It looked like he was about to do the same now.
“You don’t need to go in with us, Lauren,” Wesley said as his dark eyes met hers. “We’ve got a day of tracking ahead of us. Your marshal wants to cover all of Walker’s old hunting grounds, and we both know this was an extensive territory.”
Yes, it had been.
And he wasn’t her marshal.
“I want to be here,” Lauren said. No ridiculous high heels for her today. Hiking boots and jeans.
She’d made arrangements to clear her schedule at the DA’s office. Her cases were being handled, her staff fully briefed. This was where she needed to be.
For Karen.
“If he’s gone back to the swamp, I want to help find him.”
If he was still there.
Wesley gave a slow nod. “We’ll be heading out in five minutes.” A ghost of a smile lifted his lips. “Always a pleasure, Lauren.”
She noticed that Anthony’s gaze assessed the other man.
Paul crept closer to her. “You doing okay?”
She nodded. “I might look like hell, but I’m hanging in there.”
“You could never look like hell.” The guy was such a liar. He caught her hand and pulled her a few feet away from the others. “I worried about you last night.”
Last night. When she’d been having nightmares and nearly giving in to her wild hunger for Anthony. She forced a calm edge to her words, using the mask that Anthony hated. “Nothing to worry about. I had the marshal for protection.” Her eyes slid to the right. To him. He was talking with Wesley and Kyle, but Anthony’s gaze flicked to her.
There was a possessive heat in his eyes that made her burn.
“We kept a uniform on the judge all night, and a patrol is staying with him today, too.” Paul’s breath heaved out. “Your house is gonna be off-limits for a while. I’m sorry, but the tech crew doesn’t want anyone in there.”
No, they wouldn’t. Not until they’d collected every single bit of evidence they could.
“The offer of a place to crash still stands,” Paul told her. Her eyes met his solemn gaze. “If you need me, I’m here.”
Her lips curved. “Thank you.”
He rolled his shoulders. “I want this bastard stopped just as much as you do, Lauren.”
Because, like Wesley, he’d worked the case before. Paul had been an officer then, not a homicide detective, but he’d been there the night Walker was arrested. The night the Petersons had come home and found Walker slicing up the babysitter. Paul hadn’t been heavily involved in the investigation so he hadn’t met Anthony back then, but he was still as tied in with the bloody past as they all were.
“We will get him, and the guy won’t escape again,” Paul promised.
Why couldn’t she believe that? Part of her was so very afraid they wouldn’t catch him.
Not until he catches me.
She nodded like she agreed, and then they were loading up. Kyle didn’t head into the woods with them. He took his fancy suit and went into the cabin with the tech crew that was still working there. But Cadence had on her hiking clothes, and she joined the group.
Lauren glanced over at her.
Lips curving, Cadence said, “Being here, seeing the things he’s seen, it helps me to understand him.”
“I didn’t think understanding killers was a problem for you.”
“It’s not.” Then, softer, she said, “That’s the part that’s more like a curse.”
Frowning, Lauren turned away from the agent. It was going to be a long, hot day, but she was ready to do anything necessary. Staying at the hotel or hanging out in her office wasn’t on her agenda. She had to do something, anything, to help in the hunt.
To get justice for Karen.
“I’m sorry about your friend,” Cadence said quietly.
Lauren knew her shoulders stiffened. “Thank you.”
“Do the cops know why she was at your house?”
“Not yet.” But after talking with Hamilton, Lauren had a pretty good idea. I pressured her to leave him. She was running to me…and now she’s dead.
Because of me.
“She had a key to your house.”
“Yes.” Take it, Karen, in case you ever need a place to crash. She’d smiled at her friend. My door’s always open to you. She’d been worried about Karen. Getting in too deep with a married man.
Lauren forced herself to breathe nice and slow. Her heart ached when she thought of Karen, and she knew it would always be that way. She’d seen enough horror to know the pain didn’t vanish. The scars always stayed behind.
“She was in my home,” Lauren said softly without glancing at the profiler. “She died in my place.”
“Maybe,” Cadence allowed, “or maybe her death was his plan all along.”
Lauren looked up.
“Walker has a serious issue with women—he likes to control them, to subjugate them, to hurt them. As far as Walker is concerned, you took his life away. You were the one there in court, day after day, telling the world he was a monster.” Cadence’s gaze held Lauren’s. “You were the one he saw, the one he could focus all of his rage on, and you are the one he wants to punish.”
“Then why is Karen dead?” Lauren snapped out the words, feeling raw. “If he wants me—”
“If you die too quickly, then you don’t get to suffer enough, do you?”
Right then, she was suffering plenty. By killing Karen, the bastard had ripped out Lauren’s heart.
“For a man who’s been isolated the last five years of his life,” Cadence said, her voice thoughtful, “he sure was able to gain access to transportation and supplies fast enough.”
“Anthony thinks someone has been helping him.” So did she. But—who?
“Helping him, yes.” Cadence gave a slow nod. “But for how long?” Her head tilted as she seemed to consider her own question. “I’ll need to see all the evidence from the earlier cases. Every piece of information you had on Walker.”
Lauren’s heart was beating faster. “The original kills were only on Walker. There was never any sign of someone else—”
“Maybe,” Cadence said quietly. “Or maybe you just didn’t know what to look for. Who to look for.” Cadence’s lips thinned. “I’ve been tracking killers for years. I know how they work, and I also know that sometimes, they don’t work alone.” Her breath whispered out. “We might be looking at an alpha team.”