A Profiler's Case for Seduction(42)

Nobody appeared to be around and even though she knew that, someplace, danger lurked nearby, the thought couldn’t stanch the thrum of excitement that warmed her veins as she realized she’d decided to break her rule.

She wanted FBI agent Mark Flynn not just in her house for a cup of coffee. She wanted him in her bed.





Chapter 9



Mark attended the usual morning briefing where they talked about the attack on Dora the night before and how it might play into anything that they were already investigating.

“I have a theory,” Mark said to his team. He ignored Larry Albright’s eye roll.

“Let’s hear it, brain man,” Lori said, and smiled at Mark.

Mark reminded them about the information that Melinda had been having an affair with Andrew Peterson, about Dora spying the two of them together and his speculation that perhaps both Melinda and Dora had become a liability in the married man’s life.

“You might have something there,” Donald agreed, powdered sugar dusting his chin. “At least you aren’t still accusing Professor Grayson of being responsible for our murders.”

“Unfortunately, the search warrant of Troy Young’s place yielded nothing that we can use to build a case against him as far as the murders are concerned,” Joseph said, his eyes bloodshot from exhaustion that Mark knew had come from his babysitting duty on Dora’s house the night before.

“Right now all we’ve got is circumstantial evidence and the fact that he hasn’t been able to provide any kind of an alibi that can be substantiated. What we have against him probably won’t hold up in court. We’ve got to find something more on him today or he’s going to be kicked loose. Donald and I are headed back to the judge to see if he’ll extend the search warrant to not just search his house, but also all the outbuildings on the property. There’s got to be something there if this is our guy.”

“How about Donald goes to the judge and then the house and you get some sleep,” Richard said to Joseph.

“I’m all right,” Joseph replied with a wave of his hand. “I’ll head back to the motel around noon and catch a quick snooze and be back here for the four-o’clock briefing.”

“I’m going to the history department and have a talk with Andrew Peterson,” Mark said.

“I’ll tag along with Mark.” Richard reached for one of the doughnuts that had become a staple in the room.

“And I’ll hang around the campus and see what kind of information I can get about all the players in this whole mess,” Lori added. She was perfect for the job. She was young enough, hip enough, to blend in with all of the other students.

“Then we all have places to go and people to see,” Mark replied. He checked his watch and wondered what Andrew Peterson’s schedule was like for the day.

Within minutes the room had emptied and Richard and Mark headed toward Richard’s car to drive the short distance to the college campus. “You haven’t given Peterson a heads-up?” Richard asked.

“No. I thought about making an appointment to meet with him, but I’d rather catch him off guard and unprepared,” Mark replied.

“It’s a good theory of the kidnapping and Dora’s stalking,” Richard said.

“Yeah, but at this point it’s just a theory.” Mark stared out the passenger window. He didn’t want to tell Richard that he couldn’t let go of this theory that Melinda Grayson was the true evil behind everything.

He admitted it, it...she...had become an obsession especially since the horrible dream he’d had about the murders and her and some unknown male.

Still, that didn’t explain why anyone would be after Dora. No matter how he moved the pieces around, he still couldn’t fit everything into a completed puzzle or find an adequate profile of the perp in his head.

Richard parked along the street a block from the campus. There was definitely a crispness to the air this morning, the familiar scents of fall in the air.

Mark remembered Dora telling him she loved autumn, and like Dallas, Vengeance would enjoy a pleasant fall that would last long into the months where other states were seeing snowfall.

Of course, Mark wouldn’t be here when winter officially began in Vengeance. He’d be on another case, back working out of the Dallas field office and coming and going to the small apartment that had never really felt like home. The house he’d shared with Sarah had also never felt like home. It had always felt like Sarah’s home and then later Sarah and Grace’s home, but never his own.