Profile of Retribution: FBI Profiler Romantic Suspense (Profile Series #3) (12 page)

“The other day I was thinking about that time we were in Walmart and you said you were craving grilled steak. But when we got to the meat department, the price was way too high and I didn’t have the money. So I pushed the cart to Dairy to pick up a gallon of milk and forgot all about the steak. After I paid for the groceries, I shoved the cart to the truck and unloaded the groceries while you got inside. Half-way home, you started giggling, and I asked you what was up. You pulled up your shirt and there was the biggest steak I’d ever seen plastered against your stomach. I gave you the lecture of your life about stealing. You just listened, not saying a word. Then when we got home, you shot out of the truck and fired up the grill. Later, I had to laugh, your face smeared with steak sauce and that mischievous grin on your face. You were always a rebel, Snowflake. Of that, I can testify.”

Unspoken sorrow was a living thing and filled his heart with unbearable pain. As quickly as it came, it left, and in its place was the anger that consumed him.

“I haven’t stopped seeking justice for you. Never will. I will make the Lucas couple pay for what their sons did to you. I won’t forget. I promise.”

Chapter Twenty-five

Interviewing Victims’ Families

Cameron sat in his office, staring at his phone, dreading the call he was about to make. Sometimes detectives are like dogs, they didn’t like other dogs pissing in their area. He wondered if Wayne Griffin of the Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department was one of those detectives.

Wayne Griffin was the most dedicated investigator he knew, one of those people who was destined for police work. The last time Cameron saw him was at a task force meeting that convened to stop the Gamers’ killings in Shawnee County. Wayne was there because he was convinced the truck stop murders he was investigating in Indianapolis were connected to the Gamers. He was right.

Wayne had brought five photographs to the meeting; each a young prostitute who had lost her life by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Most of the girls were in their late teens. Wayne had gotten to know each of the victim’s families intimately, which is why Cameron needed to call him. There was no way he’d start interviewing these families until Wayne Griffin knew about it.

Lifting the receiver, he plugged in Wayne’s work number. The detective answered on the first ring.

“Wayne, this is Cameron Chase. How are you?”

“Probably the same as you, cases up to my ears, and no time for anything. What can I do for you?”

“I’m working on a case, and I need to talk to the families of your truck stop murder victims. The ones Evan and Devan Lucas killed.”

“What kind of a case would involve them?” An edge of suspicion laced Wayne’s voice.

“We’ve had a couple of vandalism—”

Wayne cut him off. “Vandalism? Are you nuts? You want to talk to my families about a vandalism case?”

My
families? Seemed like Wayne
was
one of those detectives who didn’t like other detectives pissing in his area. He didn’t want Cameron within a country mile of his families, and that was too bad, because they had to be interviewed. “The vandalism was focused on Bradley and Tisha Lucas, the parents of the men who killed our victims.”

“So how are you connecting the vandalism to my families? It wasn’t like the case didn’t get media attention. Hell, it was on national news.”

“Our suspect left notes that indicated he was seeking retribution for the death of his loved one. His behavior is escalating, and I want to stop him before he hurts the Lucas couple.”

Wayne paused for a moment as if he were thinking the whole thing over. “I can’t think of anyone in my victims’ families who would have done anything like this. I talk to them every couple of weeks, just to check in to see how they’re doing. They’re still grieving, and in a lot of pain. I just don’t want you to dredge things up and get them more upset than they already are.”

“It’s not something I look forward to, but I have to do due diligence and interview each of them.”

“Yeah, I understand that.”

“Listen, if you want to go with me…”

“Not necessary. But I’ll call each one and give them a heads up. Give me a day before you contact them.”

Cameron agreed and ended the call. He understood where Wayne was coming from, he had emotional attachments to victim families, too. He empathized with them as much as Wayne. He couldn’t imagine how he could go on if a member of his family were murdered. But then, this was a part of his job. The part he liked least.

