Page 3 of Ace of Spades
“That went well,” Taylor said, after they’d sent four grumbling cops and their captain to handle traffic control. Drivers were slowing their cars at seeing the police cruisers, their blue lights flashing, parked along the side of Tamiami Trail, better known to the locals as Alligator Alley.
Nate snorted. “You have a talent for understatement, my friend.”
“My talents are many, Nate.” She winked at him as she snapped on a pair of rubber gloves.
Stop saying things like that, Taylor.He watched her walk away, taking a moment to restart his brain before he followed her into the swamp. Why’d their killer have to use this place as his dumping ground? He slapped his arm, smashing a mosquito. What was wrong with a dumpster in the city or an alley in town where there weren’t things that wanted to bite you?
“Christ, something ate her leg off,” Nate said as he came in full view of the body.
“An alligator, I imagine.”
Nate scanned around him. If there was a gator nearby, he wanted to know. “I guess we’re lucky he didn’t drag her to his lair.” He frowned. “Do they have lairs?”
“Beats me. I’m a city girl. Look at this.” She bent over the body, eyeing the victim’s left hand. “Rothmire thinks that she’ll be a prostitute like the other two, but she’s wearing a wedding ring. Most prostitutes aren’t married. And her dress ... White isn’t a color a street hooker tends to buy. Too hard to keep clean.”
Taylor would know. Her Russian-born mother had turned to prostitution after her American boyfriend had abandoned her and their young daughter, leaving them homeless and hungry.
“Do we know what the first two were wearing?” When Taylor shook her head, he took out his phone. “I’ll call Rothmire. See what we have on them.” He studied the dead woman while he waited for the boss to answer. She appeared to be in her early thirties and had all the signs of a drug user—hollow cheeks from malnutrition, and, because her mouth was open, he could see she was missing two bottom teeth.
“It’s me,” he said when Rothmire answered. “We’re at the scene. It’s not pretty, let me tell you. When will the crime scene people be here?”
“Ten minutes, give or take. Can you tell how she was killed?”
Nate eyed the body. “From the bruises on her neck, she appears to have been strangled.” Of course, they wouldn’t know for sure until they got the results of the autopsy, but Taylor was right. Something didn’t add up.
“I have the reports from the first two victims,” Rothmire said. “They both were strangled.”
“Were either wearing a wedding ring?” He heard the rustling of pages as Rothmire searched for an answer to his question. “Also, what kinds of clothes were they wearing?”
“Now, that’s interesting you asked. Yes, both had a gold band on their left ring finger. Both have been identified, and neither were married. As to what they were wearing, also interesting. Each had on a white dress.”
Nate watched Taylor as she took pictures with her phone. “Well, we’ve just confirmed all three were killed by the same person, then.”
“You can ride back with Taylor. Head here as soon as the crime scene techs get there. We need to get on this. Three in two months means we’ll have another one soon if we don’t stop him.”
“Will do.” After hanging up, Nate filled Taylor in on the dresses and rings.
As was her habit when upset or thinking, she chewed on her bottom lip. “I’m going to catch this bastard, Nate. No woman deserves to end up in a swamp with body parts missing.” She pushed his hand away when Nate, understanding she was thinking of her mother, touched her arm. “He married them, or made them think he did.”
He let her pretend that she wasn’t hurting, even though he knew she was. “Maybe offered them a way to get off the streets?” Movement to her left drew his eyes. “Shit. Snake!” The slithery thing was headed straight for them, its tongue flickering as it tasted the air.
Before Nate could get to his gun, Taylor had hers out, her shot exploding the snake’s head. He eyed her in admiration. Damn, she was hot. “Nice shooting, tiger.”
She grinned. “I’ll let you take out the next one.”
“No way. You’re my hero. You see a snake anywhere near me, you go for it.” He gave an exaggerated shudder. “Hate the things.”
Taylor patted Nate’s arm, amused that he was afraid of a snake twenty feet away from them. “I’ll save you from all the slithery creatures.” She reluctantly stopped touching him. She’d been in love with Nate Gentry for almost a year, and sometimes she was sure she saw heat in his eyes when he looked at her. Sadly, he’d put himself off-limits. Shewasn’t sure why, but she was working on figuring it out, and when she did, all bets were off.
The local police captain came running toward them, his gun drawn. “What’s happening? I heard gunfire.”
Nate stepped in front of Taylor as if to protect her from the excitable cop. Standing behind his back, she rolled her eyes. But she’d just killed a snake for him, so she let him play protector for her.
“Easy, man. Put your gun away,” Nate said, holding up a hand. “She shot a snake is all.”
“Oh, okay.” He slipped his weapon back into his holster, then bent over, bracing his hands on his knees as he sucked air into his lungs.
Taylor stepped to Nate’s side, exchanging an amused glance with him. She and Nate trained together three or four times a week, and their regimen would likely give the man his first heart attack. There was also a lot of sexual tension between them when they fought on the mat that carried over at odd moments. Like now. Nate didn’t smile, he rarely did, but if he didn’t want her panting over him, he should stop looking at her like that.
