Daddy's Adorable Assassin (Daddy's Little Deviants)

I frowned. “Makes me wonder why you didn’t.”

“I meant to, but we had our hands full. You can understand why.”

We got into the elevator, which only moved after he swiped his ID. From what I’d observed over the weeks I’d been here, not everyone who worked at the facility had access to every floor in the building. Only a few agents had security clearance for the third floor, where I’d met with Knight whenever I visited. I had yet to see the top floor and the basement.

“It’s really true?” I asked as the elevator climbed.

“A stroke of luck.” He shrugged. “Can’t say it’s exactly the way we pictured him, though. In fact, we’re still trying to sort out whether we have the right guy.”

“What do you mean?”

He shook his head. “Words can’t explain. I have to show you. Everyone’s still trying to process it since we brought him here.”

“Someone known?”

“No.”

We were going down instead of up. The elevator groaned to a stop, and the door raised. Knight was ducking out of the elevator before the door was all the way up. I followed suit, shivering. The drop in temperature in this section was significant. We walked to huge blast-proof doors, which opened for Knight’s fingerprint and ID, and stepped into a large area of concrete floors. Two agents nodded at Knight. The shorter Hispanic guy—Gutiérrez—I’d met before. He was the strategic and tactical technician within the unit, but the other blond guy I’d never seen.

“Has he said anything yet?” Knight asked.

“No, sir,” the blond replied. “Just crying.”

Crying? Was that the reason Knight thought this criminal was odd? Had he been taken by a few tears? I gritted my teeth as an image of Petra’s abandoned car came to mind. This heartless criminal had taken her from me and ruined my relationship with my son.

I would be lobbying at the head of the line to give him the death penalty. He deserved no less for the lives he’d mercilessly taken.

“Gutiérrez located the car.” Knight walked farther into the room, and I lengthened my strides to keep up with him. “He had an alert put out on the license plate number since it went missing, and as soon as the traffic cam picked it up, he got notified.”

“That was a really dumb move for a criminal who’s evaded us for ten years.”

“It was. And when you see him, you’ll understand our confusion.”

He stopped in front of a room with a one-way mirror. I stepped up beside him and scanned the room.

“It’s empty.”

“There. Under the bed.”

The “bed” was really a long bench structure with what looked like a twin mattress on top of it. I squinted, then made out the small ankle under the bed.

“What the hell is this, Knight?” I snapped. “I thought you were serious about finding the killer. Is this supposed to be some kind of joke?”

Knight didn’t react. “Just watch. He’ll come out.”

He rapped against the glass. Nothing happened. I clenched my fists, struggling to keep them from banging on the door. What the fuck was he trying to pull? I’d believed them that they’d caught the killer. Barney was right. I’d gotten my hopes up and all for what?

“Agent Ellis, bring me the doll.” Knight glanced at me and raised his hand. “Just be patient.”

Agent Ellis, the blond, came forward, holding a Barbie doll with pink-and-purple hair. Knight handed it to me and punched in a passcode next to the door, which opened with a soft click.

“Go in, and hold this. It’ll get him out from under there.”

I stared down at the doll, wanting to rip the thing’s head off. What the fuck was I doing here, playing with Barbies when my wife’s killer was still roaming the street? Because this—whatever the fuck this was—couldn’t be the killer we’d had chased for years.

“Do you want the same answers we do, Neely?”

Answers. I’d been hunting for them for the past five years. I pushed a palm against the door and entered the room. The door closed behind me. I didn’t go any farther in the room, not sure what to expect.