He had one more call to make, and that was to Indiana State Police Detective Robynn Burton. She, too, attended the task force meetings, and each time he saw her, it was difficult to keep his attention away from her full, sexy mouth and deep hunter-green eyes. Robynn was smart, savvy, and sexy, which made it hard for him to concentrate on work instead of plotting to get her into his bed. She was attracted to him, too, he knew it. What he didn’t know was why she wouldn’t go out with him.

He left a message on Robynn’s voice mail, and then read and answered emails until his telephone rang.

“This is Robynn Burton. I got your message.” Her voice was all business and sexy as hell at the same time.

“Thanks for returning my call. I need a favor.”

“What kind of a favor?”

“I’d like you to interview one of the suspects for a case I’m working. It’s a conflict of interest situation.”

“What’s your case, and who’s your suspect?”

“Someone is targeting Bradley and Tisha Lucas for retribution of their sons’ murders. There has been some vandalism with notes left behind.”

“The Gamers? Evan and Devan?”

“Right. I need to interview each of the victims’ families, which means Kaitlyn Reece will need to be questioned. She’s engaged to my brother, Gabe.”

“Yes, it would be conflict of interest. I can see your problem. I have a heavy caseload this week, but I could do it next week. How about Wednesday at ten?”

“That would work.”

Pausing for a second, she added, “Cameron, I don’t want to interview her at your office. Where does she live? I’d rather talk with her there.”

“Kaitlyn lives with Gabe in the main house on our property. I’ll email you directions. Do you want her phone number?”

“Yes, I’d like to talk to her directly about my visit. One more thing, Cameron, I’d like to talk to her alone.”

There was one more word that could be used to describe Robynn Burton, and that was
unpredictable
. Maybe that was part of his attraction, that she could surprise him. Although this was more of a disappointment than surprise, because he wanted to see Robynn. Any excuse would do—even her interviewing his brother’s fiancée. What kind of selfish bastard did that make him?

Cameron made breakfast plans with Gabe. It didn’t take a crystal ball to predict how his brother would react to the news Kaitlyn would be interviewed, along with the other victims’ family members. He’d be livid. Hopefully, in a public place like Mollie’s Cafe, Gabe wouldn’t try to kick his ass. Cameron had lucked out that Kaitlyn’s mother lived out of state, or she would have to be interviewed, too.

Chapter Twenty-six

Gabe

Sitting in a booth in Mollie’s Cafe, Gabe nursed his third cup of coffee and wished he were home in bed. The past two weeks had been a no-sleep marathon, and it was catching up with him. And not in a good way. Doing surveillance to catch a cheating spouse was lucrative and exhausting at the same time. Ted Brown’s wife was either innocent of duplicity, or she was the most cunning cheater he’d ever tracked. So far he’d followed her to the public library for a knitting class, the Hoosier Sports Bar for drinks with her girlfriends, the gym where she had a yoga class, and various other places that did not include a significant lover. Just to make sure she wasn’t sneaking out of the house after Ted went to sleep, he’d spent his evenings until two in the morning parked near their house.

Rubbing the back of his hand over his unshaven face, he checked his watch and then the door again for his brother. A couple of guys who looked like farmhands came in, but no Cam. He’d better have a good reason for dragging him out of bed when he could have talked to him over breakfast at home.

Anthony and Bobbie Cooke entered the cafe. When they looked in his direction, he waved, but they both shot him a nasty glare and then looked away. What the hell? Soon a waitress led them to a table near the window, where another couple sat waiting for them.

Mollie came by to refill Gabe’s mug, and Cameron slid into the booth across from him.

“Took you long enough. Where have you been?” The lack of sleep made him grumpy and ill-tempered.

“Sorry, Gabe. I had to stop over at the Steel Horse Biker Bar…”

“It’s a little early for booze, Cam.”

“Very funny. Someone thought stealing the safe in the back of the bar was a good idea last night.”

Gabe smirked. “What kind of an idiot steals a safe from a biker bar? That’s a good way to reduce your life expectancy.”

