Fear For Me (For Me #2)(77)

She considered that. Him. “Maybe it’s easier to pretend that, when it doesn’t hit close to home.” She kept her eyes on him. “It’s close for me. My sister is the first victim. Walker told me he watched someone kill her. I didn’t imagine it. I didn’t dream it up in my concussed mind. For you to suggest I did…” Now she was walking toward him with slow, sure steps. “It’s an insult to me and to every one of those victims.”

He flushed and started to stammer. He’d do a lot more than that before she was done with him.

“You’re so worried about politics, about the press, that you’re willing to let a killer roam free.” Lauren shook her head. “I’m not doing that.”

A chair scraped behind her. Footsteps, strong and certain, as they crossed the room following her.

“I’m not going to give up on these people. I won’t give up on Jenny. I’m going to keep looking, and I will find the man who has taken all of these lives. Then I’m going to make certain the justice system takes what is left of his life.”

“And I’m going to help her,” Anthony said, only his voice was much rougher and angrier than hers.

She glanced over her shoulder and saw the hard fury on his face.

“With respect, Mayor”—the word was a snarl from Anthony—“I don’t answer to you. Neither do my men. If I want to stay in this area, if I want to hunt that bastard, that’s exactly what I’m going to do.” Disgust tightened his lips. “I’m sure the press will love to discover how disinterested you are in all of these missing women.”

Louis blanched. “I’m not—”

“We’ll find your evidence,” Anthony told him. “I guarantee it. Then you can try to dig your way out of the grave the press will make for the mayor who didn’t give a shit about all of the lost lives.”

Louis’s gaze fell to the floor once more.

“By the way…” Cadence’s voice rang out.

Louis stiffened.

“Here’s a tip to remember…” She and Kyle strode toward Louis. “You don’t get to tell the FBI that we’re done. We don’t need you to tell us when to investigate a crime, especially one we believe crossed state lines.”

His rose to his feet. “What—”

“You should have read the case files better,” she said, cutting over him. “One of the victims was last seen just over the Texas border. If we’ve got a multistate killer on our hands, which I believe we do, the case follows under our purview. We will keep investigating, with or without the Baton Rouge PD’s assistance.”

His cheeks couldn’t flush much darker. “I think this meeting is over.”

“Yes,” Lauren agreed, “so do I.” She’d already taken steps to have her office covered for the remainder of the week. Cases had been taken, schedules rearranged. She’d made sure the DA’s office was set so nothing would fall through the cracks.

She wasn’t giving up. Not now. Now when she was so close.

They left the office. Lauren’s steps were far too fast as she hurried down the stone steps outside of city hall.

“Lauren!”

She stopped at Cadence’s call. The other woman rushed after her. “I’m not giving up,” Cadence said.

“Neither am I,” Lauren vowed. She couldn’t believe Louis. He was more worried about PR, about Baton Rouge being killer central, than he was about the victims. About saving lives.

“I examined Walker’s body last night,” Cadence told her. Kyle wasn’t with her. Had he stayed to tell Louis just what he thought of him?

“What did you find?” Anthony demanded. His shoulder brushed against Lauren’s.

“Inside the grooves on the bottom of his hiking boots, I found dried seeds from a weeping willow.”

Lauren’s heart stopped.

“I know that doesn’t seem like much, but willows aren’t exactly thick on the ground in the swamp. And it did come from the swamp. I got a botanist from LSU to look at the seeds and based on the soil embedded in the seeds, he figured out an area where he thinks the willow could be located.” She gave a little nod. “The area is in a ten-mile radius around Walker’s cabin.”

She almost couldn’t breathe.

“Before he died,” Anthony said, his deep voice rumbling, “Walker mentioned a weeping willow tree. He wanted me to tell Lauren about it.”

Cadence’s eyes widened. “The tree holds significance for him. Sometimes”—Cadence’s voice was soft as she continued—“killers will mark a space that is special to them by planting certain flowers or using a marker to—”

“You think Walker and his partner planted the willow near Jenny.” It was what Lauren thought, too. It had to be Jenny. Why else would Walker try to send the message to her?

Cadence nodded. “Maybe one of the killers even felt remorse for the act.”

Remorse shown by a willow that would weep year after year. If they’d planted a tree for Jenny…could they have planted trees for other victims, too? Others we didn’t even know about yet?

“I’m heading for his cabin,” Anthony said.

Paul was coming down the steps.

“No.” Lauren shook her head. “We’re going.”