Stone Cold Heart (Tracers #13)(53)



He looked over and caught her staring. The corner of his mouth lifted, as though he knew what she was thinking.

The bartender appeared with a steamy platter of enchiladas that she held with a napkin.

“Hot plate,” she warned.

“Thanks.” After she’d gone, Sara stared down at the massive amount of food.

Nolan smiled. “Hope you’re hungry.” He glanced at his watch, and the smile faded. “I wish I could stay, but I need to head out.”

“It’s fine.”

He stole a chip and popped it into his mouth. “One of these days, I want us to have dinner together.”

“We had dinner at Dairy Queen.”

“That’s not what I meant.” His gaze locked with hers, and the look in his eyes made her nerves flutter.

He stood and reached for his wallet.

“I got it.” Sara waved him off. “Don’t be late to your meeting.”

“Let’s talk later.”

“Sounds good.”

He left, and Sara turned her attention to her food, nearly burning her mouth on the molten cheese.

He wanted them to have dinner together. He wanted a date.

More than a date, if that look was any indication. He’d looked at her like that once before—in the park right after he’d kissed her.

Somehow she managed to eat most of her food and put a dent in the margarita. She left money on the bar and headed out to the parking lot, which was even fuller than before.

She slid behind the wheel and sat for a few moments, watching the traffic whisk by as the sun dipped low and colored the landscape gold. What should have been a tranquil Sunday evening was marred by images of a terrified young woman huddled in a cave or a pit somewhere. Sara couldn’t shake the thoughts, and her stomach knotted as she pulled out of the lot.

The FBI was involved now, which was good and bad.

Good because they had resources and could cut through some of the red tape. Bad because their presence might increase competition among agencies, which could lead to people hoarding information. She had seen it happen before, and it wasn’t pretty. Nolan was going to have to keep his eye on the other investigators, but he seemed up to the challenge. Having come from a big-city department, he was probably aware of the politics.

Let’s talk later.

Later tonight later? Or did he mean tomorrow? And did he want to talk by phone, or was he planning to show up at her motel? She didn’t know if she could resist the temptation to invite him inside.

Sara reached the turnoff for Main Street, but she kept going, focused on something Mark had talked about in the meeting. He’d analyzed the behavior of predators his entire career, first for the FBI and now for the Delphi Center. Even without creating a full profile, he’d sounded confident in his assessment, and his words kept coming back to her.

These guys evolve, refine their technique.

Was that happening right now, this instant? Was the killer off someplace—possibly someplace close by—thinking of ways to elude the task force that was now hot on his trail?

The park was done.

He had to know that.

Even if he literally lived under a rock and had somehow missed the news stories, he had to have noticed all the police vehicles streaming in and out of one of his favorite places.

White Falls Park was in his comfort zone. Sara hadn’t needed a profiler to tell her that, and neither had Nolan. Two of the killer’s first known victims had been found inside a park as well. They’d been dumped in water and had floated to the surface, possibly explaining why the killer had changed his MO by the time he reached Texas. But regardless of how the killer disposed of the bodies, parks were a common denominator. Was he a park ranger? A maintenance worker? A nature enthusiast?

She hoped the detectives were considering those possibilities and that they’d had more luck than the Tennessee cops who had pursued the same idea five years ago and come up empty.

These guys evolve.

Sara grabbed the map she’d left on the passenger seat and looked it over. She’d hit two nearby parks on her way into town. But both had been small, and neither had seemed like a suitable place to drop a body. There was another park on the southern side of the county, and she decided to swing by while she still had a bit of daylight left.

Her phone chimed, and she dug it from her purse. Aaron.

“Everything okay?” she asked.

“That’s what I called to ask you. Kelsey said you’ve lined up Raul for tomorrow?”

“It’s just a precaution, really. I want to make sure we haven’t missed anything.”

“Hmph.”

“What does that mean?”

“Your ‘precautions’ keep resulting in excavations. Are you sure you aren’t following some lead you’re not sharing?”

“Really, I’m not. Just double-checking the area.”

“Okay, well . . . if that changes, I’m available.”

“I know.”

“FYI, I spent most of the day in the lab trying to get a positive ID on that car-fire vic who came in yesterday.”

“Any chance you saw Mia?”

“That’s the other reason I called. I didn’t see her, but she left a note on your desk about that T-shirt.”

Sara’s pulse picked up. “Did she get a hit?”

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