Frazer put his hands on his hips and shrugged. “Maybe it was an associate of Robin Elgin’s who knew what was going on and was angry but not murderous about the FBI foiling the plot.”
“Or the UNSUB is alive and pissed,” Alex said. “The bombs didn’t kill Chavez or Warren like they wanted. Sheridan and Kanas found Peter Galveston’s corpse, which was obviously important enough to them to dig up and rebury, then Sheridan shot dead Robin Elgin. They can’t get to Sheridan so they lost their temper, wanted to punish him and,” he shrugged, “this is juvenile but pretty effective in terms of trashing his house.”
“Shows a distinct loss of control,” Mallory mused.
Frazer nodded. “If this is the UNSUB and not some underling then they’re making mistakes, unraveling. They know it’s only a matter of time until we catch them.”
“Unless they go to ground…” Alex looked up at the trees and then back down at the forest floor.
“We have so much evidence to go through it could take too much time. They might get away.” Mallory felt the rising sense of dread she was trying to push down.
“We’ll find them wherever they are,” Frazer told her gently.
She blinked. Her boss, while not perfect, was a formidable guy. If he said they were gonna catch this UNSUB, then they’d catch them. But the fact remained…when?
“Here.” Alex had wandered away and crouched on the ground, staring at a shoe print in a small patch of dirt. “This person knows all about covering their face and hands but seems to forget some of the other basics. Get the ERT out here to photograph and cast this sucker.”
Mallory went to walk closer, but Frazer caught her arm.
“Careful.” He drew her backward, and she realized she’d been about to tread on a piece of evidence she couldn’t even see.
She took a step back. “I need to inform Sheridan what happened here. I doubt he even knows yet.”
“I’m going to the lab. Put a fire under their asses about the DNA results.” Frazer looked pissed.
Mallory was glad she wasn’t a lab tech right now. She pressed her fingers into the small of her back and started walking to fetch an evidence tech while Frazer guarded the footprints.
“Did those shoe prints look like the ones from the riverbank?” Mallory asked Alex when he caught her up.
“Yep.” He showed her the two images side by side on his phone. Pattern on the sole looked identical. Someone had a favorite pair of sneakers.
“I don’t think this is over, Alex.”
“Neither do I, baby. Neither do I.”
She tried Sheridan again, but the number was showing unavailable so he’d probably turned it off to get some sleep. She didn’t blame him.
“Why do people do this? Why hate and destroy when it’s so much better to love?”
“Greed, revenge, rage, pain? Maybe they have an appetite for destruction?”
She appreciated the Guns N’ Roses reference.
He stuffed his hands in his pockets and shrugged like he didn’t care, but they both knew that was a lie.
“We have dinner in DC tonight with my mother. Did you remember?”
“I remembered that I’m probably going to have an emergency come up in the office at the last minute.” Her husband wiggled his brows and she grinned.
“It would be nice if we could catch this UNSUB, lock them up and then I can go have our baby in peace.” Hopefully too sedated with an epidural to feel pain. She interlaced her fingers around her beachball belly as she glanced at Alex.
His fingers joined hers. “You can stop work any time,” he murmured against her brow.
But if Mallory had a flaw, and she had many, not being able to let things go topped the list.
“Can you drop me at work and I’ll meet you in DC tonight?” she asked.
“I can drive you to DC.”
“I thought you had an appointment there this afternoon?”
“I do but I can—”
She touched his lips with her fingers and they were warm against her skin. “I can drive myself. See you tonight, Mr. Parker.”
A grin cut across his face. “Have it your way, Mrs. Parker, but go take a nap on Frazer’s couch. He’s gonna be busy chasing his tail all day anyway.”
Frazer groaned pitifully. “I heard that.”
She nodded.
“Promise?” he asked.
“I promise.”
*
“Do we have to go back to Quantico today?” Ava spoke quietly into the pillow.
Dominic’s entire body trembled with aftershocks. This woman had completely destroyed him, last night and again this morning, and he was left wondering what was going on between them. Was it just good sex? Although stupendous was a more accurate word. Had he abstained for so long he’d forgotten what it was really like? He honestly didn’t remember having sex with Suzanna which had scared the shit out of him and left him celibate in the months since. Sex with Ava, however, was something he’d never forget.
“Ah, damn.” He groaned, remembering something he would rather forget.
“What is it?”
“We have to go to DC today.”
She turned her head to look at him. “I thought Gross told us to stay away from the task force operation?”
He curved his lips, but it wasn’t a smile. Mark Gross had been a pain in the ass. “We have a party to attend.”
She swore, echoing his thoughts. “I thought you’d forgotten about it. Or changed your mind about me attending.” Ava turned all the way over until she was facing him, and he was treated to the long naked sight of her. He kissed her mouth and kept kissing her until her breath caught.
Finally, when his body was growing hard again from wanting her, he pulled away. To prove to himself that he could. “I don’t suppose you packed a ballgown?”
“Ballgown?” she asked, looking startled and aroused and confused.
“It’ll be black tie.”
“Black tie?” She sounded horrified. He felt her pain.
“My father takes being governor very seriously. Usually he’s back home during the summer, but I suspect the president couldn’t get away to Vermont. And if the president is invited then it will be formal. I have a tux at my apartment, but I don’t have any dresses.”