Harlequin Intrigue April 2021--Box Set 2 of 2 Carol Ericson (short books to read TXT) 📖

he was my last trick of the night. I always head home after the last one to shower at my own place. I haven’t done laundry since then, so the clothes I was wearing that night just might have some of his...DNA.”

“Yes!” Jake slammed his fist on the table, rattling the ice in their drinks. “That’s what I wanted to hear. Is your place nearby? Can we stop by there on our way to the station?”

“Sure.” Sunny dabbed her lips with a napkin and picked up her cup. “You really think this might be the guy?”

“Right now, it’s the best we got.”

After swinging by Sunny’s apartment, where she ran inside and returned to the car with a garbage bag full of clothes, Jake drove on to the station and set Sunny up with a sketch artist. He then had one of the officers on the task force bag Sunny’s clothes for a trip to the lab.

When he finally collapsed behind his desk, he raised his eyes to the ceiling. “I have a good feeling about this.”

Kyra left her own desk to join him. Maybe Brandon should’ve put her right next to him instead of across the room. “Do you have other task force members questioning some of the other hookers in the area to see if any of them had similar experiences?”

“They’re on it.” Jake massaged his temples. “He thought he was being so smart by not sexually assaulting his victims and leaving DNA, but he messed up by mentioning Gracie’s name. They always mess up.”

“The Player never did.” Kyra squeezed the back of her neck.

“He did, Kyra. Somehow, some way, he did mess up. Nobody caught it.”

“Quinn would’ve caught it.” Heat rose to her cheeks at the tone of her voice. Quinn didn’t need her to defend him.

Jake’s hand dropped to her thigh. “Helluva detective, but even he’d tell you he missed something. There is no perfect crime.”

Her gaze dropped to his hand, and he snatched it away. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be. You don’t have to...” She zipped her lips as Billy entered the room.

He rushed over and high-fived Jake. “I think we got this, my man. Thank the heavens for working girls—I mean that from a law enforcement perspective, of course.”

“Of course.” Jake snorted. “Sunny’s still with the artist and her clothes are being tested as we speak. Rush job on that.”

Billy said, “I also sent out a team to look for cameras along Sunny’s stretch of turf. Maybe we can get this guy on camera, too. Maybe catch sight of a car.”

Kyra scooted Billy’s chair away from Jake and stood up. “All yours.”

“Didn’t mean to chase you off, especially since I got a call from Megan today.”

“Oh, good.” Kyra shook her finger at Billy. “Treat her right. She’s coming out of a bad breakup.”

“I treat all the ladies right.”

“That’s your problem.” Jake shoved a file toward Billy. “We’re tracking down Gracie’s last movements. We don’t see a Melrose connection yet, but we’re not ruling it out. We’re also looking for missing jewelry because Marissa’s jade bracelet is definitely gone.”

One of the officers from the task force called across the room. “Kyra, can I talk to you a minute?”

She left Jake and Billy, heads bent over the file, and approached the officer. “What do you need?”

“Gracie Cho’s parents don’t speak English, just Korean. We’d like to get someone to help them out. Can you recommend someone?”

“I think so. Are they here in LA?”

“Yes.”

“Let me reach out to my contacts. I’ll let you know.”

For the next hour before the task force meeting, Kyra stayed on the phone searching for a Korean-speaking therapist or grief counselor. She located one minutes before Jake stood up and announced the meeting.

As they all crowded into the conference room; Kyra stood at the back as she always did. Though the team seemed to accept her, she’d caught a few looks from the other officers as she accompanied Jake through the halls of the station. They couldn’t accuse her of currying favor with the boss since their jobs and hers were on different planes, but she and Jake didn’t need the gossip.

As Jake started the slides, the first one up contained the sketch based on Sunny’s description. As Kyra studied the eyes behind the glasses, she shivered. They looked so mild, yet they had an emptiness about them. She could only guess that they took on a different look when he was hunting his prey. His longish brown hair cut shorter on one side was distinctive, though not distinctive enough for the Hollywood or Melrose crowd—if that’s where he hung out. That clean-cut barista at Uncommon Grounds was the exception not the rule in that area.

She shifted her focus to Billy, now doing the talking.

“We didn’t find a Melrose connection to Gracie. She lived in Encino and worked in Studio City, but we’re not done yet. Still no ID on the woman found at the Malibu fire site, so that hurts us for clues. We’re asking Sunny, the hooker who gave us the sketch, to put out the word among her girls to step up if they had an encounter like hers and we just might get DNA from Sunny’s unwashed clothing she wore the night of her encounter with the man talking about Gracie. Sorry, no prints, Clive.” Billy waved to the fingerprint technician standing in the back with Kyra. “We’re in the best shape we’ve been in yet. So, keep up the canvassing of the Melrose and Hollywood areas. We need to get him before he kills again.”

The meeting adjourned, and Brandon placed a stack of the sketches on a table at the exit. As Kyra wandered out, she grabbed a couple.

Back in the war room, Jake stopped by her desk. “Billy and I are headed out for a few more interviews, and then I have a meeting with Castillo before I knock off. Do you need a ride back to your car? You left it at Marissa’s apartment.”

“If you’re going to Hollywood, that’s