Page 26 of Deadly Secrets
She pulled up short and cocked an eyebrow. “You did?”
“Saw it on your face before you got that call.”
She smiled, self-conscious. “I didn’t realize I was so easy to read.”
“I’m just good at my job.”
The smile grew coy. “Maybe you are.”
That sizzling look was back in her eyes. Was she flirting with him?Thank you, God. “I can’t tell you how much I appreciate your help. I feel like we’re making progress again on this case.”
“I’m glad.” She reached out and grabbed his hand. “Come on.”
He was definitely making progress if she was touching him. He let her drag him back inside, enjoying the softness of her skin as well as her commanding attitude.
She released him as she walked to the white board and grabbed a dry erase marker. He plunked one hip on the conference table and watched as she wrote Rev 1, Rev 2, and Rev 3 across the top, then drew lines to divide the columns.
“What if you have three killers?” She started filling in facts under each heading. “Reverend 1, Matthew.”
Place, date, time, number of vics went in his column.
“Reverend 2, Mark.” Her hand flew, the marker squeaking on the board as she filled in the next set of facts.
Polly wandered over and sat down as Brooke filled in the third column for Reverend 3, Luke. “Serial killers sometimes work in pairs, but three working together?” she asked. “That’s rare.”
“Threeso far,” Brooke amended. “There will be more if my theory is correct.”
“We considered there could be more than one,” Roman said. “How many are you thinking?”
Brooke capped the marker. “Up to twelve.”
Winslow stood in the background. “Twelve?”
“Like the apostles.”
“Holy crap.” Polly shook her head. “You seriously think there could be twelve of these guys out there hunting people?”
“They probably don’t have a Judas,” Roman mused drily. “So it could be only eleven.”
Brooke touched the side of her nose with one hand and pointed the marker at him with the other like they were playing a game of charades and he’d just gotten one of the words. “Agreed. At least eleven, but possibly twelve.”
Nadia returned, coming through the wooden doors and joining them, her breathing still a little hard from her run. She pocketed her cordless earbuds and tossed her phone on the table. “What’s going on?”
“We have a cult of killers,” Polly said. “I think my brain just exploded.”
Stars bloomed overhead as Brooke stared up through the moon roof of Roman’s Jeep. Yeesh, even that was the same as Conrad Flynn in her favorite romance story. He drove a Jeep too.
Twenty-four hours after her first ride with Roman, and here she was again, letting him drive her back to the campus to pick up her rental.
“It’s late. I’ll just take you to your hotel,” he said. His face showed the strain of several late nights—she wondered how many he’d had before last night’s sting operation in the bar. “We can pick up your car tomorrow.”
Since the clock showed it was already past midnight, tomorrow was actually today. “I checked out of the hotel when I left for campus this morning, not considering I’d still be around. I have to find a new place to stay tonight—what’s left of it, anyway.”
“Did you get your plane tickets rearranged?”
Her head felt heavy as she shook it. “Not yet. I was so caught up in the case, by the time we took a break after dinner and I called the airlines, it was too late to speak to an actual person to see what my options are.”
A quick grin shot her way. “So you’re literally flying by the seat of your pants right now.”
