Fear For Me (For Me #2)(76)

“This isn’t abandonment, mayor,” Cadence said, stepping forward. “These are very specific victim profiles that match our killers. The ages increase, every year, and the victims share the same hair color, the same general build, the same—”

“Why wouldn’t Walker have rolled on this guy?” the police chief demanded. “He was facing death. The guy should have bargained with everything he had.”

Cadence shook her head. “That wasn’t how it worked in Walker’s partnership. He and his partner had an agreement. When Walker went to prison, turning on the other perp might not have even occurred to him. They don’t think like regular people do. They think of blood and death and—”

“The city of Baton Rouge appreciates all of your help and cooperation on the Walker case,” Louis interjected smoothly, with a dismissive wave of his hand, “but the Walker case is over now, and so is your job.”

No. Lauren sucked in a sharp breath. She’d worked with Louis for a long time. Fury wouldn’t work with him. Emotion never did. “I heard Walker talking on the phone to his partner. He exists.”

Louis’s lips thinned. “You were terrified, Lauren. You thought you were going to die. You were bleeding, you had a concussion—”

“He didn’t slam my head into the wall until after I’d heard the phone call.”

The mayor sighed. “I read your medical report. You also had an injury to the front of your head. One you probably sustained during your abduction.”

She remembered hitting the ground. Everything going dark.

“You were concussed then. I can’t be sure that your memory isn’t faulty.” He paused as he studied her. “Be honest. If you had a witness who described the same situation you did, would you put her up on the stand?”

Damn him.

“Without any other evidence to back her up, would you let that woman testify to a jury? Even if she did testify, would that jury believe her?”

“There are over a dozen missing women who match the profile,” Lauren gritted. “Are we just going to ignore them? Act like they don’t matter?”

Louis shook his head. “No, we aren’t.”

“That’s something,” Anthony muttered, not sounding impressed.

Lauren wasn’t exactly impressed, either. She was pissed.

“Detective Voyt will pull the files for the women missing from Baton Rouge. Clyde will contact the police chiefs in the surrounding areas and alert them to the possibility that—”

“Possibility?” Cadence’s face had flushed. “There is no possibility. There’s reality. Listen to me, I am telling you, there is a killer still out there. A brutal, brilliant killer who has been hunting since he was a teen. He’s only gotten better over the years. He isn’t stopping.”

“How do you know that?” Louis demanded. “Sounds like you’re just going on a hunch.”

“I’m a profiler.” Her eyes glittered with anger, but Cadence’s voice was flat. “My job is to figure out killers. And I am damn good at my job. I’ve analyzed Walker, I’ve analyzed the abductions and deaths related to this case. There is a second man. One who has been going under the radar for far too long.”

Louis and Clyde exchanged a long, hard look. “If those police chiefs should want the FBI’s assistance on those cases…”

“What if it were your daughter? What if she was on the list of who we think the guy killed?” Cadence pushed.

Beside her, Kyle’s face was a dangerous mask. A muscle jerked along his jaw. “They need to know what happened to these women,” Kyle gritted. “They deserve to know.”

Cadence slanted him a fast, worried glance, then she shifted her attention back to Louis and Clyde. “If it were your daughter, would you still be turning us away like this?”

“We don’t have the evidence.” His hand pointed to Greg. “The ME says all the victims within the last few days were killed by one man—Jon Walker. His DNA was found at the crime scenes, on the victims. Just his. No one else’s.” His shoulders straightened. “As far as I’m concerned, until we have conclusive evidence, your services are no longer needed.”

Silence.

Lauren’s cheeks had been flushed with fury, but now they felt ice-cold. After a moment, when her heart stopped shaking in her chest, she pushed back her chair and rose to her feet.

She could feel everyone’s stare on her. “You didn’t answer Cadence’s question.” The words were still without emotion. “You didn’t say what you’d do if your daughter was one of his victims.”

Louis glanced away.

Fine. She exhaled slowly. “You know me, Louis. You’ve worked with me, time and time again. You’ve trusted me on dozens of cases, why won’t you trust me now?”

He still didn’t look at her when he answered, “The city can’t have any more fear. We need to heal, not start searching for new monsters in the shadows.”

He was spinning political BS at her. “What happens when those new monsters come out of the shadows? What then?”

“It’s not going to happen.” The words held plenty of bluster, but not enough confidence for her. “The people here are safe again.”