Borderline (6 page)

Mac must have known Tanner was there because he didn’t react when Tanner spoke.

“It’s not too late for drinking when you can’t sleep.”

Tanner sat on the couch, watching Mac stare out the bow window, tension evident in the set of the man’s shoulders. What was he worried about?

“Obviously our sleeping together shouldn’t have happened now. We’re working on a case together, and our focus should be on finding the killer.”

Turning to look at him, Mac nodded. “You’re right, but I don’t regret what we did.”

“Neither do I, and I hope we do it again. Several times, but maybe after the case’s solved.”

Mac snorted. “I doubt I’m going to be able to wait that long, but I don’t want the guys I work with to find out I’m gay. At least not yet.”

And why did the first part of the statement make Tanner proud? He pushed the thought away to look at later. He noticed how Mac had the folder for the last Knife victim open and the photos scattered across the coffee table.

“Who was she, Mac? I can tell you knew the latest victim.”

Mac stared down at his drink. “You never did tell me earlier how you figured it out.”

Tanner fiddled with the edge of one of the photos. “I’m trained to be observant. I noticed your reaction when you saw something on her body.”

“A birthmark inside her left elbow,” Mac muttered.

“Who was she?”

Mac slammed back his tequila before saying, “You already know her name. Marissa Leviston. When I was fifteen, she was my foster sister for six months.”

“Was she part of the system or were you?”

Tanner could tell Mac hated baring his private life to a man who was practically a stranger, even if they’d had sex. Tanner didn’t push, taking whatever Mac would give him for now.

“I was. The state took me away from my crack-whore mother and shuffled me from family to family. When I was fifteen, I landed at the Levistons’ for six months until Mr. Leviston transferred out of state. I lost track of them after that.”

“How did you get back in touch with her?”

“It was only in the last couple of months or so that I found out she and her family lived in Houston. She saw me at a bar downtown one night and approached me. We picked up where we left off all those years ago. We talked at least once a week, but I wouldn’t really say we were close.”

Tanner nodded and stayed silent for a moment while Mac poured another tequila.

“Why not tell your boss you knew her? Your number is bound to come up on her phone records.”

“I made the decision to go in the morning and tell Billingsley. If I tell him, I might not get in too much trouble. Unlike what would happen if someone else tells him. I informed her parents earlier today and promised them I’d find her killer.”

“I get that, but you’re going to have to do some fancy talking not to get taken off this case.” Tanner stood and strolled to where Mac leaned against the window frame. He rested his hand on Mac’s shoulder. “I’ll do everything I can to keep you working with me.”

“I appreciate it.”

Tanner took the glass from Mac’s hand and entwined their fingers. He set the glass down on the end table as they passed it.

“Time to sleep. You’re going to run yourself into the ground, and it won’t help the Levistons get closure.” Tanner pointed to the bed. “Lay down. I’ll set the alarm so you can get up early enough to go home and change before you go in.”

Mac didn’t argue and climbed into bed. Tanner retrieved two aspirins and a glass of water for his lover.

“Here. Take these. It’ll help with the headache you’re going to have in the morning.”

Again Mac didn’t say anything. Did the man regret telling Tanner all that he had? Tanner didn’t care. He wouldn’t break the trust Mac had shown him by allowing Tanner to see into his personal life. Eventually maybe Tanner would show the same trust and tell Mac about the skeletons in his closet.

Joining Mac in the bed, Tanner embraced him, and Mac sighed, relaxing into Tanner’s arms.

“Sleep. The case isn’t going anywhere. We’ll look at everything again tomorrow.”

Mac grunted, and Tanner smiled in the darkness. Not much of a talker late at night. He would have to remember that.

His phone beeped, and he managed to snatch it from the stand without waking Mac. Flipping it open, he read the message.

Leaving Houston.B gone for a week or so.

K. B careful
, he sent back.

He tossed the phone, not caring where it landed. Wiggling a little, he slipped farther down under the covers and closed his eyes. Yes, morning would be there quickly, and he needed to get some rest to help Mac find the guy who’d killed his foster sister.

