“He probably altered his appearance now. He knows the police are still looking for him in connection to my sister’s murder and is like a chameleon. He fits in wherever he is and goes unnoticed.”
Jade’s determined expression didn’t waver. “Don’t worry. The Maverick men are smart, thorough and determined. They’ll find him.”
Cora squeezed Ginny’s hand. “You can trust us. This family takes care of each other.”
“Liam and Jacob are two of the finest lawmen I’ve ever known,” Jade continued. “And Fletch...” A warm smile flickered in her eyes as she glanced at her husband. “He’s honest and trustworthy and will do everything he can to track down this man.”
“I...don’t know what to say,” Ginny whispered. “The lawmen I worked with before treated me like what happened was my fault.” If she remembered correctly, they’d treated her mother as a suspect when her father was first murdered, too.
“I understand how it feels to be looked at with suspicion,” Cora said. “When my daughter was kidnapped, the police acted as if my husband, at the time, and I did something to her. It was a horrible feeling and made me not want to work with the police.”
Ginny wiped her clammy hands on her slacks. Cora did understand.
“And I know what it’s like to be a victim,” Jade added. “A few months ago, I was investigating a serial murder case when I was attacked and left for dead in the mountains in the middle of a blizzard. When I came to, I didn’t remember my name or what happened.”
Ginny gaped at her. “How did you survive?”
Jade smiled. “Fletch found me and carried me to a shelter to wait out the storm. Slowly my memories started to return. But I had nightmares for weeks afterward.” She gestured toward Jacob and Liam. “Those men saved my life and helped me seek justice.” Sincerity laced her voice. “They’ll help you, too, Ginny. You just have to trust them.”
A warmth seeped through Ginny, chasing away some of the chill. Both of these women had overcome trauma and seemed stronger for it. Could she do the same?
Jade reached for the sketch. “Let me give this to Liam so he can log it into the system.”
Cora handed her the sketch and Jade passed it to the men. Griff scrutinized the sketch, then walked over to her with a grim expression. He probably wondered how she could have been so gullible to have entangled herself with a sadistic psycho like Robert.
She’d asked herself the same question a thousand times.
“Let me make some more tea.” Cora excused herself and went to the kitchen.
Griff slid onto the sofa beside Ginny. “You okay?” he asked softly.
She nodded, although nothing about this situation was okay. “I can’t believe I allowed this to happen.”
“Don’t do that,” Griff said firmly. “Stop blaming yourself for being a victim.”
“That’s hard to do when my sister lost her life because of me.”
A tense silence lingered for a moment before Griff spoke. “You weren’t the only one who fell for him.”
Ginny wrinkled her brow. “You mean Joy?”
Griff shrugged. “No. There was another woman before you. At least Liam found a victim who fit the same profile. She was from Savannah, Georgia.”
Ginny’s heart stuttered. “She was strangled?”
“And her house set on fire,” Griff said. “Her name was Ava Frances. She was twenty-five. Her coworkers said she met a man on a dating site. His name was David Lakin. He was an investor.”
“Just like Robert,” Ginny said in a low voice.
Griff nodded. “One of her friends apparently became suspicious of his behavior. After they were engaged, Ava pulled away from her friends and family, even left her job to stay home and be the wife he wanted.”
Goose bumps skated up Ginny’s arms. “What happened?”
“One of the girlfriends confronted him, and he strangled her and burned down her apartment with her in it.”
Oh, God. Images of Tess’s dead body taunted Ginny. She thought she was going to be sick.
“A week later, the fiancée ended up dead, strangled and left in her car which he set on fire.”
Ginny leaned forward with her elbows on her knees, lowered her head and took several deep breaths to stem the nausea.
Robert had done the same thing to another woman before her, and he’d killed her friend just like he had Tess. Who knows how many more women’s lives he would destroy if they didn’t stop him now?
He hadn’t left any of his lovers, witnesses or anyone who’d crossed him alive.
Which meant he didn’t want her as his wife as he’d said. He wanted to kill her.
* * *
NOW THAT GRIFF understood the reason Ginny was running and her distrust of the police, her actions made sense. Hopefully, Cora and Jade had alleviated her anxiety over confiding in him and his brothers.
“Bouldercrest knows where Ginny’s staying?” Jacob asked.
Griff nodded. “He’s been in her room at the inn.”
“Did she report the break-in to the innkeeper?”
“I don’t think so. After what happened with that dirty cop, I don’t think she’s trusted anyone since.”
Griff wanted her to trust him almost as much as he wanted to protect her.
“I can assign a car outside the inn,” Jacob suggested. “If he shows up there, we’ll grab him.”
“Good. Although I don’t think Ginny should stay at the inn tonight,” Griff said. “It’s too dangerous.”
Jacob arched a brow. “What do you suggest?”
“She can stay in my spare room. My security system is state-of-the-art.”
“True,” Liam said. “Although if this guy saw you with Ginny, it could be dangerous for you.”
Griff squared his shoulders. “I can handle myself. You forget I face danger every day on the job.”
“This is different,” Jacob said. “You aren’t just dealing with an arsonist. This is a cold-blooded psychopath.”
“All the more reason we make sure he doesn’t get to Ginny,” Griff said.
His brothers reluctantly agreed, and Jacob phoned his deputy about standing guard at the inn in case Bouldercrest showed. Liam scanned the sketch Cora had drawn of the man and entered it into the system to alert law-enforcement agencies to be on the lookout for him. Fletch took a copy to pass to the rangers on the AT and to use as a reference himself.