In the years since her friend had passed, three more had been killed in the exact same way.
And with each subsequent murder, she became just a little bit more obsessed.
“Why this month?” I asked curiously.
“They always disappear in the winter and usually around the holidays,” she answered, flipping to the next page. “When I brought this to my teacher as my final class research project, she became extremely interested in it. She was able to pull some background out of the FBI database due to her clearance. I should’ve asked Silas to help me. He would have.”
I agreed.
Silas would do anything for any of his club’s kids, grandkids or club members.
Anything.
“Anyway,” she said. “She pulled the entire file for me. This is what I’m holding right now. I have access to more through secure channels, but for right now, I printed off the pages that talk about the killer himself. About his mannerisms, and the things they suspect him to be.”
“What do you mean ‘suspect him to be?’” I questioned.
“They expect him to be a white male, thirty to fifty years old. Average height. Likely socially awkward…” she read the report to me, and would’ve continued had the chief not walked in halfway through her commentary.
Luke waited until she was done reading off her defining factors about the serial killer before he interrupted.
“Sounds like Patman,” Luke joked.
“Or Jerry,” I replied just as jokingly.
Ashe grinned and closed her folder.
“I hope you know I gave up a day of naps for this, Uncle Luke,” Ashe said as she waited for Luke to come further into the room.
Luke pinched his lips and shut Ashe’s office door.
“I like what you’ve done with the place,” he joked, eyes taking everything in.
Ashe looked at her sparsely decorated office.
“I don’t want people to think that you’ve given me preferential treatment,” Ashe admitted. “I’m still debating on taking the office at all.”
Luke snorted and took a seat in the rickety chair that I was too scared to try.
The metal creaked but ultimately held him up just fine.
“This is the detective’s hallway,” Luke said. “Everyone in the detective department has an office. Files are needed, and we can’t just have those floating around for anyone to get them.”
Luke did have a point.
“Luke,” she started again. “People are already looking at me funny. ‘Who’s this girl walking in here going straight to detective when she hasn’t even gotten out of training yet?’”
Her mimicked words sounded more like someone that had said those exact words rather than ones she’d made up on the spot.
Luke leaned back in the chair and it groaned.
“That’s what I came to talk to you about, anyway,” he said. “For the next three weeks, you’re going to be riding along with a senior officer. He’ll teach you the ropes. Make sure that you don’t fuck up. Make sure that you’re capable of handling yourself. And, also, he’ll be the one to clear you. Once he’s cleared you, you can officially start work.”
“Okay,” Ashe drawled out the word. “Who would be the one training me?”
I immediately thought of the officer that I rode along with for weeks on end and winced.
“Ford.” Luke gestured toward me. “I want you to ride with Ford.”
“I’m sorry, but you want me to what with Ford?” she asked in surprise.
“I want you to ride along with Ford,” Luke repeated, his arms crossed tightly over his chest as he bounced his gaze between Ashe and me. “I usually have a seasoned officer doing the trainee process, but he’s been out on sick leave for a month due to a fall. He won’t be back for six weeks, and I know that you’re about to start school again. It’s either do it with Ford for the rest of the break, or you can wait until the trainer gets back off of sick leave. Which could put you right in the middle of your classes.”
I sighed and looked over at Ashe.
Did I want to spend every waking moment with her from now until the end of her break?
I looked at her as if I was about to say no, which had her back stiffening.
“I have no problem if Ford doesn’t,” Ashe replied sweetly.
Luke’s eyes moved from me to Ashe.
I shrugged. “No skin off my nose. She works the same shifts as I do?”
Luke nodded.
Ashe’s taunting eyes turned to me.
“Ready for the night shift, Soot?” I teased.
She narrowed her eyes. “Of course.”
Turns out, she wasn’t ready for the night shift at all.Chapter 8
Are your eyebrows real or fake?
-things not to ask a woman
Ford
“What’s going on, ma’am?” I asked the woman.
She quickly dashed tears off of her cheeks and sniffled once.
“I have this Ring doorbell.” She pointed to the doorbell behind her.
“Okay.” I was getting agitated. I was having to pry every fucking ounce of information out of her, and she was treating me like I was the bad guy here instead of the one responding to the call.