Soul Possession(23)

There was a distinct pause. “No, Detective. They aren’t innocent. Not at all.”

The phone went silent and Rick swore.

The chief stuck his head in the door. “Something wrong, Broughman?”

“He just got another call from our killer,” Truitt said quietly.

“And?” the chief demanded.

“He said he’s already selected his next victim. Jesus Christ, Chief. What the hell do we do? I’ve never felt so helpless in my life,” Rick said. “How are we supposed to keep these women safe when we have no idea how he’s choosing them? We’re just sitting around waiting for him to f**k up.”

The chief looked ten years older than he was. His hair seemed grayer and the lines in his face were more pronounced. “I think we need to go public. We should at least warn the women in this area that this bastard has already chosen his next victim. We need to go stronger on our public warnings. We’ve issued several statements to the females in the area, but we need to bring home the seriousness of them having their personal safety foremost in their minds.”

Truitt let out a strangled sound. “We’ll incite panic.”

“Yeah, well what else are we supposed to do?” Rick challenged. “We can’t just do nothing. We have no idea how these women are being taken. There’s no sign of struggle in their house. No strangers lurking around their homes. No unusual activity. It’s like this guy just walks them right out of their house and they willingly go with him.”

“Maybe they do,” Truitt said slowly. “What if this guy is someone they would trust?”

“But there’s no connection between these women. What are the odds that they’d all know this guy and trust him?” the chief asked.

“We could call around and see if anyone from the cable company, electric company, gas, city whatever has been seen at the victim’s residence,” Rick suggested.

Truitt shook his head. “We’ve already covered that angle. No utility trucks or men in uniform or otherwise were spotted in these neighborhoods. It was one of the first things I thought of.”

Rick blew out his breath. His headache was only getting bigger.

“You guys go home,” the chief said. “You aren’t any good to me in your present condition. I’m going to get with the mayor and call a joint press conference immediately. I don’t care what kind of panic I incite. The women of our city are going to have to be careful.”

Rick nodded, resigned to the fact that there was another woman out there that he likely couldn’t save, who might already be in the hands of a maniac.

“Let’s go get a drink,” he said to Truitt.

It wasn’t like he’d ever sleep, because when he closed his eyes, he was haunted by the image of a beautiful young woman covered in dirt and blood.

Chapter 10

With makeup and her hair fixed, Jessie didn’t resemble the photo that had aired on the news. She wasn’t sure how the hell they’d managed to drag up the picture they had. Jessie had looked hung over, and since she rarely imbibed to excess, it wasn’t like she’d had many opportunities to be photographed drunk off her ass.

Tonight, though, she was going to make an exception and blow off some serious steam and anxiety.

“Holy crap, it’s loud in here!” Jessie exclaimed when they entered the corner bar.

“What?”

Jessie leaned in closer. “I said it’s loud in here!”

Kirsten nodded and grinned. Then she motioned toward the bar and the two women threaded their way through the crowd. As they reached the counter, the music stopped, though Jessie’s ears kept thumping right along.

“Thank God,” Kirsten said. “Now we won’t have to holler to order a drink.”

The bartender was cute in a preppy sort of way but Jessie found her mind wandering to the two rough-edged cops who’d rocked her world in bed and shattered it out of bed.

The women accepted their drinks and Kirsten turned around, drink in hand, to survey the assortment of people in the dimly lit interior.

“Looks like pickings are slim tonight,” Kirsten muttered. “Not too many cute ones.”

“That’s your problem,” Jessie said. “You like them cute when you should be looking for a harder edge. Something that screams badass and I’ll rock your world in bed.”

“Uh-huh, well we’re not all queen of the threesome,” Kirsten said dryly.

“Oh God, that sounds so dirty when you say it,” Jessie groaned.

Kirsten chuckled. “You’re cute when you blush. Besides, don’t listen to me. I’m a jealous bitch right now because I’d die a happy woman to get it on with two gorgeous guys.”

She threw back her drink and chugged it down then she held out the hand with the glass in it and bumped Jessie’s arm. “Bottoms up, girlfriend. The night is young and we’re wasting good booze.”

Jessie complied, tipping up her glass and swallowing down the tart drink.

Kirsten turned around, ordered refills, and then asked for six shots of Patrón.

“Oh, hell no,” Jessie said. “You aren’t getting me to shoot tequila.”

“Don’t be a whiny bitch and drink up. I’m buying tonight.”

Jessie grimaced then gingerly picked up one of the shot glasses. “We’re crazy.”