Page 46 of Lau Ahi
“That was almost kind.”
“I don’t speak on things as trivial as flattery only facts. The truth so happens to be favorable to you.”
And just like that, I wanted to slap him in the mouth again.
Alec sighed at Ori and gave me an apologetic look. “Now that you’ve lost all the positive ground you’d gained let’s move on. You’re right. We think that there could have been a pattern that we’ve missed since the Rawlins case was done entirely too efficiently. The dump site was specific, the way she was laid out was ceremonial. Nothing about it was by chance and it’s hard to believe someone is this clean on their first kill. We always find something and that hasn’t happened yet.”
Alec was laughing at Ori as he tried to turn my attention back to him. I was glad he had the good sense to understand that I was on the verge of walking away and not looking back.
“Don’t you normally need more than one victim to see where the mistakes were?”
It was easier for me to go back into work mode than to make sense of anything Ori did.
“After seeing so many scenes you know what to look for. They were careful, Dr. Avery. No random footprints left behind. No fibers on her body. Nothing that would be an obvious lead back to who they are.”
Alec seemed frustrated and Ori sat silently observing my reactions as they discussed what was happening with the case.
“Is there any other case that matches hers that you’ve seen lately?”
“No. Which is the other anomaly. We can tell this isn’t their first rodeo but nothing that we’ve pulled from local departments or from the surrounding states shows that she’s part of a pattern.”
“The idea of being wrong and the perpetrator being this sophisticated and careful isn’t possible.”
“Possible but not improbable.”
Leave it to Ori to be the most sarcastic one of all but I only nodded since I agreed with him. Their lack of findings didn’t mean that nothing was there. Just that the parameters they normally used weren’t bringing up cases that matched.
“If it wouldn’t be too much trouble, could I get the files of girls who have been missing within the last ten weeks in her age range? Sixteen to thirty all races?”
Alec paused and shared a look with Ori. “You are looking for other victims.”
“Possibly. I know you all are convinced this one is an outlier but it might not be. It won’t hurt to look and since it’s me I won’t be taking you all out of investigating this the way it should.”
“We can have them sent over to you within an hour.”
THE DEAL IS DONE
ORI
“What are you doing here?”
Her shock was more than my knowing where she lived. Frankly, that was easy. Even if we didn’t already have that information from the moment her father had popped up on our radar, he’d offered it up to me. Something that I couldn’t understand. He seemed far too eager to have this situation solidified. I knew he was worried about his country but damn, what about his kid? The idea that her people were fucking her over bothered me.
A lot.
A lot more than I wanted to dwell on but my mind often went there. She would be good because she was with me. I wasn’t some grand prize for most women, despite the money, looks and power I could wield. I was closed off. Hard. Desensitized as fuck to a lot. Not just from my job but from my upbringing as well.
It was easier for me to use the club when I wanted a second of female attention. But being the size I was, looking the way I did, that was rare. Yacouba and I were the tallest among my brothers and he understood how I felt. He had it worse since his ass was darker skinned than me. We’d talked a lot about the stereotypes that plenty of people had when they saw him coming. Or when they had to meet with him at the bank and he would walk out from the back looking intimidating as hell. It was something thathe’d gotten used to over his life but I was still struggling. I didn’t give a fuck if I intimidated people, but having to manage their fucking emotions when I scared them shitless by just existing was what pissed me off.
Would the same happen with her when I had to come home to her at night?
I’d given her as much time as I could. A week to let her acclimate to the life that was waiting for her. She seemed content with things staying the way they were but she didn’t realize that no longer worked. The ink had dried; the contract completed. Pappy was pissed that I didn’t want a hand in the negotiations and prenup but I told him to give William Avery whatever he wanted for his daughter save handing over Nakoa Industries. Pappy would look at that contract with a loving heart, whereas I would see it as a negotiation. Dominating her made me feel queasy so I gave him that task.
Now we were at step two.
“I came to check the place out.” I stuck my foot out so that she wouldn’t be able to slam the door in my face once she realized it was me. She frowned at the motion before glancing back up to meet my eyes.
“Check it out? For what?”
