows where Amanda works, Peter, that means he’s been watching her.”

“I know,” he fires back. “I fucking know that but until Mandy wakes up, I can’t get the answers I need. I have my partner looking into the murders that she told me about, but on the phone, it was very limited and only basic information.”

I inhale deeply. “I’m taking a leave of absence,” I tell him. “I want you to take her to the cabin. I’m not letting that motherfucker take her, Peter, it’s not happening.”

“She’s not going to do that,” he says softly. “You hurt her Jake, you wrecked her. She’ll not want to be around you.”

“Right now, I don’t care. I need her safe. That fucker knows who she is, Peter, I’m not sitting around and waiting for them to strike again. It’s not happening.”

I hear his sigh. “Okay, I’ll see what I can do.”

“I’ll be there tomorrow. She doesn’t leave your side until she’s with me.”

He chuckles. “Does this mean you’re finally going to do the right thing and stop with this bullshit crusade you’re on?”

“Not talking about this,” I grunt. “I’ll set up my leave of absence and head to the cabin. I know she’ll be pissed, but I’d rather deal with her rage than her being dead.”

“Mandy’s good at what she does, I know that she’s meticulous with her investigations. We’ll uncover who this animal is, and we’ll stop him.”

“It should’ve never gotten this fucking far.” She could’ve died tonight. She could’ve been brutally murdered— I shake my head, pushing those thoughts from my mind.

I can’t think of that right now. God no. I can’t imagine a life without her in it.

“When she wakes up, find out everything you can and then get her to the cabin.”

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