“Hey! I was wondering if you and Meagan would like to come for lunch or dinner this weekend. I’d love to see you both again. Let me know. Love you, Gray and please be careful.”
Opening up my messages, I sent my mother off a text message.
Me: Hey, Mom! I’d love to come for lunch or dinner this weekend. Let me check with Meg and see how her schedule looks. I’ll let you know tonight or tomorrow.
My mother quickly responded back.
Mom: Sounds good, Grayson. Stay safe and I love you.
“How’s your mom doing?” Derrick asked as he typed up a report from yesterday’s attempted robbery.
Letting out a deep breath, I got back to what I had been doing before Claire walked up. “She’s doing good. Loves her place up in the mountains and loves her new job working at the elementary school as the art teacher.”
Derrick gave me smile. “That’s great.”
Our sergeant poked his head out of his office and called out our names. “Winn, Bennett, we’ve got a 187 down on Westgate.”
My heart stopped. That wasn’t far from Meagan’s office.
Jumping up, I grabbed my jacket and followed Derrick out of the building and to the car.
Fifteen minutes later, we pulled up to the crime scene and walked over to Dalton Murphy with CSI. “Looks like another rape/murder.”
My stomach turned as I saw the victim on the ground, long brown hair, and slender build, mid twenties.
“Same as the other two?” Derrick asked Dalton.
“Yeah, looks like it. I don’t want to say we have a serial rapist murderer out there, but it appears he left the same calling card,” Dalton said as he pointed to the belt wrapped around the woman’s neck.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I pulled out my phone and called Meagan.
“Hey, what’s up?”
Taking a few steps away, I let out a sigh of relief. “Hey, baby. I just wanted to make sure you got back to your office okay.”
“Yep. Sorry, I should have sent you a text. Still getting used to this whole my boyfriend is a cop and worries non-stop thing.”
With a shallow grin, I nodded my head and looked around. “Will you stay at my place tonight?”
“Sure. Is everything okay, Gray?”
“Yeah, everything is fine. I just want to sleep with you wrapped up in my arms, that’s all.”
Meagan purred through the phone. “I like the sound of that. I’ll call you when I’m leaving.”
Turning, I glanced back over to the body of the young girl. “Okay baby, I’ll see you later. I love you, Meg.”
“I love you too, Gray. Bye.”
I made my way back over to the scene. Derrick and I both talked to the woman who found the body and made arrangements for her to come in and give a statement. The whole time I felt the hair on my neck rising. One look around showed a small crowd gathered around trying to see what was going on.
“Winn?” I asked as I hit him on the arm.
“What’s up?”
“Why do I have the strangest feeling the killer is watching us from somewhere close by?”
Derrick looked around at the crowd and then around the buildings. “He might be. Probably some sick bastard who gets a kick out of watching us figure out who in the fuck he is. You’re gonna find out there are some fucked up people in this world, Bennett.”
My eyes scanned the crowd and stopped on a younger man. His blond hair was barely seen under his knit cap. When our eyes met, he smiled. Something about him didn’t sit right with me as I made my way over to him.
“Detective Bennett; your name is?”
The young man reached his hand out to mine and shook it firmly. “Joshua Black. I live up in the condos right over there.”
Joshua pointed to the building on the corner. “You see anything out of the ordinary.”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, sir. I didn’t.”
With a nod, I looked around and then back into his eyes. “Any particular reason you smiled when I looked at you?”
Joshua seemed to be taken aback with my question. “Hell, I don’t know. The polite thing to do I guess? I mean you looked directly at me. What was I supposed to do, give you the finger?”
Realizing I was most likely overreacting and that this whole detective thing was still so damn new, I let out a chuckle. “I guess you’ve got a point. If you think of anything that you might remember later on, be sure to let us know.”
“Yes sir, of course.”
I turned to start heading back to the crime scene when Joshua called out for me. “Detective Bennett!”
I stopped and looked back at him. “Do you know who she is? I mean, do you know what happened to her or why it happened?”
With a shake of my head, I turned and walked away.
Meagan
ONE QUICK LOOK in the mirror and I was happy with what I saw. Grayson and I were headed up to his mother’s house today for lunch. My hands moved over the light-blue dress as I drew in a deep breath and tried to calm my nerves. I’d met Ashley once before, but now it was official; Grayson and I were dating, practically living together. I spent most of my nights here at Grayson’s place and only went home to grab more clothes.
“Meg, are you almost done?”