“He would have been proud of you,” the chief murmured to Ivy.
“I don’t know about that,” she whispered, her voice so low that Bennett barely heard her words. But then Ivy straightened her shoulders. “Give us the profile, Bennett, and then let’s see what we can do to trap him.”
Trap him.
For an instant, Bennett remembered pain. Screams. Death.
“Bennett?” Ivy frowned at him. “Are you okay?”
No, he hadn’t been okay in a very long time.
When he’d been far too close to death, when his partner had been dead around him, the Greenville Trapper—a guy with the non-threatening name of Paul Friend—had tried to make Bennett beg. He’d tried to break him.
Bennett had screamed with his agony, but he hadn’t broken.
Because he’d been thinking…
Of her.
“He’s obsessed,” Bennett said flatly. “A woman…a woman he can’t let go. A woman he wants to own.”
Ivy stared up at him.
“Dark hair, mid-twenties…beautiful.”
You won’t touch her.
“He’s been killing a while. So confident. The first time he killed…it was her.” His obsession. “And he got high from the pleasure of taking her life. Of having the ultimate control. He liked that feeling. He liked having her…so he did it again and again…but he was smart. He picked two different towns. He killed when the crowds were at their full height. When the cops were so busy that they didn’t notice a woman missing. He did that, not too often, maybe once a year or once every two years, controlling himself as much as possible. Choosing his victims and hunting.”
Ivy licked her lower lip. “But he’s had more than one victim this year.”
Yes, he had. “Because something changed in his equation. You changed things.”
“Th-that’s why he called me. Why he’s targeting my friends. Because I saw him kill Evette.”
Yes. “Maybe he liked that you saw. Maybe it pissed him off. I don’t know yet—but you were a trigger for him. You broke his control. He’s acting on impulse now, with no cooling off period between his kills, and that makes him even more dangerous.”
The chief rubbed his chin. “Because that means we don’t know what he’ll do next?”
Bennett nodded. “We need to contact the FBI. They’ll send a team down here. He’s been crossing state lines, killing for years. He’s a serial they need to chase.”
Ivy grabbed his arm. “You were FBI! You can catch him. Bennett, come on, we can do this.”
“You’re out of your league, Ivy.” She didn’t understand. “What will you do if he gets you alone again? If you can’t get free? When he drives his knife into you…what will you do?”
Die.
He couldn’t let that happen.
“If he’s focused on me, if I set him off, then we can use that,” she said desperately. “Bennett, we can—”
“He’ll kill you! He’ll stab you, carve you up until nothing is left!” His fury and fear erupted. “Then what the fuck am I supposed to do?”
She sucked in a sharp breath and pulled her hand away from him.
Silence.
“Yeah…” The chief murmured. “I’ll let you two talk this out a bit more. I think I’ll head in there and see what her brother has to say…”
Ivy didn’t speak, not until the chief closed the door behind him.
Then…
“What the fuck,” Ivy asked softly, “am I supposed to do if he targets someone else that I care about?”
He flexed his fingers. He wanted to touch her. Wanted to hold her tight.
“If he calls me again, if he contacts me…we bait the trap,” Ivy said as her dark gaze held his. “Stop looking at this from a personal angle. If you didn’t know me, if you’d never slept with me…wouldn’t you already be using me to catch him?”
His hand lifted and slid under her chin. “I do know you. I did sleep with you.” Too long ago. He needed her now. “And I will be lost if he hurts you.”
“Bennett?” She stared at him in confusion, as if she didn’t know him.
When she was the only one he’d ever let close. “How do you think I survived before? When that freak had me chained up in that cabin? When he took his time slicing the skin from my chest even as my partner’s dead body was just a few feet away?”
She backed up a step. “I didn’t…I didn’t know!”
She’d asked for the gritty details before. Be careful what you wish for. “That’s what you’re asking for, baby. You’re asking to become a serial killer’s toy. You’re asking me to stand back and let that shit happen to you.” He gave a grim shake of his head. “No, it won’t happen. It can’t happen.”
“Bennett…”
“That’s my worst fear,” he rasped. “For you to be hurt like that. For you to be trapped, to need me…”
“Protective custody,” she said softly. “Now I understand.” She threw her arms around him.
He bent, hugging her, holding her as tightly as he could.
He thought of the way Hugh had reacted when he’d seen Shelly’s body. The guy had been destroyed.