“I really don’t think I should be talking to you four about the Butcher case since none of you are on the task force,” she said.
Trey smiled again, his eyes holding hers captive. “I know we’re not on the task force, but we’re asking anyway.”
“And why is that?”
He crossed his arms over his broad chest, treating her to a pair of biceps she couldn’t have gotten both hands around if she tried. And boy, would she like to try. “Do you remember what I said to you back in June to get you to help us with that delirium case?”
That had been two months ago, so Samantha had to really think about it to come up with what part of the conversation he was talking about. Most of her memories were of the stunningly attractive Trey Duncan practically begging for her help on that case and her feeling badly about not being able to offer up anything.
“I remember you said you needed my help because you and the rest of the SWAT team were the ones who had to deal with the people you thought were on some drug called delirium and that you needed to understand what you were up against.”
Trey gave her another distracting smile. “Exactly.”
“I don’t understand,” she said.
Samantha thought back to the delirium case. Was there some kind of connection to the current serial killer terrorizing the city? She couldn’t see how that was possible. The two men responsible for those crimes had something in their DNA that allowed them to turn people into puppets and control their minds simply by wiping their blood on their victims. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been able to figure out exactly what was in their DNA, and while the Butcher might be scary as hell, she hadn’t found anything to make her think he wasn’t a regular human.
Unless…
“Wait a minute,” she said, her mind starting to spin at a hundred miles an hour. What had she just said to herself only a few minutes ago? When things got weird in Dallas, SWAT was going to be there. “Are you saying the Butcher isn’t a normal killer? That he’s different like the men responsible for making all those people do things against their will are different?”
Another look passed between the big cops before Trevor, Connor, and Hale all seem to pass some kind of unspoken signal to Trey. Only then did he nod.
“We noticed something at the body dump this morning that makes us think the person who dragged the body there wasn’t a normal human. Don’t ask me to explain what that something was because I can’t tell you, and you wouldn’t believe me if I did. I simply need you to trust me.”
Samantha almost said to hell with it. If they didn’t want to tell her anything, why should she tell them anything? It was her butt on the line if her boss found out. But then she looked at Trey and realized there was no way she could say no to him. He was like her own personal brand of kryptonite.
“Okay.” She leveled her gaze at Trey. “Same deal as before. I’ll tell you everything I have on the Butcher, but you personally owe me a favor.”
Trey’s mouth edged up, the twinkle in his eyes making her a little weak in the knees. “You know, you still haven’t collected on the first favor I owe you.”
She smiled up at him. “Maybe I’ll just keep collecting them so I can use them all at once.”
He chuckled, the husky sound doing crazy things to her pulse. Beside him, she caught the smiles on his teammates’ faces.
“Deal,” Trey answered with a dip of his chin. “One favor for anything you have on the Butcher right now and anything you might find on him in the future.”
It wasn’t a shock he’d try to weasel a little extra information out of her, but she’d already made up her mind to tell him as much as she could. Partly because she had a thing for Trey and partly because she already believed there was something strange going on with this serial killer case. She had no idea what it might be, but it could explain why they had so many victims and still no serious clues about who the killer was or why he was mutilating them.
“I guess I should start by admitting we don’t have a whole hell of a lot on the killer, even with all the emphasis the chief is putting on the task force,” she said. “What I can tell you is that this guy is no random slasher. Most of the cuts on the bodies were professional and surgical in nature, without a single sign of hesitation or doubt. On top of that, I found signs of arteries and veins being tied off prior to some of the amputations, along with indications that some of the victims were still alive when the killer did it. Believe it or not, keeping someone alive while you dismember them is actually rather difficult.”
“And sick,” Trey muttered. “So what you’re saying is that we’re dealing with a doctor of some kind. Or at least someone who went through a good portion of medical school.”
“Which means we’re not talking about a small pool of potential suspects,” Connor added with a frown. “Especially if we include everyone who was kicked out or dropped out of med school.”
“It definitely isn’t a short list,” Samantha agreed. “Unfortunately, the situation is even more complicated than that. Like I said. Most of the cuts were clean and precise. But there were others, namely the ones at the neck and wrists, that were quite ragged. They were basically hack jobs.”
That earned her a grimace or two from Trey and his friends.
“So what are you saying? That there are two killers working together?” Trevor asked, clearly surprised. “I never heard of serial killers teaming up.”
Samantha shrugged. “Me, either. I wish I could say for sure there are two killers, but I can’t. Some people on the task force think there are, while others insist it’s one guy and that the less precise cuts are because he loses control and goes completely psychotic.”
Trey grimaced. “Any connections between the victims yet? Or how the killer selects his targets?”
When she admitted the answer to both of those questions was no, Trey and his teammates were clearly surprised they hadn’t identified any of the victims yet, much less establish a serious connection between the men.
“So far, the only thing we can say for sure about the victims is that they’re all in their late twenties to midthirties, in good shape, over six feet tall, and weigh more than two hundred and thirty pounds,” she said. “And before you ask, no we’re not sure if this is significant in some way or simply a coincidence.”
Trey and his teammates seemed more than ready to keep grilling her for information about the case, but just then, all four of them got odd looks on their faces, then turned as one to face the door. Samantha was just about to ask what the heck they were doing when she heard footsteps in the hallway. A few moments later, her boss walked in with two of her coworkers.
“Samantha.” Her boss eyed Trey and his teammates curiously from behind his wire-rimmed glasses before looking at her. “We were walking by and heard you talking to someone. I didn’t realize anyone from the task force was still here.”