Black Heart (Cursed Hearts #1)(44)

"I thought he was part of the band!" the blonde shrieked as she threw herself at the brunette. They both went flying through his computer and onto the ground where they proceeded with the saddest and loudest catfight he'd ever witnessed.

Tristan sat back in his chair, rubbing his hands over his face and sighed. This was going to be a long day.

*-*-*-*

"At least I didn't die ten pounds overweight!"

"I may be ten pounds overweight, but at least it's not all in my ass like in some people that I won't mention!"

A loud outraged gasp was followed by the sounds of another catfight. Tristan didn't bother looking away from his computer screen as he reached into his bottom desk drawer and pulled out a value-sized bottle of fast acting aspirin. He popped three pills into his mouth and chased them down with the now cold hot chocolate.

He returned his attention to the database that he’d made over the weekend for the missing girls from the past twenty-two years. Based on the files he’d been able to dismiss thirty of the missing cases. That left over fifty cases that fell into a pattern that, at first looked like nothing more than coincidences, but after putting them into the database and mapping them they looked anything but coincidental.

All the women on his list were grabbed within two miles of a restaurant or a restaurant supply company. It wasn't until a month ago that these cases had caught his eye. At first he hadn't thought much about them since all the kidnappings occurred in the busy sections of each town or city where most restaurants were located.

The fact that not all of the kidnap victims were associated with any of the restaurants either as employees or customers was another problem for his theory as well as the fact that none of the women fit any type of pattern. They were all different ages, body shapes, ethnic backgrounds and came from different financial backgrounds. Any other investigator would have just looked at the cases and said that they had nothing in common. He almost had, as well, if it hadn't been for one little detail.

The restaurants and supply stores were all high-class establishments. The kidnappings all occurred well away from fast food joints or Mom and Pop establishments. All the kidnappings also occurred on the back roads leading to or away from the restaurants and supply stores.

He knew that it was a long shot and he could very well be wrong, but he had a nagging feeling about these cases that he couldn't let go. Until he had some kind of physical evidence like a video, prints, witnesses or even a body, he couldn't push for a task force or even issue a warning. All he had right now was a database and a hunch. Hell, there wasn't even a pattern to help him figure out where the kidnapper would strike next.

What he wouldn't give for a spirit to come harass him at two in the morning over this case. For a month now he'd been waiting for just that, but so far nothing. It wasn't surprising, but it definitely wasn't good news. Since he doubted that all these women had run away like some of the investigators claimed or were being held somewhere still alive, some for several years, he was left with only one conclusion.            

They'd all suffered greatly before they’d died and welcomed the peaceful release from their bodies. On one hand, he was happy that their spirits didn't suffer further torment by wandering the earth. On the other hand, if even one of them had contacted him, he would have been able to end this a long time ago. Then again, for all he knew they could be stuck where they’d died, unable to let go.

"Bitch!"

"No, you're the bitch!" the airhead twins argued as his head started to pound.  "Ask him. He’ll tell you!" she said, gesturing to him.

Tristan just barely bit back his groan. They'd been too busy bitch slapping each other to even notice him and he'd hoped it stayed that way.

"You know if he could see us that he'd totally want me, right?" the brunette said as she fluffed her blood caked hair back. They stood behind Marty, watching him.

The blonde snorted. "He can see us and he was totally checking out my girls," she said as she made a show of adjusting her br**sts and winked at him, making him cringe.

"Nah ah!" the brunette said.

"Yeah, because when we were arguing over whether my text messaging and fixing my makeup while I was driving or all those cars going the wrong way on the highway was the reason we crashed, he muttered that we should win the Darwin Award."

"You mean we're going to win something?" the brunette asked, practically jumping up and down.

"Totally!"

As the dead women suddenly rushed him, he promised all kinds of revenge on Shayne, starting with cancelling the  p**n  channel.

Chapter 16

"I'm going home," she announced as she stood up and collected her things.

"Don't care," Tristan said and she just barely stopped herself from throwing her stapler at his head.

All day she'd been forced to put up with his surly attitude. Now she was more than ready to call it a night. If she’d thought he'd been an ass**le before, she'd been dead wrong. Today he'd redefined the term ass**le. Today she couldn't wait to get the hell away from him. Today.....

Today he broke her heart.

All day she’d waited and hoped to see a glimmer of the Tristan that she loved, but he never showed up. Instead, she had to deal with this jerk that either ignored her or snapped at her. Several times she was forced to leave the office and hide out in the bathroom to calm down before she did something completely stupid like cry.