“You ain’t smelling nothin’ except your mate.”
“What makes you think that?”
“Your thirtieth birthday was last week. You’ll meet your mate within the next ninety days. Wolf proverbs don’t lie, man.” Kurt groaned. “Then there are our suspicions.”
“We can’t forget those.” Randon dragged his fingers and thumb around his stiff jaw. An image flashed in his mind’s eye. He shuddered at the memory, refusing to believe the detective he’d met earlier was anything more than just another cop.
Yeah, those suspicions were beginning to look more like facts. Whenever the extortionist struck, one of the guys seemed to casually bump into his mate. Those fated meetings may have been anything but a coincidence.
“You’re quiet and that’s unusual. You’ve met her. Haven’t you?”
“Met who?”
“Your mate.”
“Hell no,” Randon said, convinced he sounded convincing. “I’m just thinking about those bodies. The youngest was a kid. She was seventeen.”
“Damn, bro.”
“He positioned all of them the same, just like he did in Alabama. Their wrists were crossed, arms dropped at their waists. Their eyes were closed this time.” He thought about that for a minute, wondering if the victims’ eyes held
significant meaning. “Do you think there’s a reason for that?”
“He’s toying with us. He wants us to get caught up in logistics.”
“You may be right.”
“How much did you tell the authorities there?”
“I had just enough time to tell them he feeds off their life source, but no one asked me to elaborate.”
“That’s small town coppers for you,” Kurt said. “That’s why our guy is so determined to keep the Feds out. He knows he can outsmart the locals in these rural areas. He’s done it enough that he’s cocky. So you didn’t have time to elaborate at all?”
“No and I’d already made up my mind, too. I was planning to share everything I know, but the victims’ families caught wind of what had happened and they came to the site.”
“Oh God,” Kurt grumbled. “The crime scene was easily compromised, I take it?”
“There wasn’t anything there. I’ll give the town’s law enforcement their due. They raked over that scene with a fine-tooth comb. They called in other coroners to look at the bodies and as long as they had daylight, they were searching for evidence.”
“How about you? Did you pick up anything substantial or different from what we saw down in Alabama?”
“Like I said, somebody got away. Based on what we know about these killings, I can’t help but wonder if the escape was allowed.”
“That doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe not, but the shoeprints in the mud suggested the survivor walked away. The prints were close together. They weren’t spread out like they might have been if the survivor had dashed out of there.”
“Then you might be right.”
“I shudder to think why he might have let one go.” Randon pondered further. Had the extortionist let someone go free because he couldn’t use them or because he wanted to later hunt them down like an animal? “How soon can you be here?” They needed to find that survivor and determine why he was set free.
“We’re leaving Atlanta now.”
“Good. Call in every MC charter within several hundred miles. We need to find the survivor before this mind-sucking son-of-a-bitch kills again.”
* * * *
An hour later, Randon sat upright when the diner doorbell jingled. His gaze immediately met the detective’s. She nodded in his direction. He nodded in hers.