Page 96 of Tell Me Your Desires
She squared her shoulders and walked into the central area of her chambers. Lady A would miss this room and all it had to offer, but Anya wouldn’t miss what it now represented. The death she now felt there. The guilt that tainted the air.
“I know you’re watching,” Anya said aloud. “You have been since the beginning. Why don’t you stop hiding and come talk to me?”
She waited a beat, but Anya knew she was going to have to bait Teddy to catch him. She did the one thing she had always hated doing as a profiler. She allowed herself to dive deeper into Teddy’s psyche. “Are you scared? You shouldn’t be. I know you saw my police escort leave. I’m here by myself. And you know mylover won’t show up.” Anya lowered her voice to a cold, icy tone. “Yoursistermade sure of that, didn’t she?”
Anya sat in the wingback chair by the fireplace and crossed her legs. Her decision to stay in her casual clothes—simple jeans and blouse—was a deliberate one. Teddy would never have the courage to speak to Lady A. If Anya thought about it, Sonny the security guard was quiet around her unless she was in her ‘casual’ clothes. “You want to come see me, don’t you? Are you afraid of Ruby?” Anya smiled softly. “Don’t be. She won’t bother us. Come to me.Teddy.”
"She’s good,”Kate watched the feed broadcast from the small pendant camera on Anya’s necklace. “Shifting blame onto the club with Frank, feigning ignorance and frustration? Classic.”
Max nodded silently as he sat next to Kate, his eyes focused on everything else the cameras captured, searching for any signs of Ruby ‘Sapphyre’ Arnold or Theodore ‘Sonny’ Arnold. He felt awkward watching Anya alone in her chambers, so his eyes remained on the monitors that showed footage from cameras strategically placed by UCs that had gone into the club for a beer and a show earlier in the day. He hated that Anya’s entire room wasn’t rigged up. The camera was clear, but the range was limited. For Max, it wasn’t enough. But it was better than nothing. This whole fucking operation was giving him heartburn. If anything happened to Anya, Jaime would never forgive him. Fuck, whydidshe choose him? He didn’t even have a badge or a gun!
“Yeah, she is,” he agreed finally, adjusting the volume slightly. If this hadn’t been so fucking dangerous, Max would have enjoyed watching Anya work. The way her mind workedwas fascinating. It was no wonder Jaime fell head over heels for this woman. But it was dangerous, and if Max was this antsy, he could only imagine how Jaime felt.
“I have a question.” This came from a team member whom Max had not yet met. “Why did he call her Lady A? And… she’s quitting? Like, she’s been working here?”
Max and Kate eyed each other, but it was Max who answered. “The city has been trying to shut this place down for a while now. But sex work is legal here, so we needed to catch them doing somethingillegal. Dr. Grant has been working undercover with RPD to do that. We had no clue it would turn into this, though.”
“So, why was she a suspect if she’s working for you?” the agent asked, causing Max to wince inwardly.
“We don’t give up our UCs,” he answered gruffly. “We didn’t know the other women were connected until Maisie. Once we did, we had to treat Dr. Grant like every other suspect.”
“Sorry about the questions,” Kate spoke up. “You’d think my team was a bunch of rookies.” She glared at them, ordering them to stop with the questions and pay attention, then turned to Max. “Maisie was their mistake.”
Max tapped his ear. “Can she hear us?”
“No, she doesn’t like to be distracted. Besides, she won’t take direction from anyone, so it would be a waste of time.”
Max chuckled. “Sounds like someone I know. But, yeah, Maisie was their mistake. Killing on ‘home turf,’ so to speak, will be their downfall. I just wish this wasn’t the way to do it.”
“You and me both.” Kate sat back in her seat and crossed her arms, but her eyes never left the monitors.
“I feel as naked as some of those gals in that club without my gun. I don’t know what the hell she was thinking bringing me along.”
“She was probably thinking she wanted someone here she could trust. And if it couldn’t be Jaime, it had to be you. She alsothought you deserved to be here because you were the one who caught the connection between the cases in the first place.” Kate glanced at Max. “That was impressive, by the way.”
Max lifted a shoulder as though catching a serial killer was a common occurrence. “I’ve been doing this a long time, Agent Sullivan. You pick up a thing or two.”
“True. And, please, call me Kate.” She reached behind her, digging in her bag until she found what she was looking for. She placed the gun in front of Max. “Let’s hope you don’t have to use it.”
“She won’t get anywhere by agitating him,” Agent Anderson said, interrupting Max and Kate’s bonding moment. “If she wants to coax him out, she needs to act younger. More…demure. This suspect likes to be in control. Dr. Grant needs to cater to his dominant tendencies.”
Max narrowed his eyes at the young man. He didn’t know this guy, but he was beginning to know Anya pretty well. “Aren’t you the dude who didn’t think the cases were connected?”
Agent Anderson opened his mouth, then closed it again and turned back to the screen without another word. Kate grinned at Max before turning her attention back to the monitors. He hoped he hadn't stepped on any toes, but if this Anderson kid thought he knew more than Dr. Grant, he had a lot to learn.
Movement caught his eye, and Max sat up abruptly. “There!” Max pointed at the screen. Teddy stood outside Anya’s chambers, seemingly arguing with himself. “He fucking took the bait! Jesus, I don’t know whether to be happy about that or not.” His hand involuntarily closed over the butt of the gun that still lay in front of him.
“This is good. She’ll get him to talk.” Kate’s leg was bouncing rapidly, contradicting the calmness of her voice.
“Yeah. Well, one thing is for sure, she had the right approach.” Max eyed Agent Anderson for a moment.“Sometimes experience is more reliable than what’s learned from a book. People may be predictable, kid, but you gotta put all the factors together.”
“She’s rubbing off on you,” Kate chuckled.
“Could think of worse things,” Max mumbled, then nodded at the monitor when Teddy reached for the doorknob. “Game time.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
Anya’s heartbeat a little faster when she heard the door open. She’d told Max that Teddy wouldn’t hurt her, and while she believed it, situations like this were unpredictable. The man had killed dozens of women. Anya wasn’t naive enough to think she wouldn’t be the next one with one wrong word. Ironically, the only thing that put her at ease was the uncomfortable feeling of the gun she was leaning back on.
