Way of the Shadows (Shadow Agents 8)

“Yes.” Shame burned in that word. “I was crying and begging him, and he was taking my picture. He was...filming me with his phone.”

Because the sicko didn’t use a Polaroid any longer, but he still needed the memories of his victims.

“This is very important.” Noelle leaned toward Jenny. “Did you ever hear him talking with anyone else? Did you see anyone else with him?”

Jenny bit her lower lip. “I don’t...I don’t think so.”

“Are you sure, Jenny?” Because the man had worked with a partner years before. Maybe he was up to his old tricks. Two hunters.

A game? A competition?

“I only heard him. No one else.”

Noelle smiled at her. “Thank you, Jenny. You’ve been very helpful.” She rose from the couch and t

urned for the door.

Jenny grabbed her hand. “When am I going to stop seeing him?”

Noelle stilled. Then, slowly, her gaze slid to find Jenny’s.

“Every time I close my eyes, he’s there.” Jenny swallowed and the little click of sound was almost painful to hear. “When will that stop? When will he get out of my mind?”

“When I catch him and lock him in a cell. Then you won’t ever have to worry about seeing him again.”

Jenny nodded and she let go of Noelle.

“Thank you for your time.” Noelle inclined her head to Jenny and Jenny’s mother. Then she left because looking at Jenny was far too much like looking at herself.

The sheriff followed her out. Noelle had been given a new coat from the sheriff’s department, one that fit better, and it helped to block the chill in the air.

The door shut behind them. “I need to head back to the station,” Noelle said. Thomas and Aaron were out running down leads and searching the area. They thought if the perp was looking for medical aid, he might be staying close to the town—and they were determined to find him.

When the sheriff didn’t speak, Noelle glanced his way. He was watching her with a hooded gaze. “Sheriff?”

“Locking him up won’t stop that girl’s nightmares.” His hand rasped over his stubble-covered jaw. “You and I both know that, don’t we?”

Her head tilted as she studied him.

“Camden was a quiet town before all this mess started.” His lips pressed together and formed a grim line. “But Los Angeles, well, it had more than its share of crime.”

So there was more to the sheriff than met the eye. Wasn’t that the story with everyone? “You came up here to get away.”

“I got tired of arriving too late.”

She knew exactly what that was like.

“You’re not FBI.”

Noelle didn’t so much as blink. “My ID says otherwise.”

He laughed, but the sound was grim. “This ain’t my first rodeo, and I know FBI agents when I see them. They’re stiff, by the book, and they sure as hell don’t race through fire without so much as twitching.” He pointed at her. “It was the other agent who gave things away. Military. Covert, I’m betting.”

“The past few days have been very stressful,” she said carefully. “I think—”

“That bigwig who flew in on his own chopper, he isn’t FBI. I don’t know what organization you all work for, but I do need to know this.” He exhaled on a rough breath. “Is my town safe? Or will more people be hurt soon?”

Watch what you say. “We are going to catch the man who’s behind Jenny’s abduction.”