Chapter Four

“Boss, can I talk to you for a moment?” Mac poked his head around the door and looked at Billingsley.

“Sure, Mac. Come on in and shut the door behind you.”

Mac did that and stood in front of the desk, his hands clasped behind his back.
Shit
! This sucked. It was almost like being called in front of the principal at school. Yet he was the one who’d asked for the meeting.

“What did you want to talk to me about?”

“I knew the latest victim.”

Billingsley’s eyebrows shot up, and the captain looked surprised for a moment. “Who is she?”

“She was my foster sister in California. I spent six months with her and her family until her father got transferred out of the state and I couldn’t go with them. I got back in touch with her several months ago.”

“Why didn’t you say something to begin with?” Billingsley folded his hands on his desk.

Mac shook his head. “I was worried you would pull me off the case, and I really want to catch the man who killed her.”

Billingsley pursed his lips and stayed silent for several minutes. Mac kept himself from fidgeting. Any kind of punishment the captain came up with would be fitting. He shouldn’t have kept his connection to the case a secret.

“As much as I know we’re not supposed to let our detectives work cases where they have a personal stake in it, you’re my best detective, Mac, and I can’t afford to take you off this case. If anyone is going to catch this bastard, it’d be you.”

He heaved a silent sigh but simply nodded. “I promise I won’t do anything to mess this case up. I want to make sure the bastard fries for what he did.”

“Good. Now get your ass out there and solve this case,” Billingsley ordered.

“Yes, sir.” Mac left the office, and another bit of tension eased in him.

* * * *

Tanner stood in his office, arms folded, staring at the pictures taped to the large dry-erase board attached to one wall. Just a quick once-over and he knew the same man had killed all the women. The savageness of the knife wounds and the way each woman was displayed spoke of a deep-seated anger toward females. Yet the precision of the cuts told Tanner the killer was comfortable with a knife and knew how to use the blade to cause maximum pain or torture.

The man favored a large blade with no serrations, like a KA-BAR or combat knife. Tanner made a note to double-check the ME’s report on the actual wounds. He’d have to dig through the crime scene photos again to see if they had any detailed pictures of the injuries, which could give him some more clues to the killer’s identity.

Frowning, he shuffled the photos, pulling out the close-up images of each victim’s breast. He taped them to the board under their names and next to the images of the entire body. There was something in the design carved into the flesh. He could almost make it out, but the intricate swirls hid whatever was there perfectly.

Tanner grabbed his phone and dialed Mac’s number.

“Guzman.”

“Hey, Mac, it’s Tanner.”

“Hey. How’s it going?”

A slight hesitation marred Mac’s question, and Tanner smiled. Apparently Mac worried Tanner was going to become clingy or talk about what they’d done the night before. He didn’t have to worry, because Tanner wasn’t going to say anything. Starting any kind of relationship in the middle of a case was difficult enough, but when one of the investigating officers was related to one of the victims, the difficulty level went even higher.

“Good. Do you have the original photos of all the crime scenes on your computer?”

Mac grunted, and Tanner heard typing in the background. “Yeah. Why?”

“Can you e-mail them to me? I need to enlarge some of them.”

“Sure. Do you have something?” Mac sounded cautiously optimistic.

No cop worth his weight in experience would get excited about any clue, except the one leading to the capture of the killer.

Tanner shrugged, even though he knew Mac couldn’t see him. “Maybe. There’s a symbol or something entwined in the swirls the bastard carves into their left breast. I can’t make it out with the pictures I have. I thought I’d enlarge them and see if that helps.”

“You doing it yourself?” Mac asked.

Tanner sat at his desk and brought up his e-mail. “Yeah. I learned how to do all that stuff when I realized usually the techs don’t work at three in the morning when I get a good idea and need to see something. It’s not that hard.”

“Probably wouldn’t be for someone who can use a computer without breaking it,” the Texas Ranger mumbled.

“Not very computer literate, huh?” Tanner typed quickly.

Mac chuckled. “I do all right. As long as I can e-mail and type up my reports, I’m happy.”

“Yeah, most people don’t need much more than that.”