“Exactly.”

Mollie arrived with a hot cup of coffee for Cameron and a couple of menus. “Hi, Cam. Nice to see you.”

Cameron nodded and then dived into his menu making Gabe grin. Cameron and Mollie had broken up a long time ago, and he was still avoiding her. The whole situation belonged in an “Avoiding a Bad Breakup” class as a “Don’t Do” example.

Gabe was starving. “I’ll take my usual, Mollie. Scrambled eggs, bacon, blueberry pancakes, and hash browns. I’ll also take a dozen of your chocolate-chocolate-chip muffins to go. Kaitlyn loves them.”

Cameron placed his menu on the table. “I’ll take the same thing, even the dozen muffins. I have to see Bryan Pittman later and he loves those things, too.”

Mollie paused for a second, pencil in air, and then composed herself. She wrote down the order and headed for the kitchen.

Cameron groaned and lowered his head. “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“The way she looks at me. Her eyes are swimming in guilt. I just don’t know what she feels guilty about. Does she feel guilty about hurting me, or does she feel guilty getting caught with Brody in his hospital bed? I mean the guy had just come down from surgery and was still under the effects of the anesthesia, and she’s got him in a lip-lock? Who does that?”

Gabe quickly lifted his mug to his lips to prevent Cameron from seeing the grin that threatened to spread across his face. “I wish you two would just talk about what happened and move on.”

“I
have
moved on.”

“Oh, so you’re seeing someone? That’s news to the brother who lives in the same house.”

“Not exactly, but I’m working on it.”

“Good to hear.”

Gabe gestured with his head to the other side of the restaurant. “Anthony and Bobbie Cooke are sitting over there by the window. They gave me the oddest look when they came in. Wonder what’s going on with them?”

Without looking back, Cameron shrugged and wouldn’t meet his eyes. “No clue.”

Gabe eyed his brother with suspicion. “You didn’t question them about the Lucas vandalism, did you?”

“Damn it, Gabe. In case you hadn’t noticed, I’m the sergeant in charge of the detective unit. How could I
not
talk to them? How could I
not
talk to any of the Gamers’ victims’ families?”

Then it came to him. “Oh, no. Is that why you wanted to meet me away from the house? You’re going to do an official interview with Kaitlyn, aren’t you? You’re going to treat her as a suspect?” When Cameron didn’t respond, Gabe went on, the warning tone in his voice deep and angry. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me! You actually think Kaitlyn, the animal and nature lover, could kill a living being and coat a rock with its blood, and then hurl it through the Lucas’ window like a football? Oh, and I read about the mailbox fire. Can you actually see Kaitlyn, in the middle of the night, stuff their mailbox with gasoline-soaked rags and toss in a lighted match? Really, Cam?”

“I don’t tell you how to do your job, Gabe. I’d appreciate the same in return.”

“How can you accuse the people who are hurting the most from what Evan and Devan Lucas did? How can you dredge up all this crap? Can you not see how much pain Kaitlyn is in? She lost her only sister and she’s mourning for her. The other families of the victims are doing the same for their loved ones. Kaitlyn doesn’t think any of them would resort to vandalism to extract some sort of revenge. She says the whole group is so submerged in grief they can’t think of anything else.”

“Are you finished? Nice to know your brother thinks of you as cold and heartless. I’m doing my job, Gabe. I have to interview each of them to find the vandal before he hurts the Lucas couple. He’s escalating. What about that do you not understand?”

Their food arrived, and Gabe ignored him as he inhaled his breakfast, attacking his food with short, quick, angry movements. After a few minutes, he chugged the rest of his coffee. He aimed a glare at his brother. “Is there anything else?”

Cameron swallowed hard. “One more thing—Robynn Burton is calling Kaitlyn to set up an interview for Wednesday at ten o’clock.”

“Robynn Burton? Isn’t she the state police detective that interviewed me when I was a suspect for Abby Reece’s murder?”