Page 297 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

His lips met hers again, this time more demanding. “I’m going upstairs before we both lose control.”

When he stepped away, an ache settled heavy over her heart. It was time she made up her mind and stopped toying with Wade’s emotions. Otherwise, they’d both be burned by her reckless behavior. After she heard his steps disappear down the upstairs hallway, she made her way to her room. In reality, it wasn’t her room at all. It was his. She stared at his bed where she would spend another night surrounded by his masculine scent. If she didn’t get home soon, she’d lose more than her self-control. She’d lose her sanity.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

The following morning, Wade pored over the files once more. This time he focused on the victims’ financial data. He needed to find something to tie all of the victims together. If he could do that, it might lead him back to the killer. That was his theory, anyway.

He found some charges for a grocery store where three of the victims had stopped weeks before their deaths. It was probably nothing. Then he noticed two of the victims went to the same hair salon, but it wasn’t enough.

While studying Genevieve Adams’ file, he found a donation to Senator Martin’s campaign. Plenty of people contributed to political campaigns, so it was likely nothing, but he checked and saw that Lorraine Moore donated too. After checking all five files, he realized every one of them gave money. There had to be a connection.

Maybe it was the guy taking the donations or another staff member of the senator’s. Wade struggled to write off Gary Swartz’ interactions with the victims as mere coincidence, yet he could see how they might be just that. But his gut wouldn’t let him do the same with the donations. He was certain he was on the right trail with them.

When Wade entered the office,Jamie was leaning back in her chair staring at the ceiling.

“What are you doing?”

She sat up and made eye contact. “Do you think the killer works at the park? Maybe a maintenance guy or a cashier in the snack shop?”

“The idea crossed my mind. What makes you ask?” Wade raised an eyebrow.

“I was studying the proximity of each of the victims to each of the other victims again, and it makes the most sense that the killer either works at the park or lives nearby. The park has numerous employees and volunteers, so we could take another look,” she said.

“I hadn’t even considered volunteers.” He pinched the bridge of his nose.

“He could also work someplace near the park.”

“True,” he said. “I take it you don’t think Parsons is the killer?”

“No. I don’t. And neither do you.” She sipped her coffee. “If you believed the killer was in jail, Emily wouldn’t still be staying at your place.”

“I’m beginning to think it’s a mistake for her to stay with me, anyway.” He took a drink of coffee and made a face.

“You should know better than to drink that sludge.”

“I should, yes.” He pushed his cup away. “I do have a theory I want to explore further.”

“What’s that?”

“While studying their files yesterday, I discovered all five victims donated to Senator Martin’s campaign.”

“That’s flimsy at best.”

“I know, but my gut tells me it’s more than mere coincidence.”

“Let’s examine those contributions then. I don’t think we’ll get a judge to issue a warrant for Senator Martin’s records to find out who first received the information for their donations, but maybe she’ll cooperate willingly.”

“Maybe. For all we know, the funds were paid online or over the phone. I saw the credit card statements with the notation, but I can’t tell which method they used to give. We can ask the lieutenant to call her. They have a good working relationship.”

“Or better yet, we could ask her nephew or her son.”

“Maybe we should rule them out first.”

“You don’t think either of them could be involved, do you?”

He sighed. “It’s unlikely, but I’m not willing to rule them out entirely. I doubt either of them would’ve been in charge of collecting donations.”

“Did you notice the amounts of the donations?”

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