“I need to think about this,” Gage said. “We should hash it out. You do somewhat resemble his preferred type, and you may be right about this thing with his mother. Little surprises me anymore. But we have to do this in a way that keeps you safe.”
“I’m not getting in a truck with anyone,” DeeJay protested.
“No,” said Gage, “but what if he hits you with this paralytic you theorize before you can stop him? There’s being bait and there’s being a fool.”
DeeJay’s stomach knotted, and she once again put down her sandwich. “You’re right. But this is about the boys, isn’t it? All about them.”
“No,” said Gage, “it’s about stopping a killer before he hurts someone else. Anyone else. I’d like you to keep that in mind.”
Chapter 10
Two days later, the county was back to near normal, with everyone talking about the severity of the winter storm. And the boys. They had begun to surface frequently in conversations with DeeJay and Cade, as if people were beginning to trust them.
“I’m getting an itch,” DeeJay said. They’d finally received all the data and photos from Lew and had devoured them, then read them again. At the same time, she was acutely aware that Cade hadn’t tried to make love to her again. Disappointment seared her, and she wondered if she was that bad in bed. Or if he was waiting for her to make a move. How the hell would she know?
“What kind of itch?” he asked. Another morning spent worrying over puzzle pieces that didn’t exactly fit into a finished picture.
“You read how he accelerated when he was away from here. I’m not sure he can leash himself for much longer. Something’s going to happen and I am so freaking angry that we’ve got so little to go on.”
“I hear you.”
She looked at him, finally. She’d been trying to avoid that since he had stopped expressing personal interest in her. Maybe that was the real problem between them. Or maybe it was a problem with her. Every time she looked at him, longing blossomed deep within her. Under other circumstances she might have tumbled into bed with him and not emerged for a week. Assuming he wanted her.
She told herself to cut it out. They had to be professional. They had a job to do, and everything else needed to be safely on a back burner, most especially her feelings about Cade, feelings she was afraid to deal with.
“We should wander around separately today,” she announced.
“Gage won’t like it. He doesn’t like this whole idea.”
“He can stuff it. I get that he has to be worried about everybody, but catching this guy before he kills another boy is the most important thing. It could happen anytime now. Sooner or later he’s going to speed up again.”
She noticed he didn’t argue with her. Mainly because she was right. Lew’s file had shown that he’d taken some of his victims only two weeks apart in the past.
She continued, “Just because he seems to have sense enough to realize that moving too fast in such an underpopulated place might somehow give him away doesn’t mean he’ll be able to maintain that control indefinitely. These guys tend to get full of themselves. You know that. With every kill they get a little bolder. Feel a bit more invincible.”