Erin’s glass slider opened onto a small patio that overlooked a landscaped courtyard with a large rectangular pool in the middle, surrounded by lounge chairs and wrought-iron tables shaded by colorful umbrellas. He’d smiled to himself last night when he noticed the three plants she had outside, withered and turning brown from lack of attention. She could save human lives, but apparently foliage didn’t stand a chance.
There were a few framed photographs scattered about the living room. Sean picked up his cup and drew closer to get a better look. There was one of her and Tess in their scrubs at the hospital, arms flung around each other’s shoulders, bright smiles on their faces. Another of Erin and a guy that had to be her brother. He looked a bit older, by maybe four or five years, but shared the same striking blue eyes and facial structure. His hair was a darker shade of blond, almost brown. Then there were several photos of an older couple—most likely the parents, because the two siblings were in a few with them, and there were strong resemblances between the four of them.
Sean wanted to know more. He wanted to know what she was like as a kid, her favorite food, the kind of movies she preferred, what made her want to become a doctor. She couldn’t be more than thirty-one or two, yet she felt like an old soul to him, as if she’d perhaps seen too much already. Could have been that working in the hospital, around life and death day in and day out, had made her seem that way. In that respect, they were a lot alike. He’d experienced a lot of darkness in his profession, enough to make him a bit jaded.
The thought of work jarred him back to the moment. He sat down at the bar and focused on the television as a news update came on. He turned the volume up a notch when he saw the picture of a young, smiling blonde-haired woman and then a live feed of police and medical vehicles outside an apartment complex, bystanders being held back by uniformed officers and yellow tape. His stomach clenched in apprehension.
“Fears are that the Riverside Rapist has struck again. A source close to JPD confirms that Courtney Meldon, twenty-six, of Jacksonville was stabbed and sexually assaulted in her apartment sometime last night between the hours of…”
“Fuck.” Sean muted the TV and snatched up his phone from the end table near the couch where he’d left it last night. No missed calls. Technically, he’d been off duty at midnight, but still… He dialed his partner, Luke.
“I guess you saw the news,” Luke said when he answered, skipping over the formalities. Sean heard a lot of chatter and traffic noise in the background, like he was on scene.
“Just now. What’re the details?”
“I was getting ready to dial you, man. How the goddamned media people find this shit out before us is beyond me. I’m here now. Her apartment’s east of Emerson, about six blocks from where the last victim was attacked. Right now it looks like the same guy, same MO anyway. Pretty blonde, no sign of forced entry. So far no prints and no semen left behind at the scene either, but they’re still processing. A friend of the victim became concerned when she didn’t show up for a yoga class this morning and wasn’t answering her phone, had the superintendent open the door.”
A cold chill snaked up his spine at the mention of the words “pretty blonde” and “no forced entry.” Emerson was northeast of Erin, but still fairly close. Too close.
“Is she dead, Luke?”
“Not yet,” he said. “It’s not looking good, though. She was stabbed three times in the torso. She’s lost a lot of blood.”
“He’s getting more violent with each victim,” Sean said. His jaw was so tight it might shatter if his teeth touched.
“Yep. See anything at Blue last night?”
Fuck, if that wasn’t a good question.
“I dunno, maybe,” Sean replied, afraid to give voice to where his disturbing thoughts were headed. “I need to talk to you in person. Can you meet me when you’re done there?”
“Sure. Where?”
Sean rattled off Erin’s address and waited while Luke wrote it down.
“Whose place is that?”
“I’ll explain when you get here and bring the case files with you.”
“Okay, we’re wrapping up. Shouldn’t be more than an hour or so.”
“I’ll save you a cup of coffee,” Sean said and hung up.
He went to Erin’s desk and found a legal pad and a pen so he could jot down some notes, help get his tumbling thoughts on paper.
This girl made the rapist’s sixth victim. All of them were young fair-haired women, late twenties to early thirties. The first, third, and fourth victim had visited Blue in the previous two weeks before they were assaulted, thus Sean’s reason for being there last night. Chasing down any leads they could was pertinent if they hoped to catch this guy.
