Deadly Heat (Deadly #2)(19)

“Not a damn thing,” Hyde assured him.

Kenton’s eyes narrowed, but then he asked, “When’s Monica getting here?”

Hyde glanced at his watch. “Probably a little after sunset. I’m gonna get Ramirez to come down, too. I want a strong team working this one.”

“We’ll catch him.” Kenton sounded certain.

“I’ll be flying to Colorado tonight. Kim’s found four graves out there.” Hyde took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Every time I turn around, there’s another one…”

And they hunted the freaks every day. Day in, day out, seeing the worst that humanity had to offer. “You ever get to save anybody, Hyde? Or is it—” What had he said about the woman? Kim? She’d found four graves. Is it just dead bodies?

Most days, she saved lives, and Lora liked that. Seeing a family safe—best damn part of her job.

Not the adrenaline, though sure, that rush could make you feel fifty feet high. But it was more.

Getting someone out safe—a hell of a lot more.

“I put the killers in cages, and they don’t hurt anyone else.” His head cocked. “That’s saving lives.”

Because if he didn’t stop them, they’d just keep killing.

Her gaze swept to Kenton. What about him? How did he work in this game? And why?

“Call me if you need anything, Lake, and watch your ass. I don’t want another agent going missing, ever, you got me?”

“Yes, sir.”

Another tight nod, then Hyde was gone. He strode away with his head and shoulders up.

Lora finally released a full breath. “He’s kinda scary.” In the chew-you-up-and-spit-you-out way.

“Yeah,” Kenton told her, voice expressionless. “He is.”

She cleared her throat. “What did he mean about an agent going missing?”

Kenton rubbed his jaw. “You ever hear of the Watchman?”

Sounded familiar. It took a second, but the name clicked. “Uh, wait, he was the guy killing down in Mississippi, right? Torturing the women—”

“He made their worst fears come true.” Same flat voice.

He’d worked that case? Talk about your real-life monsters.

Jeez, was there ever any light in the guy’s life? Or was it always blood and death?

“He took one of the agents working the case. Nearly killed her.”

Her heart thudded into her chest. She didn’t remember reading about that in the papers. “Holy shit.”

“We got her back.” Grim now, with some fury cracking his flat surface. “It was the first time I ever worked a case that became personal. He made it personal because that was part of his twisted game.”

She swallowed and rocked back on her heels. Her hands were balled into fists because she had the stupid urge to touch him. To pat his arm or just… touch. Because there was pain there, and if she understood anything in this world, it was pain. “She’s okay now?”

His lips tightened. “We got her back,” he said again, and it really wasn’t an answer.

Screw it. Lora reached out to him. She skimmed her hand down his arm and felt him tense. “Why do you do this?”

“Because someone has to.”

Her fingers curled around him. The heat from his body reached out to her. So warm. So strong.

“What about you?” His stare was steady and deep. “Running into burning buildings isn’t the safest job. Why do it?”

She knew her smile was sad. Because she wasn’t going to give him the truth either. “Because someone has to.”


He’d watched them haul out the body.

What was left of it.

Watched the swarm of techs. And the news vans that came and went, as the reporters stopped for scene shots of the “gruesome” death.

He’d watched it all.

Then he’d seen her.

Lora came back to his scene, and she brought the Bureau bastards with her.

A trickle of sweat slid down his back. Fucking heat. Summers here were always a bitch.

His eyes narrowed as he watched them, Lora and the special agent. Kenton Lake.

He was running a check on the agent. He’d find dirt. There was always dirt. Always secrets.

Even Lora had secrets. Secrets she’d hoped were buried in the ashes. But he’d found them. He was good at finding secrets.

And if the secrets he discovered were bad enough, well, sometimes he had to punish the wicked.

Fire was perfect for that job.

If Lora wasn’t careful, he’d have to punish her soon.

The match flipped between his fingertips.

? ? ?

“I want to see Jerome’s crime scene,” Kenton told her and saw Lora’s eyes widen.

“What? You mean now?”

“Yes.” They still had daylight, and he needed to see the place on LeRoy for himself. “Come on, we’ll take my SUV.” He’d bring her back later. He wanted her eyes with him at the scene. She’d be able to paint a picture of exactly how that fire had started. And he wanted the details. Every one.

He needed her.

She gave a slow nod, her hair skirting her cheeks. “Okay.”

They strode toward his SUV, and Kenton wondered how long it would take to hear back from the ME. If she turned up a match, if that poor bastard turned out to be Larry Powell—