A new message appeared from Mac, and Tanner opened it to start downloading the file.

“Thanks. I’ll let you get back to what you were doing.”

“We’re retracing the days before each victim disappeared. I’m trying to see what connects them, because there has to be some reason why he chose those particular women.”

Tanner snorted softly. “They always have a reason for picking them. Doesn’t mean we’ll ever know what it is.”

“That’s the frustrating thing.”

“We’ll just have to ask when we catch him.” Tanner’s computer dinged when the file was done. He opened it to make sure everything worked. “Thanks for sending the pictures, Mac. I’m going to start working on them. I’ll call you if I get anything. Oh, did you talk to Billingsley?”

“Yeah. He wasn’t happy, but he told me he wanted his best detective on the case, so he agreed to let me stay on.” Mac paused for a few seconds before continuing. “Do you want to get together tonight and talk over what we’ve done for the day?”

Tanner’s body tensed as he imagined what they could end up talking about, but he didn’t assume Mac would want more sex. He wasn’t going to make a big deal of it one way or another. They had a case to work, and getting involved wasn’t proper procedure. Yet he planned on pursuing the Texas Ranger once the case was solved.

“Sure. You want to call me when you’re ready for dinner? I’ll be working on this case as much as possible all day, though I do have a couple of others to go over as well. I’ll meet you wherever you want to go.” Tanner stood and wandered over to the board, staring at the pictures. “But we should probably call a meeting of the task force so I can tell them what I figured out so far. You can compare my preliminary findings with what your profilers did.”

“You still haven’t read their report?”

“No. I don’t want to prejudice my thoughts. You and Billingsley wanted a second set of eyes looking at this. That’s what I’m giving you without being compromised by any other opinion. Once my report is done, we’ll go through both profiles and combine them to ensure we don’t miss something important by either of us.” Tanner tapped his fingers on his thigh.

“Okay. I’ll call when I’ve got the meeting set up. We’re still on for dinner, though.” Mac hung up.

Tanner hung up and settled back at his desk, opening the software to enlarge the particular part of the pictures interesting him. He printed multiple copies of them and taped one print to each collection of photographs on the board. The other set he carried to a chair he placed next to the window in his office. He’d grabbed a magnifying glass out of his desk as he went by.

Why did the carving intrigue him so much? All his instincts told him it held the secret to the killer’s identity. Yet he could already tell something about the man from the photographs. He’d written down some of his thoughts and would type a preliminary report for Sam and Captain Billingsley, including everything he’d told Mac the night before.

What was the Knife’s most important ritual? The one thing he had to do to get any satisfaction from killing? Tanner scrubbed his chin and squinted out the window.

Damn
! He was going to have to go through all the evidence collected at the scenes. He hated touching items connected to such violent murders. At times, it felt like the pain and horror of the victims rubbed off on him. After especially horrific cases, he would take a vacation to the islands or even up into the Rockies, trying to erase from his psyche all the hatred and insanity.

He understood he wouldn’t be able to profile much longer. He didn’t have the right mind-set to do it for the rest of his life. Too much violence and death marked a man deep inside, even when he was only responsible for cleaning up the aftermath. He was starting to wish he worked somewhere preventing the violence or trying to stop it before it got as far as someone dying.

His desk phone rang, and he went to answer it. “Wallace.”

“Our meeting is in an hour at your office. You want me to bring anything?”

“No. I’ll be ready.” He smiled at Mac’s brisk question. “See you in an hour.”

“See you then.”

Mac hung up, and Tanner shook his head. The man didn’t seem big on conversation, and it didn’t upset Tanner. He’d learned long ago to deal with silence because it was just him and his mom while he was growing up. His mom also never encouraged him to have many friends. He understood her reasoning, but he’d been lonely as a child until he learned why they had to keep to themselves.

Tanner never once questioned his mother’s choices for their lives. He hardly missed his father once the man was out of the picture. Of course Tanner’s dad had never had much to do with him. He’d been too busy with his business, so Tanner always hung out with his mother, and when they moved to the States, he’d accepted his new home.