Page 43 of Stay Baby Stay

My throat tightens.His next vic, meaning...his next victim?

I wrap my arms around my stomach.

No. No. No. Not Kenzie...

“This is exactly why Harris put you on leave,” Abby says, looking more woeful than angry. “You need a fucking break. Go home and let me do my job.” She turns to me. “And just so you know, Holly, if McKenzie was kidnapped, the longer you let this guy drag you around on a wild-goose chase, the less likely it is that we’ll find her alive.”

I feel the weight of Cal’s hand on my shoulder, his sturdy presence against my side. Is Abby right? Am I wasting time by trusting Cal’s instincts?

Before I can weigh the soundness of her words, Abby ducks into her car, starts the engine, and drives away.

“What did she mean by dead girls?” I ask.

Cal exhales and saunters toward his truck.

I stare at his back. “Cal, what haven’t you told me?”

He opens the passenger-side door, then holds out his hand to help boost me onto the seat.

“Buckle up, sweetheart. I’ll tell you everything.”

Chapter Seventeen

Caleb

“I’m not just investigating missing persons, Holly. I’m a homicide detective. That means I’m murder police.”

Holly stares blankly out the windshield. She hasn’t blinked since the traffic light turned red.

“How many?” She speaks so softly I have to ask her to repeat herself.

“This case?”

She nods.

“A lot,” I say.

“What’s a lot?”

Goddamn it, I didn’t want to have to burden her with this. “Four DBs within in Knoxville City limits—”

“What are DBs?”

The traffic light turns green. I press on the gas.

“Dead bodies.”

Her breath stutters as she inhales. “And how many bodies in all?”

“Over the last two years, there’ve been seven that I know for sure are from our guy. But evidence from around the state over the last half decade could bring the total as high as twenty, plus the five missing persons. All young women and girls around McKenzie’s age.”

“Twenty-five,” she whispers. “Twenty-five dead girls.”

I rest my hand on her knee. She doesn’t flinch, but she doesn’t lay her hand on top of mine. I know I deserve all the icy winds she wants to blow my way. I should have told her the full truth.

“I’m sorry,” I say. “I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to worry. If they’re looking for McKenzie, too, that means there’s a very good chance she got away—”

“How do they die?”

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