“Rey.” She sighed.
“Now, wait one damn minute, DeeDee. There’s no reason for you to stay in a hotel when you can stay with me inourhome. I’d be damned if I letmywoman stay in some hotel when she should be with me.”
Why in the hell did she think I would ever agree to something like that? She wasn’t about to stay in some hotel when she could stay with me. Unless this was about Agent Hart.
“Your woman?” she shouted. “You’ve lost your damned mind. Do you hear how crazy you sound right now?”
“Yes! My woman. Is this about Agent Hart?” I asked, my tone laced with anger. “You scared he’ll get pissed?”
“Rey, you have no right to ask me anything about anyone in my life.” She snatched her hand from mine. “You gave up that right three years ago! Now, if you want my help, there’s no way I’m staying with you. We’re not married anymore, and I sure as hell don’t want to see you and your girlfriend together in my house!”
So, now I got it. My beautiful ex-wife was just as jealous of Chanel as I was of Agent Hart, even though she didn’t have a reason to be. There wasn’t anything serious going on between Chanel and me. Our arrangement only consisted of drunk fucking, nothing more. It was nowhere near as serious as what was going on with Agent Hart.
I sat back in the couch and rested my hands behind my head as a wide grin stretched across my face, which only made her even angrier.
“Your house, huh?”
She tilted her head to the side and pursed her lips. “What are you talking about?”
“You said your house.” My grin widened. “So, now I get it. You’re jealous.”
“Whatever, Rey. I am not jealous of whatever you have going on withthatwoman. If you want some bleach-blonde skank who looks like she hasn’t eaten anything in years, then have at it. As I said, I’ll stay at a hotel, and we can work either from my room or at Amir and Delaney’s, but Iwill notstep foot in that house ever again.”
She stood and stomped upstairs to her room.
“Well, at least she didn’t say no,” I mumbled, then smiled.
I looked down at my watch, and with the late hour, I decided not to follow her. I could explain away whatever assumptions she had about me and Chanel tomorrow after my impromptu fishing trip with her grandfather. Knowing Pops, he’d be up before the crack of dawn.
With all the travel finally catching up with me, I yawned while picking up the photographs of the victims. While I hadn’t been able to take my long weekend to wallow in my misery, I got the chance I’d longed for since she walked away. I got to spend time with the most wonderful woman in the world and make my way back into her heart.
Staring at the photos of each victim, an eerie feeling slowly crawled its way over my skin, finally settling in the pit of my stomach. It was a feeling I’d learned over the years not to ignore. I looked at it as the universe’s way of letting me know something was coming. There was something crucial I was missing about this case.
“There’s something familiar about these women,” I mumbled, running my hand through my hair, “but what?”
I stared at the pictures a few minutes longer, hoping something would click, but it didn’t.
I pushed the eeriness away. I’d figure it out later.
I picked up the files and placed them back in the file folder. There was no way I wanted to hear Mama Wright tear us a new one for leaving these photos splayed across her table. I’d promised these women’s families I would find the person who’d done this to their children, and now with Dana on board, that would be done sooner rather than later.
Although time wasn’t on my side, the playing field was now even. I was gonna catch this motherfucker.Wewere gonna catch him. Together.
Chapter five
Dr. Dana LaCroix
Louisiana
Rey and I had only been back in Louisiana for two days, and it almost seemed like old times.Almost.Of course, he tried to convince me to stay with him at his home, and I still refused. Too many memories were embedded in walls, the floors. I knew everywhere I turned, both good and bad memories would assault me—from celebrating our closing on the house and our first night as husband and wife in our bedroom, to the night I walked away. Whether good or bad, I didn’t want the memories I’d shared with Rey to be tainted by the realization Chanel Boudreaux had been in the home we decided to share and spend the rest of our lives in together.
Rey was right when he said I was jealous of his relationship with her. He swore there wasn’t a relationship for me to be jealous of when he’d tried to explain the dynamics of whatever they had going on the day before we left my grandparents’ home. Since then, we’d been so consumed with his case, we hadn’t gotten into it again, but I was curious. Chanel painted quite a different picture than Rey.
Rey’s no longer married to me, so why does it even matter? His relationships aren’t my concern, like my former relationship with Aaron isn’t his.
Chanel Boudreaux became a thorn in my side as soon as Rey ended their sexual relationship. Then, after I went to live with Rey and eventually married him, she would show up whenever I was alone in town. It was like she’d been lurking around the corner, waiting for me to be alone, so she could approach me. Rey thought I was overexaggerating, but I wasn’t. She probably celebrated our divorce, and of course, he went back to her instead of fighting for us. That thought crushed me.
Maybe she means more to him than I realized.