“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 said. “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.”
How many more people were going to try to squeeze into her office? The room had been crowded before with the four large cops, but now it was nearly claustrophobic. “These officers aren’t with the task force. They’re here to tie up a few loose ends on a case from back in June.” Before her boss could ask which case, she quickly made the introductions. “Officers, this is Louis Russo, the chief medical examiner. And this is Hugh Olsen and Nadia Payne, two of my fellow assistant MEs.”
Her gray-haired boss immediately reached out to shake hands with Trey and his teammates as she continued with the introductions. Hugh merely nodded stiffly in greeting while Nadia offered them a cool smile. No surprise there.
While Samantha loved working with Louis, who was a brilliant pathologist, a willing mentor, and completely above the politics that sometimes made working in the ME’s office a pain in the butt, she couldn’t say the same about Hugh and Nadia. They were both smart and capable at their jobs, but spending so much time among the dead had made them cold and detached. Almost like they didn’t know how to interact with the living anymore. The only time either of them pretended to care was when Louis was around to see it. To say they’d been pissed when Louis had assigned Samantha to the Butcher task force was putting it mildly. The way they saw it, this was the kind of case that could catapult their careers to the next level and put them directly in line for chief ME when Louis left. The fact that there were people actually dying out there thanks to this psychopath didn’t seem to register with them at all. Hugh, in particular, had campaigned heavily for the assignment, and when Louis gave it to Samantha, he’d nearly exploded. Since then, he never let a chance to bash Samantha pass him by. Nadia was more circumspect about it but equally bitter. Luckily, Louis never listened to their crap.
The moment Hugh and Nadia figured out they weren’t going to be able to undermine Samantha—or hear anything about the serial killer case—they both left her office, mumbling something about needing to catch up on paperwork. Louis left soon after they did, asking Samantha to stop by his office before she left for the day so they could go over whatever she had learned from the Butcher’s latest victim.
Thirty seconds later, Connor, Hale, and Trevor headed for the door, too, saying they’d be waiting out by the truck. And just like that, Samantha found herself left alone with Trey. It occurred to her then that it was the first time that had ever happened.
“Not very subtle, are they?” Samantha asked with a soft laugh.
Getting to her feet, she moved closer, mesmerized by the way his presence still seemed to fill the room even with only the two of them in it. Samantha found it impossible not to stare up at him. To say he was the most gorgeous man she’d ever seen was an understatement.
“No, I guess they aren’t,” Trey murmured, gazing down at her, his low, sexy voice drawing her in even closer. “Sorry we chased off your coworkers like that.”
“Did you hear me complaining?” she countered. “Anything that gets me out of talking to Hugh and Nadia is all good in my book.”
Trey snorted, his lips curving into a smile. Samantha had an overwhelming urge to rub her face against his like a cat just so she could feel that scruff on his chiseled jaw against her skin.
“Yeah, I couldn’t help but pick up on the bad vibe between you and those two,” he said. “If you want to use up one of those favors, I happen to have a few friends in the federal government. I could have them sniff around their background, see if Hugh cheats on his taxes or Nadia hacks into her neighbor’s Netflix account.”
Samantha was too caught up in Trey’s blue eyes to answer right away. Sometimes they seemed darker in color, like the sky at night. Other times, they reminded her of the sky on a sunny day. She wondered if it was possible for eyes to change color like that, to lighten and darken with one’s mood. Maybe she should ask for permission to lay on his chest for a few hours to study them just to see if she was right.
But while lying atop Trey certainly sounded like fun, Samantha realized maybe she needed to start with something a little less familiar.
“If I’m going to use up one of my favors,” she said softly, keenly aware of Trey leaning in even more, then closing his eyes and inhaling. Like he was trying to breathe in her scent. “It wouldn’t be for snooping into either of their backgrounds.”
“What would you use it on then?” he asked, lifting his gaze to hers. Oh yeah, his eyes definitely darkened a bit more, like the ocean in the middle of a storm.