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

ending with Del Howe’s death in Gresham yesterday. “You did all this while I was asleep?”

“You were right about the randomness being a pattern in and of itself. Six of the twenty-five original investigators in the case were still in New Castle County when the murders started two years ago.” The sound of his heavy footsteps filled her ears as he stepped up beside her, his arm brushing against hers. Dylan motioned to the entirety of the board. “He might’ve started there, but I think the killer was trying to keep law enforcement from catching on to him too quickly. He couldn’t kill all six of them around the same time. Too much attention. So he spread it out. He killed Teresa Hild at her home in Greenville, then he headed to Georgia for the next.” Dylan used his hand to indicate the blue line from Delaware to Georgia, the veins accentuated in the back of his hand. “Sometimes he’d alternate between New Castle County and his next location. Sometimes he killed two or three victims before returning, which makes me believe—”

“Delaware is his home base.” Even now, there was a chance whoever’d killed Del Howe had fled the state, but her instincts said the game of cat and mouse wasn’t finished. There were still two investigators here in Oregon who’d been involved in the original case. Her and Dylan.

Remi visually traced the patterns he’d created across the board, noting a red line had been added sometime during the process. A line that interconnected a few of the murder locations and dates, and ended in what looked like Gresham, Oregon. “And this red line? What’s that one for?”

“After you suggested Sergeant Nguyen was involved with these twenty-five deaths—twenty-six, if you count Del Howe from yesterday morning—I started looking into him a bit more. We theorized our killer might be law enforcement, which would explain how he was able to get his hands on the original New Castle Killer case files. I think you were right.” His chest pressed against her arm as he indicated the length of the red line, and warm, nervous energy skittered down her spine. Her breath caught as he continued. “I was able to verify Sergeant Daniel Nguyen was in these six cities when these murders occurred.”

That couldn’t be a coincidence. She’d been completely out of it when she’d claimed Daniel Nguyen was linked with the murders, but something at the back of her mind had made the connection. Now it was more than a theory. “Harrisonburg, Las Vegas, Hanover, Kansas City, Baltimore and San Antonio. All of these cities host law enforcement conferences. He could have used them as a cover to travel to these locations then slipped away long enough to kill his victims.”

Dylan spun to her open laptop and angled the screen toward her. Six lists of names in distinct columns filled the screen, with one name highlighted on each page. Six pages, six lines, each matching the same name. Daniel Nguyen. “I reached out to the conference organizers after I made the same connection and had them send over their registration lists. It looks like that’s exactly what he did. We can place him in these six cities at the times of these six murders. We also can’t discount the fact he was the first officer who responded to Del Howe’s murder scene yesterday morning. That still leaves nineteen murders we can’t tie him to, but what are the odds this isn’t our guy?”

“We’ll need more than a registration list to prove he actually attended the conferences. Travel records, receipts, hotel reservations.” Remi traced her finger across the trackpad of her laptop and focused on Nguyen’s Gresham PD photo. “But it’s enough to have Captain Paulson bring him in for questioning.”

FLORESCENT TUBES ABOVE reflected off the yellowing tiles around the interrogation room. Dylan folded his arms across his chest as he leaned against the wall near the one-way glass. The scents of sweat, body odor and bodily fluids he’d rather not think about from the hundreds of suspects previously questioned in the room filled his lungs.

Sergeant Daniel Nguyen was the latest.

“What the hell is this, Captain? You said you had a few questions for me about yesterday’s scene. Why are we meeting in here?” Daniel Nguyen’s brown gaze cut from his captain to Remi in the seat across the table from him. “And what is she doing here? She was banned from stepping anywhere near this investigation.”

An animalistic growl vibrated up Dylan’s throat. His arms lowered to his sides as battle-ready tension hardened the muscles across his shoulders. “She is a federal chief deputy United States marshal, and you’ll talk to her like one, Sergeant.”

Remi’s chin angled over her right shoulder, putting Dylan in her peripheral vision, but she didn’t respond. She didn’t need him to defend her, he knew that, but he wasn’t going to stand there and let Nguyen talk down to her, either.

“We’re just talking, Daniel. That’s it. The conference room is being set up for the union meeting taking place in an hour. No need to read into anything.” Captain Elijah Paulson tapped the file folder in front of him, the one Remi and Dylan had handed over to him less than an hour ago with the alleged connections between the sergeant and the twenty-six murders. A long trail of white-gray facial hair shook as the captain spoke.

He’d flat-out denied his sergeant had had anything to do with the New Castle Killer case and the resulting murders of everyone involved, but in the end, with the evidence Dylan and Remi had gathered, the captain couldn’t ignore the truth. “Marshals Barton and Cove brought some information to my attention today, and I wanted to sit you down and clear the air. For all of our sakes.”

Nguyen’s expression flattened as he interlaced his fingers across the steel surface of the table. He leaned back in his chair, seemingly at ease, confident. “Then ask.”

“The medical examiner identified the victim found