Page 54 of Deadly Secrets
Chapter Ten
“I’m going with you,” Brooke insisted to Roman twenty minutes after Cooper left.
The conference room was quiet, Nadia and Emma sitting at the table comparing notes on The Reverend’s profile. Mitch, Winslow, and Thomas had left at the same time as Cooper to track down leads and contact sources who might provide more.
Brooke had heard back from two of the three professors at the University. Neither had noticed any strangers at her lectures and both had small classes, so they knew their students well. The third, the criminal justice professor, had yet to return her call. She sat at her loaner computer, trying to find the members from the church she’d attended in childhood.
Which was proving to be much more difficult than she anticipated. The church had dissolved fifteen years ago, and the building had been sold. The records had disappeared, probably thrown out when the membership went elsewhere. “The church membership was a good idea, but it’s a dead end. I might as well go with you.”
Polly was on the phone with SDSU campus security, hitting them up for more footage of the parking lot from the previous couple of days, sure The Reverend had probably scoped the area and become familiar with it since Brooke had been on campus. With the cross necklace to identify him, she planned to weed through hours of footage.
Shane worked at his computer station, searching various federal databases for perpetrators wearing religious jewelry and cross referencing everything with the hooked cross and moon signs. His source with the TrackREC system had gotten back to him with a general size and weight ratio of the person who’d broken into Brooke’s rental car and over a thousand matches had coincided with the man’s biometrics. Shane was busy eliminating any that didn’t meet their other parameters—location, victims, method.
But they needed more in order to narrow down the list of suspects.
Roman snatched up the photos Shane had printed for him to take to the mission where the killer called Luke had visited. “Too dangerous,” he said to Brooke. “Our killer or killers might be watching the place and see you.”
“You and I both know that The Reverend is aware I’m working with you. I’m not hiding out here and letting him think I’m scared.”
Roman took her arm, rubbed his thumb over the sensitive skin of her wrist. “I don’t care what the man thinks. Your safety comes first. Besides, I want you to talk to Dr. Collins and see if she can help you access more memories from that night.”
It was logical, since seeing the cross necklace had brought back a smattering of memories. They flashed in and out, never stopping nor forming a cohesive storyline she could follow. Like a dream she could only remember bits and pieces of, she couldn’t make sense of them.
She hadn’t told Roman because what would she say? They were such small snippets of memories, she couldn’t even describe them.
But what good would it do to tell Emma about them either? They made no sense.
Not yet anyway. Maybe if she kept working on the current case, the past would continue to reveal itself.
“I will talk to Dr. Collins when we get back, I promise.” She gripped Roman’s hand hard. “I need to go with you. See where this Luke was, who he talked to. It might help me remember something else.”
He returned her firm hand hold, his eyes revealing the war going on inside his head. “I don’t like it.”
“I know you don’t. And I appreciate your concern.” She lowered her voice, stepped closer. “You’re one of the only people to ever show this much concern about my well-being, in fact, and it means a lot to me. But you wanted me on this team for a reason, and now that I’m here, I can help with more than just sigils and random biblical quotes. I won’t leave your sight and the Glock is ready to go if you get us into any trouble.”
A small, reluctant smile lifted the corner of his lips. “You think I need protection?”
No, she was definitely the one who needed it, especially since her heart nearly pumped out of her chest every time he looked at her this way. Lowering her voice to a whisper, she leaned in. “Mostly, I just want to kiss you again.”
The smile grew. “Well, why didn’t you say so?”
He still didn’t like it and she was sure he would end up making her sit in the car, but at least she’d be with him. Right now, she didn’t want to be anywhere else.
They gathered their things and Roman informed the others where they were going. Polly got off the phone with the campus and twirled a strand of hair around her fingers. “They want a subpoena.”
“It’s parking lot footage.” Roman said, disgusted.
Polly shrugged. “I’ll call Judge Alvarez, tell her what’s up. Shouldn’t be more than a couple hours.”
Brooke followed Roman out, waving at Sue as they got into the elevator.
As soon as the doors closed, Roman gave her the look.
She jumped his bones.
He laughed as her body weight knocked him back against the elevator wall, her lips all over his. He grabbed her legs as she wrapped them around him and held her up. “I like…this…side of you,” he said between kisses.
“I’ve completely lost it.”
