Todd slanted him a hard look. “Cara said Michael House was straight. That he would have only gone to the hotel with a woman.”
A woman who looked a lot like his ex? “Fuck. A succubus shouldn’t need a lure,” he repeated as excitement pumped through him. He might just be figuring this shit out. “A woman wouldn’t need to use Susan, but a man—he sure as hell would.”
Colin whistled. “Susan could’ve brought in the men, tied ’em up with the promise of some wild sex.”
McNeal’s fingers flattened on his desk. “And instead just made them helpless and got them ready for the kill.”
“Yes.” One damn good supposition. “Maybe she tied the guys up because if they’d seen who was really waiting for them, they never would have been into the game.”
“He could have waited in the closet…” Colin’s eyes were thoughtful. “Or in one of those small-ass bathrooms.” He spoke the last softly, as if to himself.
Hell, yeah, that was exactly what Todd was thinking. “It could have happened,” he said. Maybe it had happened just that way.
“An incubus?” McNeal asked.
“It would explain the print.” Because that was the mark of a sex demon—succubus or incubus. “If the guy wanted to drain the humans, he would have needed to get their sexual energy pumped up—he would have used Susan for that.” The woman had been a looker, just like his Cara.
“So Susie gets the men tied up, gets them horny,” Colin murmured, “then our incubus comes in. He gives them a touch and kills the poor bastards.”
“As he takes their power and lives— yes!” It made sense. Every bit of it made sense. “This guy, whoever he is, I think he chose Susan Dobbs because she looked like Cara. He dumped Cara’s purse at the third crime scene so we’d pick her up, and he’s been choosing men that are all linked to her.”
“Except for Monroe.” Colin straightened. “We can’t find any link to him and Cara—”
The pieces fell into place. “Because that guy was Susan’s kill, hers alone. Think about it.” He paused a moment, then lifted his fingers as he counted off the reasons, saying, “She stabbed him. She’s got a long history with knives, we all know that. She left the room a wreck, left evidence behind—”
“The scene was nothing like the others,” McNeal agreed grimly.
“Because the killer was different.” Todd knew it with every cell in his body. “She killed him. I bet if we dig, we’ll find a connection between her and Monroe, something personal.” The woman had snapped—killed in an undeniable fit of rage. There had been so many knife wounds in the guy’s chest…
“Shit. So what, we had some damn team killing together—” McNeal began.
“Until Susan broke the rules.” He thought about the cold, quick death Susan had received. “Then she had to be punished.” But just who had punished her? The lady had tried to lead him to Niol, but the demon appeared to be clean.
Though appearances could sure as hell be deceiving. He was learning more about the truth of that old saying every day.
“If Monroe wasn’t a planned kill—”
“Then our guy probably got real pissed at Susan.” Because she’d broken his control. Destroyed the layout of his nice, neat little game. “So pissed that the lady wound up with a broken neck.”
“But if we’re dealing with an incubus, why didn’t he just drain her?” Colin shook his head. “He could have gotten her energy and—
”
“She fought him.” Todd could still see the blood staining the walls of the phone booth. “Maybe he intended to use the touch on her, but Susan had her knife, and once she started stabbing, he snapped her neck.”
McNeal sighed. “Damn it, I’m tired of this shit in my city. What ever happened to keeping a low profile? Why does this ass**le want to stir things up?”
“Why is he going after Cara?” Todd fired back.
Colin rolled his shoulders, a ripple of movement. “Gotta be personal.”
Yeah, that was what he figured, and what scared him.
“Niol was clean?”
He nodded curtly at the captain’s question. “Doubt I’d ever say that, but there weren’t any wounds.”
Colin lifted a brow. “And the guy’s not a sex demon.”
“Incubus,” he corrected, almost automatically. “Just what the hell is that guy?”
“Someone who could fry this town if he wanted,” McNeal said, voice rough. “A level-ten who likes to play on the dark side.”
Niol was definitely cold enough to kill, but he wasn’t an incubus. And there’d been no knife wounds on his body.
So, as much as he wanted to put the demon away, he wasn’t looking like the killer.
Which meant the bastard was still out there, somewhere. “We’ve been looking at this all wrong.” They’d thought the woman was the primary, but Susan Dobbs had just been a pawn.
The real serial was still out there.
“I’m keeping Cara in protective custody until we catch the bastard.” Probably should have asked permission from the captain first, but screw that, his woman was in danger, and he would be keeping her safe.
Colin cleared his throat. “Ah, how does she feel about that?”
“Doesn’t matter.” His stare was on the captain. “I think she’s in danger.” Those instincts of his were screaming at him. Cara would have said his sensitivity was charging up — hell, whatever it was, he knew that the lady was in danger.
And he was going to keep her safe.
The captain gave him an almost imperceptible nod. “Do we need to take her to a safe house?”
He walked over to the captain’s door. Peeked through the blinds. Cara was still sitting in his chair. Mark was stationed at her side.
“Yeah, I think so.” He’d like to keep her at his place, but he knew someone could have already staked out his home.
No, better to take her someplace secret.
Even if she raged at him, and he was certain she would.
He reached for the knob. “I’d better go break the news to the lady—”
“Hey, Brooks!”
He glanced back at Colin’s call, opening the door just a few inches. The rumble of voices from the bull pen drifted in to him.
“What?”
“Before I came in here, I called the phone company, pulled a few strings.” One brow lifted. “The last call Susan Dobbs made wasn’t to your place.”