Page 25 of Crash and Burn

“Two other pieces in the collection—”

Maggie almost shuddered at that word.

“—appear to belong to Blue River Killer victims as well, though we've not yet been able to get confirmation from the families. One of the victims is still considered missing, not confirmed dead. So we’re stuck waiting on that.”

These were all things she and Sebastian couldn’t repeat in public until the families were told first. She might feel sick to her stomach and she might have a creepy jewelry box and a break in, but she wasn’t a murder victim or even missing, presumed dead. That was something to be grateful for.

Maggie took a deep breath to stabilize her wildly swinging emotions. It only partly worked, but she nodded at them to continue. There were still many more pieces to account for.

But the agents weren’t making that any easier.

“The problem is an additional four pieces of jewelry appear to have belonged to victims of the La Vista Rapist, who has been operating in Omaha for the past seven years.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Sebastian had tried to keep his mouth shut, but it had been very difficult. The information they were hearing was more than enough to make him want to put his fist into a wall or at least whisk Maggie away to somewhere safe.

The agents were talking about all of this as though it didn’t affect her, but it was Maggie's jewelry box—Sabbie’s tenants—in question, and they were in Maggie's home.

Still, he’d not been prepared for that last bit of information. It had stunned him and broken whatever dam was holding him back from joining in. “Are you suggesting that they're the same person?”

He’d heard about the La Vista Rapist. The entire firehouse had been alerted by the police. They were all on the lookout for any cases that bore similarity to the ones happening in Omaha. The city wasn’t that close, but it wasn’t that far away, either.

He even had some case-specific information, because firefighters interacted with medical patients as first responders. Knowing what might identify a serial case was critical information. But he couldn’t tell Maggie that.

He'd have to ask around. At least, as of right now, he didn’t know of any cases where the La Vista Rapist had ventured outside the bounds of West Omaha.

He had so many questions. Though he tried to keep an eye on Maggie and gauge her reaction, he was also watching Watson and Decker.

The agents looked at each other once again. Though they both had excellent poker faces, that move was their tell.

This was about to get worse.

“It's plausible that they are the same person.”

There was a heavy pause and Sebastian waited for the gut punch.

“It's also possible that they knew each other.”

This time it was Maggie's turn to lose her cool and blurt her question. “You think they know each other? Like they are friends and this issome kind of a high school pact?”

It was Decker who took a deep breath and put his hands on his knees, as though the conversation were somehow turning more casual. Sebastian knew it wasn't.

“There's scientific data showing that if a room has a hundred people in it, and two of them are sociopaths, they'll find and acknowledge each other in the first five minutes.”

It took Sebastian a moment to put together why that information was pertinent. “You think the two were operating separately and thenfoundeach other.” He was tempted to use air quotes.

“Anything's possible,” Watson added as though covering for a gaffe her partner made. Decker hadn't said anything of the sort. “It's possible they were childhood friends. It's also possible they are not sociopaths.”

“It's hard to believe anyone with a conscience would do these things,” Maggie stated, disgusted tone bleeding through. Sebastian ached for her.

Watson answered that question, too. “There's a story that no one hated Jeffrey Dahmer as much as Jeffrey Dahmer.” She offered only a brief pause before she filled in, “We don't know the motives for the crimes. And though we have profiles on each perpetrator, the information doesn’t necessarily answer these questions. The profiles are often broad and vague until we get more evidence.”

How they didn’t have enough evidence on the Blue River Killer was beyond Sebastian. The killer had been operating for close to thirty years now, and seventeen bodies had been confirmed victims. More were suspected. That should have been enough.

Watson was talking again, and he pushed himself to pay attention.

“That ‘more information’ is likely in this house.”

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