Page 95 of Aftermath
Grey started to walk out of the room, but he turned one last time. “I hope she’s worth this Stone.”
I never felt more confident of an answer.
“She is,” I whispered under my breath.
* * *
Grey returned shortly after, letting me know Mags was already diving into the footage. Len hadn’t reappeared, but I imagined she was doing her best to avoid the agents and deputies swarming the house.
My stomach twisted with guilt, knowing this was her worst nightmare. Everything she’d run from had just showed up on the front porch.
It only took an hour before Grey’s phone rang. He answered and turned on the speaker, Mag’s voice immediately coming through the phone.
“You were right,” she said. Her voice sounded shaken. “I went through all the footage from that night, focusing on Len. Approximately fifteen minutes before she leaves, Ethan very clearly slips something into her drink. I’m sending it to you now.”
I opened my laptop on the dining room table and found the video clip already waiting for me. Grey moved to watch beside me. The second I clicked play, I spotted Ethan hovering near where the drink sat on the bar. It was ever so slight, hard to miss. His hand slipped over her drink, dropping something in, and then he hurried away to clear empty glasses from the counter.
My stomach turned at the sight. Knowing what came next made it all the more horrifying to watch and confirm. Len had been right. She was drugged before she was attacked.
“Thank you, Mags,” Agent Grey said. “I’ll let you know if we need anything else.”
He hung up and turned to me. “I need everything you have on him,” he ordered. “If he is the Coastal Killer, I don’t want him slipping through our fingers this time.”
I hurried over to the wall, pulling down everything linking Ethan to the killings. I turned over all of it to Grey.“He fits the working profile.” I showed him the blown up picture of a man about the same stature as Ethan wearing the hoodie with keys to the pub hanging out of their pocket. “Whoever left a threat at Len’s door is linked to the pub.”
“This is all circumstantial at best,” Grey said.
“But now we have the footage,” I pointed out. “Len also received threats via text and a call. I’ll forward Mags the number and see what she can get from it.”
“What about the latest victim?” Grey asked. “Do you have anything linking him to her?”
“I don’t have any of the information on her yet, but if you give me everything you have, I will find something.”
He typed something into his phone andgathered the papers I’d given them before walking toward the door. “Mags is forwarding you everything we know. Call me the second you have something.”
I saw that Mags was already sending over information. A report with the woman’s name popped up—like all the others, she was engaged.
One of the cats jumped into my lap, and I looked down to find Alonzo curling up. I’d given up on keeping them away in any capacity. They were starting to grow on me, honestly.
“It’s Ethan?” Len said, standing in the kitchen doorway, startling me.
I cast a sympathetic look toward her. “How long have you been there?”
“Long enough.”
“You know you’re not supposed to be tangled up in this anymore,” I said. “It’s for your own protection.”
“You didn’t tell me any of this. I heard it myself,” she noted. “Grey can’t be angry when I heard it from his own mouth.”She crossed her arms.
A warm chuckle escaped my mouth. Clever as always.
Seriously, was I going to let this girl go?
The memory of her birthday ran through my mind, the way it felt to kiss her finally.
I pushed it away. I couldn’t lose focus. I needed to do whatever it took to keep her safe.
“Seriously, Len,” I said.
