Page 79 of The Hunted
Silva was full of surprises.
“Let’s get this over with,” he mumbled under his breath. He was feeling anxious, nothing about this body being here made sense. It was too out in the open, too exposed for someone to catch a glimpse of the killer. It also didn’t give him enough time to find any messages left for him.
“Alvarez.” Martin’s voice was a roll of thunder that still grated on his nerves. He turned to watch his partner stroll past Amra with a wink before he jogged toward him.
“I figured you would have been here already, but…” his smile was wide when he glanced back at Silva, “I guess you’ve been busy, huh?”
Santino could tell he wanted the juicy details of what went down between Silva and him. He wouldn’t get them no matter how hard he pried. “Thanks for calling me. Do we have time of death?” He asked, hoping to steer the conversation to the VIC and not Silva.
“Oh, come on. You’re telling me you stroll into a crime scene with that pretty girl, and you’re not going to give me anything?” Martin clapped him on the shoulder. “I tell you all my dirty details, you gotta give me something. I can’t remember the last time you kept a woman this close before.”
Santino didn’t like the implication. It was the same one he knew Amra had, but that still didn’t make him want to talk about a nonexistent conquest. He knew it was the ritual of some men to brag about how they fucked women, but it was such a weird concept for him to grasp.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Santino glanced at Martin, “and before you even think about pushing or saying something slick, I’d advise against it or you’ll be speaking through a tube. Got it?”
Martin chuckled. “Loud and clear.”
He was quiet for a whole two minutes before he spoke again. “For the record, she looks good on you.”
Santino smiled despite himself. “I know.” He could feel the energy around them shift, his guard seeming to come down if only for a fraction of an inch. But he felt something close to kinship with Martin—something he had never felt with anyone before.
Was this why guys spoke about their conquests? Was this how they formed bonds that made it easier to connect on a deeper level, in a place that felt real?
He wasn’t sure.
He also wasn’t sure if he liked it.
Martin and he had their places and roles that played out for the outside world to see. Santino knew how to react and mimic what he needed to based on how Martin viewed the world and how the world responded to him. If things were changing, he wasn’t sure if that would work for his benefit or against it.
“This isn’t me pushing, but I’m going to assume since you showed up with that one, you were with her all night?” They walked over to the body draped in a white sheet.
Santino paused mid-squat to stare at his partner. “Yeah?” It came out more like a question than a statement, wondering where this line of questioning was going.
“I figured. Amra was looking through the security footage last night, near Denise Miller’s home. She still wants it to be you. I’m sure she’s going to blame this on you too.”
Ahh, well that made sense. But this wasn’t him. He nodded toward the local PD to remove the sheet. Even if he didn’t have a solid alibi, this wasn’t something he would do. He whistled.
Someone did a number on her. There were ligature marks across her neck and wrists. Cuts along her cheeks and under her eyes. She was still fully dressed, in jeans and a button-down shirt. Her red hair was braided down her back. He wondered if that was her doing or the UNSUB’s. He looked down at her hands, one was holding a cup from the café and the other had crushed roses.
This wasn’t the Reaper either.
This woman wasn’t on his list and didn’t fit any of his other profiles for the Reaper to attack. There was no note either. No message to let him know the game was still on.
“Nothing in the cup?” he asked the local PD.
He shook his head. “No and the roses are fake.”
Interesting.
“Do we have a time?” Someone had been spying on him and Silva at the gym, but he hadn’t been paying attention to the time. He had assumed the Reaper had gotten close, but if that had been them, why drop the body here? What part of the game was this?
Santino stood to his full height as the local officer answered his question. “They said around eleven, maybe, I’m not sure. They’ll be able to give you more information once they get the body to the lab.”
Santino murmured his thanks, looking for signs of security cameras when his body tensed. He turned around waiting for someone to be watching him, but no one was there again.
“What do you think?” Martin seemed focused on the body. His posture was rigid, and there was a slight twitch in his eye.
“When was the last time you slept or drank something other than caffeine?” His partner looked like he needed a place to put his head down for a little bit, but it felt like it was more than just lack of sleep. Something felt different about him.
