Sweet Dreams Boxed Set

The rain was coming down hard by the time Taylor rolled into headquarters. She was fervently hoping the captain had a plan.

The squad room was unnaturally quiet, so Taylor wandered out into the hall, looking for he people. Lincoln was walking toward her with a pot of coffee, gesturing to the conference room. She followed him in to find Price, Fitz, and Dan Franklin sitting around the table. Marcus had pulled out a white board; a thick black line drawn down the middle separated it into two columns. She’d have to hold off telling them about the possible herbs Sam had collected from Jordan Blake’s body. She didn’t want Dan Franklin to have the information until they were ready to use it.

One of her quick-thinking detectives had scrounged up a picture of Jordan Blake. She hung on one side, and a picture of Shelby Kincaid was taped to the other side. It was the first real look she’d gotten at Jordan. There was absolutely no comparison to the ruined body they’d found in the river.

While Shelby was pretty in an unassuming way, more cute than beautiful, Jordan Blake was stunning. Take-your-breath-away, movie-star, attention-getting gorgeous. How in the world a girl like that could have disappeared unnoticed was a real mystery.

Fitz shot her a smile and Price nodded a hello.

“You guys have been busy.”

“Hi, Taylor. Grab a chair. We’re going through our next steps and putting together all the info we’ve got so far. We’re short on Jordan, obviously. You and Marcus are going to Vandy when we finish and dig everything up on her you can find.”

Price was smooth and in control, just the opposite of how Taylor was feeling inside. “In the meantime, Lincoln is looking for the girl’s family. There was none listed on her print card, so he’s called over to Vandy to get her personal information.”

“If they give you crap, let me know. They can get prickly about releasing student information without a court order.”

“I went the back route,” Lincoln said.

On cue, the phone on the table rang. Lincoln checked the caller ID, then picked it up. “Lincoln Ross.”

He hadn’t answered with the standard “Homicide.” That must be the people from Vandy. Taylor was glad to see things were being handled so delicately. He jotted down a few notes and thanked the person on the other end of the line warmly. Taylor raised a brow at him. Wondered who he had called in the favor from.

Lincoln had the decency to blush. “Old friend,” he muttered.

“So what’s the deal?” Price obviously wasn’t in the mood to play “tease the detective” at the moment.

“Jordan is from Houston. I’m going to go call the chaplain, see if he can start working his magic to get her parents notified.” He headed back into the warren to make the call.

Price continued on. “Taylor, what did Sam have to say?”

“Her sense is we may have the same killer. On the surface, it looks like two totally different suspects. Jordan had been raped over a period of time and stabbed five times, two that caught her in the heart and killed her pretty quickly. But Sam saw the same liver necrosis as Shelby, the indicator of possible poisoning. She’s sent everything to Simon Loughley with an emergency push. One little snag. Jordan was six weeks pregnant. We could have a set of coincidental deaths here, two different men entirely.”

“Or we could have one man who’s ridding himself of dead weight.” Price stroked his mustache. “I don’t want any talk outside this room about serial killers, series killers or mass murderers on the loose with a hard on for Vandy coeds. Dan, we need a press conference. We’ll need a very succinct and brief statement for the late news. I’m talking bare bones here. And I want Taylor to be there with you to take a few questions.”

Both Franklin and Taylor opened their mouths to protest. Price held up his hands. “We’ve had quite enough controversy in this shop, and enough media attention to last a lifetime. Putting Taylor on camera will show we’re back to normal. She is in charge of investigating these homicides, and I want a female face on the case. It will make the coeds listen. And it will help after yesterday morning’s little snafu.”

Taylor closed her mouth and narrowed her eyes at Price. He simply smiled.

“Now, Taylor, get a subpoena for Jordan Blake’s records, and do it fast. I want you and Marcus to go back to Vandy and check things out. Be a little discreet. This is eventually going to get out, and I don’t want it to look like we’ve stepped on anyone’s toes. Fitz, I’m pulling you back in full time. You head over to Private Match and sit on Loughley until he comes up with the results.”

Fitz shrugged. “It’s not going to happen tonight, Price. It takes time to run all those little tests.”

“I don’t care how long it takes. Just go over and help him out. Y’all are dismissed. Dan, stay behind, we’ll work on the statement. You can call Taylor later with the time she needs to show up.”

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