Only Her (A K2 Team Novel)(65)

She swallowed the lump in her throat, and went looking for where she’d put the candles, finding them on a shelf in the back of the pantry. They were a nice addition to her table setting. Salad made and the lasagna ready to go in the oven, she turned on some soft music, picked up a magazine, and sat to wait for Cody.

Only a few minutes had passed before she heard his truck, and she watched out the window as he got out and went to talk to her bodyguard. After a few minutes of conversation, Cody jogged to his house and disappeared inside, emerging a short time later wearing a different shirt, and she figured he’d probably showered. The man who had been guarding her had left.

At her mailbox, Cody stopped and removed her mail. As he began walking toward her door, he flipped through the envelopes, pausing to stare at one of them.

Please, not another one. She went to the alarm and turned it off before opening the door. “Is it . . . ?”

“Think so. Your address is in block letters and there’s no return address.” He pulled her into his arms. “Let’s go inside.”

His dogs trotted to him to welcome him back, and her cats, for the first time, nosed their way in. Cody gave them all equal attention. The man was an animal pied piper.

“Down,” he said, and Sally and Pretty Girl plopped at his feet. Merlin, normally aloof, stepped onto Sally’s back and sat. Arthur decided to follow the dogs’ example, and flattened himself out next to Pretty Girl. It was so cute, the way the four of them had bonded, and it only made her miss Pelli all the more. He should be a part of the little family the animals had created.

Riley eyed the envelope. Was it proof Pelli was alive or something bad? “Open it.”

“You have any rubber gloves?”

Oh, right, he’d want it checked for fingerprints. “Be right back.” She hurried to the kitchen, sending up a little prayer that whatever was in that envelope wouldn’t be something horrible. As an afterthought, she grabbed a paring knife for Cody to use as a letter opener.

Back by his side, she held her breath as he struggled to put on kitchen gloves that were sized for her hands. After sliding the knife under the envelope’s flap, he pulled out a sheet of paper and unfolded it.

“Pelli,” she whispered at seeing the photo. Her baby was peering out of a wire cage, and he looked so sad. But he was alive, at least when the picture was taken. At the top of the page were words typed in a funny script.



HOW MUCH DO YOU LOVE HIM?



“What does that mean?” Unable to bear seeing him caged like that, she jumped up and went into the kitchen. She needed to start dinner, or cut a lime for beers, or would he rather have something different? Dammit, she didn’t know. She burst into tears.

A pair of strong, masculine arms wrapped around her, and she turned, burying her face against Cody’s chest. “I can’t stand to think of him suffering.”

“I know, darlin’. Why don’t you make us both one of those slushy beers? I have some things to tell you.”

She peered up at him. “Do you have a lead?”

“We have an idea of what kind of person we’re looking for.” He brushed her tears away with his thumbs. “Make those beers while I take the dogs out, then we’ll talk. Grab your laptop, too.”

Twenty minutes later, she sat, clutching her ice-cold bottle while trying not to get her hopes up. “What do you know? Do you have a name?”

“No, not a name, but a profile. I stopped by K2 after my appointment, and Kincaid gave me the profile he got back today from his friend at the FBI.” He opened her laptop and inserted a thumb drive.

A page came up, and she frowned at seeing it was only a few paragraphs.

Cody angled the screen so she could see it better. “According to the boss, this profiler is one of the best, even when she doesn’t have much to go on.”

Riley had to agree that they didn’t have a lot of information to pass on, but as she began to read, she was impressed with the profiler’s insights.

This is personal to the perp, most likely a woman, age forty to sixty, possibly with a history of mild mental illness that has escalated after she suffered a loss. Perhaps more than one loss of someone or something close to her, such as a second family member, or her home, or possibly a beloved pet, which combined, triggered a mental breakdown.

The perp feels she has been tragically wronged in some way by Dr. Austin, and is attempting to make her look incompetent because she cannot save the animals being poisoned. It is my understanding that Dr. Austin has been able to save some of the pets, and this will enrage the perp. Therefore, I advise Dr. Austin to be on guard, as I expect the attacks will intensify and will be directed more at her personally.