Page 50 of Be Very Quiet

“Sure.” Diamond pulled a phone from her pocket and manipulated it with one hand while she bounced J.J. on her hip. “Here she is.” She turned the phone around.

Luca’s stomach pitched. Daisy May was a petite, green-eyed brunette, like the other two victims. Like Liliana.

Chapter Seventeen

Diamond was reluctant to let J.J. go, but she finally allowed Audria to turn the baby over to a worker from child services, who would have the resources necessary to care for an infant. Diamond wanted to be the one to keep J.J., but Audria didn’t think they would allow her to do so since she wasn’t related by blood and because of her occupation. Child services would work to uncover a relative to take the baby in until Daisy May was located. Audria was afraid they would find Daisy May dead. She matched the profile and hadn’t contacted anyone in over eighteen hours. There was a good chance she had become The Mortician’s latest victim.

“If he killed Daisy May, he’s escalating,” Luca pointed out. “Before, Rader took time between kills. He studied the victims and learned their patterns. Now they are happening closer together. Why the urgency?”

“There must be a timeframe we’re unaware of,” Reese decided. “There is some reason he’s rushing the kills.”

“That would explain why he chose prostitutes,” Audria noted. “They would be easier to grab. All he needed to do was pretend to be a john. Also, they might not be missed as quickly.”

“He seems to be fixated on women with long, dark hair this time,” Reese added. “That wasn’t his pattern ten years ago.”

An idea struck Audria. “We need to draw him out. I’ll go undercover as a prostitute.”

“No.”

Audria raised her brows at Reese’s vehement denial.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“I have the right coloring,” she argued. “And I’m trained.”

“What if he shoots you as soon as you get in his car? You aren’t bulletproof.”

“That’s not how he does it, and you know it. He rapes and strangles.”

Reese crossed his arms. “Miami is a large area. What are the odds you’ll be in the right place to catch The Mortician?”

“Well, I’m not a statistician, but I can tell you the odds if we sit back and wait for the next shoe to drop. There’s a ninety-nine-point-nine percent chance someone else will die.”

Reese didn’t have a response to that. She looked at Luca.

“I don’t like it either.”

“You will be watching me,” she argued, “and I’ll be wearing a wire and tracker.”

“What if you get picked up by someone else?” Reese posed. “That’s the most likely scenario.”

“We’ll arrest him for soliciting a prostitute,” Detective Torres interjected.

Audria waved a hand at him. “See, someone who is reasonable and thinking clearly.”

“We’ll also send a vice officer undercover with you, so you won’t go alone. She’s currently working the streets and can guide you on what to do.”

Audria felt better about that. She’d played clandestine roles before, but never as a hooker. However, the cop Torres wanted to send with Audria, Kelli Gilbert, was out of town and wouldn’t return until late, so they couldn’t set the plan in motion until tomorrow. They spoke to Kelli over the phone, and she promised to have clothes and makeup to transform Audria into a call girl.

The task force discussed details and agreed to reconvene at six p.m. tomorrow at the station. As much as Audria wanted to do it tonight, things had to be set in place, and she understood, but she wanted to catch the guy before someone else lost their life.

#

Luca had been away with Audria at the task force meeting for a few hours, and Liliana missed him desperately. It was sad, really. She’d gone years without seeing him and been able to function perfectly well. Now, within a few short days, she was becoming obsessed with him. Not good.

Liliana glanced up from the finance sheet she was working on to see a man in spandex shorts, wearing a helmet and a shirt with Speedy Delivery on the front, standing at the check-in desk. She knew without a doubt the package was for her and it was from The Mortician.

“Christian?”

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