Ask Me If I Care (SWAT Generation 2.0 4)

“None of them kept their babies,” Dad said after a while. “That was why we never put it together before now. But all of them had babies at one point in time. The six that I’ve searched through all gave them up for adoption except for one, who gave her baby to her sister.”

“I’ve gone through three. Three for adoption and one to the father if we’re counting Abilene,” I murmured.

Dad snapped his fingers so loudly that my ear popped.

“I have to call Bruno,” Dad said. “I’ll talk to you later.”

Without another word, he hung up, leaving me sitting there stunned.

Single mothers.

Why would that matter?

But, in the killer’s mind, it did.

I just wish I knew who and why.

Shoving away from my laptop, I quickly got dressed and headed for my kitchen where my truck keys and wallet were sitting from the night before.

After going back into my bedroom for a change of clothes, I headed to Ares’ apartment with Trigger in tow.

What I didn’t expect was to be pulling up at the same time as her father.

“You heard?” he asked, eyeing Trigger.

I nodded once.

“I did,” I confirmed. “My dad called.”

“Same.” Downy paused. “Well, my dad didn’t call. I don’t have a dad anymore. Your dad called.”

I snorted as I shut my truck door and headed for the stairs.

“So you and my girl,” Downy said. “That’s official.”

I stopped on the landing and turned, my arms crossed over my chest.

“Yes.” I didn’t see the point in bullshitting him. “As official as official can be. I love her.”

Downy’s eyebrows rose. “That’s fast.”

I winced at his accusatory tone. “It’s easy to love her.”

His brows rose high.

“I didn’t say anything about loving.”

I rolled my eyes. “You didn’t ask. But I told you.”

Trigger leaned against my leg, and I placed my hand on his head.

“You didn’t need to tell me,” he mumbled. “Can see it from here. Knew how she talked about you that it was serious. Not to mention the fact that it’s three in the morning, and you’re here to talk to her just like I am because you’re worried about her waking up and seeing it on social media or something. And you not being there to hold her when she breaks down over a student that she’s been worried shitless about for the last year.”

That was exactly why I was there.

My brows furrowed. “Do you want me to leave?”

He rolled his eyes. “That’s what you got out of what I said?”

“What are you weirdos doing talking on my porch at three in the morning?” Ares asked, opening the door so hard that the both of us startled.

Downy ruffled Ares’ hair. “I like the hair natural, baby. It’s my favorite.”

Ares rolled her eyes, them going from me to her dad and back.

“What’s wrong?” she asked now.

Trigger walked inside as if he owned the place.

Downy pushed past her inside, and that was when I realized that she didn’t look as if she’d been sleeping.

“You weren’t sleeping?” I asked curiously.

She scrunched up her nose. “Couldn’t sleep,” she admitted. “I thought about coming over but…I didn’t want to wake you up.”

I pulled her into my arms and pressed a kiss to her neck, causing her to shiver.

“You should’ve come,” I replied huskily. “I wanted you there anyway.”

She squeezed my hips, then leaned back and frowned at me. “What’s going on?”

I sighed and pushed her lightly, telling her without words to go inside.

She did, but not without giving me a ferocious frown first.

Downy was sitting on the coffee table with his head in his hands.

“Shit,” Ares said. “What is it? Just tell me.”

I closed the door and cleared my throat.

I made eye contact with Downy and realized he was allowing me to take lead on this.

Which sucked, but it was also an honor. He realized that Ares was mine now. Not his.

“Sweetness, sit down.” I sighed.

She did, looking from me to her dad and back.

“I got a call tonight from my dad,” I said softly. “There’s no really easy way to tell you this but, they think Abilene was murdered last night.”

At first, I don’t think it quite registered with her what I said.

She stared at me, dumbfounded for a few seconds, then shook her head.

“But…what?” she asked. “Why would they think that? I just got a message from her…”

My stomach clenched. “You what? When?”

She walked to her phone that was sitting on the edge of the couch and picked it up. Walking over to stand between her father and me, she opened her phone and then showed me a text message that was received about an hour ago.

About two hours after her suspected murder.

I called my dad immediately.

“When did the call come in that the body was found?” I asked curtly.

Dad was silent as he made sense of what I just said.

“Umm.” He paused. “Around midnight. The girl went missing somewhere between two and four. The librarian saw the girl leave at two and that is her last known whereabouts. She never came home and the brother got worried and called it in. Blasted it all over social media after that. Body spotted by a motorist at midnight.” He paused. “Called you at two-thirty…”