Unfortunately for them the perp was smart. He left no prints at any of the scenes, no hair or fibers, wore a dark mask, and wore a condom or didn’t ejaculate, because no trace of semen had been found on any of the victims or the sheets.
Even more disturbing than the rapes was the escalation in violence with each attack. The first girl he’d tied up and raped, slapped her around a bit. With the second and third he’d added savage beatings to the mix. He’d started using a knife with the fourth, threatening and leaving small cuts on her legs and torso, progressing, working up his nerve. The last two had been stabbed—one lived, and the other was still fighting for her life.
The whole thing with Erin’s purse going missing bugged the hell out of him. Could that be the way he was getting into these girls’ apartments? It was a very good possibility. All of them were young, busy socially or work wise, probably wouldn’t bother to hurry to get their locks changed until it was too late.
Sean rubbed his throbbing temples, frustrated and now fearful that Erin could be the next victim. She fit the profile and someone had her identification and house key. He swallowed, sick to his stomach all of a sudden.
No way was he going to let anything happen to her. If he had to follow her to and from work every day, on errands, sleep with his back to her front door and his gun in his lap, he would. They hadn’t known each other for twenty-four hours yet and already he cared that much for her. But he wanted to solve this case too, stop this from happening to any other women, put the asshole behind bars for a long, long time.
He couldn’t believe he was thinking this, but Sean had an idea of how they might catch this creep with Erin’s help. It was risky and scary as fuck, but if they were smart and cautious, it just might work.
* * * *
Erin awoke to the wonderful smell of coffee and the sound of male voices in her living room. Had Sean already called a locksmith? She wouldn’t have put it past him.
She brushed her teeth and swept her hair up in a ponytail, then pulled on a T-shirt and shorts. When she walked into the living room, she took one look at the visitor and knew he wasn’t there to rekey her locks. He and Sean had their heads bowed together over documents spread across her dining room table.
“Morning,” Sean said with a quick smile once he spotted her hovering. He stood and met her in the kitchen.
“Good morning. Thanks for making coffee.” She poured a cup, adding generous helpings of cream and sugar. When Sean made a face, she said, “I like a little coffee with my cream and sugar.”
He chuckled and kissed her on the forehead, making her flush with renewed warmth. “I can see that. I need to introduce you to someone.”
Need?
Interesting choice of words. “Okay.”
Clutching her coffee mug in her palms, she followed Sean back to the dining room table.
“Erin, this is my partner, Luke Avery. Luke, this is Dr. Erin Taylor.”
Luke stood and shook her hand. He was almost as good-looking as Sean. Almost, but she was already biased. Built and tall, with dark hair, brown eyes and a dimple in one cheek when he smiled. Who knew JPD had so many attractive officers on the force? Clearly, she’d been hanging around with too many doctors. “It’s nice to meet you, Erin. Sean told me about what an awesome job you did at Blue last night.”
Erin blushed. “Thanks, but I had lots of help, Sean included. And it’s good to meet you too.” Sean pulled out a chair for her, and she sat down, sipping at her coffee while she looked over the paperwork in front of her. “What’s all this? Homework?”
“Do you watch the news?” Sean asked.
She shook her head. “Not a lot. It gets to be too much after what I see in the ER.”
Sean smiled, but he seemed tense, not quite himself this morning. “I get that, but have you heard about this guy the media is calling the Riverside Rapist?”
Erin sat her cup down, clasping her hands together in her lap. “I worked on two of his victims,” she said. The memory of the broken look in those girls’ eyes would stay with her forever.
Julie, his second victim, was twenty-four and about to head off to law school at the University of Florida in the fall. Erin wouldn’t be surprised to learn those plans had changed.
The way Sean watched her with such open admiration on his face made her stomach do crazy flip-flops, then plummet to her toes. He sighed, sitting back in his chair to run his fingers along the edge of the tabletop as if the texture of the wood fascinated him. She was starting to become unnerved by his tentativeness.
Luke cleared his throat and spoke since Sean seemed to be having a hard time with the subject matter. “Erin, Sean mentioned the reason he stayed with you last night was because your purse was stolen at Blue while you were working on the guy.”
“That’s right. My apartment key and driver’s license were in it, along with some cash.” Was Sean in some kind of trouble?
