Her Last Word(94)

“You’re bullshitting me,” Hayward said. “There’s no other girl. There’s no Maria Whoever.”

“But there is, Randy.”

Hayward rubbed his eyes. “I don’t believe you.”

“You don’t have to. Ask Derek. If he’ll still take your calls.” He grinned. “I can’t wait to tell my friend, Trey Ricker.”

“There’re no other bitches!” Hayward shouted. “You’re bluffing.”

Adler laughed. “So clever and so fucking dumb, Hayward.”

Quinn grinned. “Randy, you’re really cute when you’re wound up.”

Adler and Quinn rose, and he banged on the door. The guard opened it. In a low voice Hayward couldn’t hear, Adler said, “If Mr. Hayward needs to make a few extra calls today, let ’im. I want recordings of all those calls.”

“Consider it done.”



Kaitlin had spent most of the day trying to find out more about Derek but hit a brick wall. When she heard the buzz from the call button, she checked the monitor and saw Adler. Without a word of greeting she buzzed him up. She opened the door, tense, anxious, and glad he was the one answering the question that had stalked her for fourteen years.

When he rounded the corridor, she asked, “Was it Gina?”

“Yes.”

The relief she’d sought for so many years was nonexistent. Instead, defeat filled her voice. On the heels of sweet victory came bitterness. She stepped aside, allowing him into her apartment. “Thank you.” She could barely get out the words.

He studied her face a long moment. “I’m sorry.”

“Deep down, I never held out hope we’d find her alive. She’s gone, but at least we know the truth.”

“Kaitlin, there’s more.”

“What do you mean?”

“We found another body buried near the first discovery. This victim is female and young. We think she’s been there a couple of years longer than Gina.”

“Oh God.” The news slashed through her as she thought of another family enduring the same agony. She lowered slowly to a seat. “Who is she?”

“We don’t know for sure. We’ve requested medical records on a missing person’s case from Charlottesville. This girl Maria vanished in the spring of ’02.”

“How did Gina and the other girl die?”

He studied her a beat. “They were both stabbed.”

Her knife wound had been so painful. “Did Randy kill that Maria girl, too?”

“I think he did it. It might also explain why he dropped out of college so suddenly his sophomore year.”

“What about Blackstone and Crowley. Did they help him?”

“I have no evidence yet. But every instinct in me says that they must have. I’m having Gina’s clothes retested. There was foreign blood found on them. If it matches Blackstone or Crowley, we’ll have them, but if not I’d need Hayward to turn on them.”

She sighed. “If Randy is good at anything, it is self-preservation.”

He rubbed his eyes. “I’m counting on it.”

The first time she’d seen him in the police station, he’d been annoyed and rushed, and he’d fed into her image of the uncaring cop. But she’d come to see him differently. He cared very much about the victims, and he fought like hell to find them justice.

Now it was her turn to take care of him. “You look exhausted. Let me make you some coffee.”

A half smile tipped the edge of his lips. “Sounds good.”

Kaitlin moved into the kitchen and set up a pot. Here alone with him, she could admit to herself that she found him attractive. And she’d seen the way he looked at her when he didn’t think she could see. He liked what he saw.

She raised her gaze to Adler. The overhead light cut across his face. There’d been so much death and loss in her life, and for right now she was tired of thinking about it. Later, she’d think about it again, and again feel the pull to make injustice right, but right now she just wanted to feel good, hopeful even.

She’d kept to herself for the last couple of years, reasoning the solitude would help her get back on more solid footing emotionally. But as she stood here, the weight of loneliness settled on her shoulders. Adler was definitely a shot to the loins, he was a good man, and if there was any man she’d bother to figure out again, she wanted it to be him.

Nerves bunched in her stomach, and she felt as giddy as she had when she was a teenager. She would have wished for better timing, but the perfect time might not ever come. She came around the breakfast bar and moved toward him.

He didn’t flinch, but the way he regarded her turned careful and focused. Inches separated them. She reached out and took his hand in hers. She rubbed her fingers against the rough texture of the scars on his palm.

Challenge sparked in his eyes. “I wasn’t expecting this.”

“You’ve never thought about it?”

“Oh, I’ve thought about it. Too many times.”

In a few unguarded moments she’d allowed herself to imagine his arms around her. “I like you,” she said. “I shouldn’t. But I do.”

His eyes looked more blue than gray now. “Why shouldn’t you like me?”