Before the Dawn(65)

Her lips twisted. "I think so, too."

Torez leaned closer to her. "We checked Jinx's phone. There were other pictures on there. Pictures of your place. Pictures of the roses on your pillow."

Her stomach clenched.

"There were pictures of you from the crime scene yesterday."

Her gaze flew up to his.

"He was there, in that mass of reporters that gathered outside your home. He was in the crowd and he was snapping pictures of you. You and Tucker Frost."

He left that phone deliberately. He wanted me to know that he'd been there, all along.

"We didn't recover any prints from the phone. And Jinx's house-hell, he must have wiped that place down. This guy knows how to cover his tracks."

"The gloves," she whispered. "He left the gloves at the warehouse. Maybe he wasn't as careful there."

His gaze dipped to the closed meeting room door. "Hope so. The FBI has those-they're supposed to have the report back on them soon." He focused on her once more. "The roses in your room led us nowhere. They are sold everywhere down here-kids on the street sell them. Vendors in the park. Uniforms talked to everyone they could find, but we aren't getting a hit on the guy. Probably paid cash and walked away."

Because he was smart. No paper trail.

"Anthony's worried about you." His voice went lower. "He doesn't exactly trust your FBI buddy, Frost."

She wet her lips. "Tucker knows killers."

"Yeah, that's the part that worries Anthony. Sometimes blood tells, you know? Frost's brother was a psychopath. Cold as fucking ice, just like everyone says."

The door to the meeting room opened. Tucker stood there, staring at her. His blue eyes were so bright.

And cold. No emotion showed in them.

Cold as fucking ice.

"Don't forget that you have plenty of friends at the PD," Torez murmured. "And we'll have your back, always." He stood up and walked away.

She rose, too. Slowly.

Tucker and Samantha came toward her. Samantha delicately cleared her throat and said, "Agent Frost is going to speak with your friends Jones and Malone today. Since you know those individuals so well, I want you to accompany him during the questioning."

Damn straight.



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Samantha stepped closer to her. "I've been where you are." Her voice was low. "I know what it's like to be in the crosshairs of a killer. And when that happened to me, I couldn't just stand back and let others do the hunting. You're not a typical civilian-I've read your files and I know the type of training you've had. The type of work that you've done."

Hope tightened in Dawn's chest.

"Agent Frost is going to stay with you. You will have a guard with you until we learn more, but you will be working with us. So be careful out there. You're hunting, but so is the killer."

* * *

"I DIDN'T CALL anyone else." Jones twisted his apron as he stared at Dawn and Tucker. "Just you. Just like you said. One of my regulars came in because he was hungry and I asked him about Red. He gave me the tip that he was at the motel, and I called you. That's all." He blew out a rough breath. "Then I saw the news this morning about the body at that motel, and I knew it was Red. Damn it."

Dawn put her hand on his and squeezed.

"My girl has too many dead on her table now." His lips twisted. "I wanted to help find the killer. I didn't want...I didn't want this."

"No one did," Tucker said quietly.

"The man who gave you the tip," Dawn prompted. "Your regular. What was his name? Where can we find him?"

"Young kid," Jones muttered, letting go of his apron. "Blond guy, looks barely legal. He's been on and off drugs for so long. I keep telling him to get clean, but..."

She stiffened. "Rowan?" That had been the boy's name.

Jones's gaze lit up. "Yeah, yeah, that's it. He came by, desperate for food...and when I questioned him, the guy knew where Red was staying. Said he'd seen him go in the place."

She shared a long look with Tucker, then she squeezed Jones's hand once more. "Thank you."

Dawn didn't speak again, not until she and Tucker were away from the restaurant and back inside his rented SUV.

"Rowan is the link," she said, voice excited. "We've got to get him to tell us more."

Tucker cranked the vehicle. "Yeah, but he has to make fucking sense when he talks to us."

"He knows who the killer is." She was certain of this. 

He drove them through the city. "According to him...I could be the killer. I look just like the bastard he described." He gave a bitter laugh. "That's a problem I have. Looking like a killer."