“Smart thinking on his part.” Okay, so maybe Sean wasn’t in trouble. Luke looked over at Sean, then back at her. “Sean and I are part of the task force working on catching this guy. Three of the girls that were assaulted had partied at Blue within two weeks of being attacked.”
“That’s why I was there last night, to see if anything looked suspicious,” Sean interjected.
Luke continued. “Now that might have been a coincidence, but one of the other girls, Julie Myers, reported having her purse stolen at another bar three days before she was attacked. The fifth victim, Cindy Epperson, lived in a third-floor apartment with one door that she distinctly remembered locking with the dead bolt.”
“So he had a key to get in, or he’s good at picking locks,” she said.
Luke shook his head. “The lock wasn’t picked. He used a key.”
Erin went cold. “I think I see where you’re going with this.”
Sean’s face had tightened. “Erin, I…I want you to look at the pictures of the victims.” He spun the file folder in front of him around and spread the photos out across the table.
Erin gasped into her palms. “Oh my God.” Each girl was blonde with blue eyes, young and attractive. She wasn’t conceited by any means, but she knew she’d been genetically blessed when it came to her looks; she just preferred to play them down instead of up. And like her, none of them were lacking in the breast department either.
Erin rose from the chair abruptly, feeling woozy. “I need some air.” She opened the slider and stood there, arms braced in the doorway, sucking deep breaths of chlorine-tinged, late-August air. Any other time she would find it stifling.
Then a thought occurred to her—this asshole knew where she lived. He could be out there watching her right now. She slammed the glass door shut and locked it, slid the curtain over the window closed, fighting tears and nausea. Sean stood and pulled her against his chest. Erin burrowed into his T-shirt, sucking in deep breaths of him instead.
“We need to catch this guy before he hurts someone else. I won’t let him get to you, I promise.”
“But you’d like my help to do that,” she muttered, saying what he couldn’t.
“Not if you don’t want to. If you say no, we drop it, and I’ll just become your shadow.”
Hearing those words calmed her somewhat. Sean wasn’t going to leave her alone. He’d keep her safe.
“How would this work? You stay here, follow me around everywhere? Wouldn’t he catch on to that if he’s watching?”
“Not if we’re careful. Luke and I, along with the other members of the task force, we’ll work out a plan so it appears that you’re alone. If he’s going to try something, it’ll more than likely be here, in your apartment, and at night.”
Erin shivered.
“What about work? My hours are crazy.” She rubbed her face and sat down again.
“I’ve got some ideas about that too. Someone will always be close, even when you’re at the hospital.”
“You mean like an undercover officer, right? No uniforms, otherwise it’ll draw unwanted attention.”
Sean smiled. “We’ll make sure it’s low-key.”
He was trying to keep his tone neutral, but Erin still heard the tinge of hope in his voice. She could help Sean catch this monster, as long as she was willing to be the bait.
Lifting her chin, even though her insides were twisting into an unrelenting knot, she agreed. “Okay, I’ll do it.”
Chapter Six
Erin ducked into a supply closet and plopped down on an overturned plastic bucket, scrunching her nose at the sudden assault of pine-scented cleaner on her sinuses. When she unclenched her fists, her fear was confirmed—her hands were shaking. She shoved them under her thighs, rocking back and forth, fighting tears of disappointment.
She’d been so sure she could do this. It hadn’t been so bad at first; her mind focused on work since she’d started her shift at six. All that went to shit when she was called in to treat a woman who’d been battered by a bitter ex-boyfriend. Seeing the shattered look in that woman’s eyes, the severe cuts and bruises across her face and body, sent one single selfish thought flashing through her mind—
that could be me
. Except she might not wind up in the hospital.
Her destination could be the morgue.
Dammit, what was she going to do? Hiding in a closet like a six-year-old all night wasn’t an option.
The first thing she’d done when she’d arrived for work was talk to her boss, Dr. Arrington, the head of the Emergency Department, about what was going on. The second thing had been to tell Tess. Both of them had been shocked. Both had suggested she take time off and leave town. Take a long vacation to a tropical island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. Perhaps that wasn’t such a bad idea after all.