Page 28 of For Rage

"Since when did you start babying me so much?"

"I'm not babying you. I'm just looking out for you."

"Why? You think I can't handle myself?"

"I know you can handle yourself, Morgan," Derik said, his voice softening. "But you also just got stitches in your leg, and you need to take it easy."

Morgan sighed. "Fine," she said. "I'll stay put for now. But you better keep me updated on what you find out."

"Of course," Derik said. "I always do."

"I'll keep looking here, see if we can get a hit on whomever Steven met with."

Morgan watched as Derik left the briefing room, feeling a sense of frustration wash over her. She hated feeling helpless, especially when there was a killer out there on the loose. She knew that they had to catch this guy before he hurt anyone else, but she felt like they were running out of time.

She leaned back in her chair, trying to clear her mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, trying to calm the racing thoughts in her head.

According to his statement, Steven had met with someone the previous night. If they tracked Steven's financial records, they might come up with something that could pinpoint his location for the night. It was a start.

She grabbed her laptop and opened it, going into the financial records to see what Steven had been up to leading up to his death.

She opened up Steven's latest credit card bill, checking to see where he'd been shopping. She noticed nothing unusual, just the usual stuff for a guy in his mid-twenties, nothing that seemed too out of place. No unusual places, nothing suspicious.

She stared at Steven's financial history, searching for whatever she could find. She began to question what she was doing. This wasn't helping. She needed to find some way to track Steven's location the night he met with the mystery man. They needed to find this guy, and fast. But everything Morgan did led nowhere, and her resolve was beginning to die. Much of the day had slipped away, but she'd spend the rest of it researching if she had to.

As she did, her mind wandered back to Steven, to their interaction earlier that day. He'd seemed terrified and then he'd shot her. Apparently, the man who'd threatened him had demanded that he do it. Derik's words resurfaced in her mind:

"Maybe you were his target."

***

Morgan was unnerved as she drove home, taking in the city lights now that the sun had set. Derik had mostly gone AWOL, only checking in to inform her that he'd found nothing new. She'd informed him that she'd been looking but had hit a brick wall too.

Now, it was late, her leg was still sore, and she needed to call it a night. She'd be no use if she couldn't get some sleep.

As she drove, though, she kept feeling like someone was watching her. She passed it off to blood loss and tiredness, but she kept checking her rear-view mirrors, a sense of paranoia gripping her.

Eventually, she reached her place, parking in the driveway and becoming extra cautious as she walked up to the front door. She grabbed her keys and opened it quickly, closing it securely behind her as she rushed inside. Skunk was quick to greet her, and she gently pet him. He whined, seeming unnerved as well.

"It's just your nerves," Morgan whispered to herself, trying to shake off the feeling of unease that had taken a hold of her. Skunk would have been freaking out if anyone had broken in.

She turned on all the lights in the house and checked every room for signs of an intruder, just to make sure. Nothing seemed out of place; everything was exactly where she had left it.

Morgan went into her bedroom and changed into some comfortable clothes. She fed Skunk, had a quick snack, then brushed her teeth and went back up to her room. She then flopped onto the bed with a sigh. Skunk hopped up, too, curling into a ball beside her. She knew that these feelings were irrational; no one was out there following her. But even so, she couldn't shake this feeling that something wasn't quite right ...

She checked her phone to distract herself. Nothing from Derik. Of course not. She still felt like a fool for last night's drunken kiss. What had she been thinking? Everything between them felt weird now, and even more frustrating, Derik was treating her differently, like he thought she was messy, unable to handle herself. Part of her was offended, of course, but at the same time, could she blame the guy? She had shown up to his place, half in the bag, holding a bottle of scotch, then kissed him. It was embarrassing.

Though she probably should have been productive, she decided to call it a night. She didn't want to spend the rest of the night doing nothing anyway. She kicked back, trying to sleep. She had a feeling that the morning would be a better time to search for clues.

But as she went to stick her arm under the cool side of her pillow, like she always did, something soft touched her arm beneath. Jolting back, Morgan tossed her pillow aside. Her heart sank into her stomach.

Underneath her pillow was a single white rose.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Derik couldn't sleep.

Staring up at the stucco of his bedroom ceiling, he couldn't stop replaying the events of the past forty-eight hours in his mind. Everything from the killings to Morgan kissing him to Steven dying in custody, right before his eyes. It all played like a cruel movie in his head, and he couldn't find the off switch.

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