Ever since Abe had started dating again, Karma had become snarkier than usual. Seeing the interest in her sister’s eyes, Jo crossed her fingers this wouldn’t blow up in their faces. At least not until the case was solved.
“Hell-oh there, Mr. Interpol Man.” Karma sauntered over the hulking giant. “Where have you been hiding all my life?”
A small growl from the door pulled Jo’s attention to Abe and Maker. The noise didn’t deter Karma’s advance.
The agent’s thick brows raised in surprise as his gaze dragged over Karma, lust lighting the brown orbs. “They keep me in the London office, but if I had known what Southern beauties were hidden away in Alabama, I would have come here sooner.”
Jo and Sullivan shared a grin at the jealousy sparking off of Abe. The man wasn’t as indifferent as he claimed. Abe set the second set of files on the table next to Maker then spun on his heel and stormed out of the conference room.
“Oh, an accent.” Karma continued as if Abe hadn’t been there at all as she beamed up at the agent. “Can you say blimey, mate?”
“I could, but how about we save it for later? Say, dinner tonight?” The clipped accent deepened.
Karma bounced on the balls of her feet. “It’s a date.”
“You can stop anytime because that’s just disturbing, even for you.” Jo teased.
Karma ignored Jo as she leaned into the agent’s space. “Ignore her. You’re yummy.”
“And you’re cheeky,” he retorted the smile taking the sting out of the words.
Jo huffed in exasperation.
“Cheeky?” Karma frowned and turned to Jo.
Before the agent could answer, Maker spoke up from his spot across from Jo. “It means your ass is fat, Karm.”
A gasp as Karma twisted to look at her backside. Jo and Sullivan burst into guffaws. “That’s a good one, Maker.”
“That’s not at all what it means,” the agent stated, his eyes rounded in surprise.
“Meh, it’s close enough.” Maker exchanged fist bumps with Jo and Sullivan. “Besides, her ass is getting wider. Probably from that third helping of fries she had yesterday.”
Karma’s gaze narrowed dangerously on her partner. “I only ate those because they gave you the wrong order and I didn’t want them to go to waste.”
“You say tomato, I say bullshit. It’s all the same.” Maker sipped his coffee.
“Cheeky is nothing to do with her arse,” the Interpol agent interrupted the brewing storm.
“Oh, that’s a shame. So you didn’t check my ass out at all?” Karma twisted back to the agent.
“I did. However, I was referring to you calling me yummy.” His eyes darkened as they trailed over Karma.
Having seen enough, Jo tossed a balled-up piece of paper at the pair. “Get a room. And quit talking all James Bond-y or whatever.”
Karma laughed and plopped down in the chair next to Jo. “I like his accent. Makes me want to ask him to take a bite out of me—”
“The saying’s take a bite out of crime.” Sullivan leaned around her to face Karma.
“I can be naughty if it makes him take a bite out of me.”
“Zwart, quit flirting with Agent Blair,” Captain Walker ordered as he strode into the conference room. He’d exchanged his charcoal gray suit from last night with a dark brown one and paired it with a light green shirt.
“Ah man, Cap. We’re dealing with the feebs again too?” Karma growled.
Jo’s gaze narrowed on her sister. How could the woman have missed Redden and Colbert? They’d been moving around the front setting up their laptops and projector.
Clearing her throat so she wouldn’t call Karma on her inattention, Jo chimed in, “I’ve already told them we’ll work with Redden even though he and Colbert kept me in interrogation for hours.”
“Really?” Karma’s gaze focused on the man and her smile turned feral like a cornered alley cat. “Okay, I can play nice.”
“Zwart, stand down, now.” Captain Walker ordered in a dark voice.
She huffed but made a motion of zipping her lips.
The captain turned to the FBI agents. “Tell us how we can help with this case.”
Jo had only gotten the basics on the reading. She hadn’t opened the files for the pictures at all yet. The first full picture popped up on the projector, up close and personal. It froze her to the chair. It couldn’t be. Her partner had the same file, and he hadn’t said anything. Sullivan tensed beside her. Her head cranked to the side as Redden and Colbert prattled on about each victim.
“It can’t be,” Jo whispered.
Sullivan shook his head. “Looks damn close.”
“Did you look at any of the other pictures?”
“No, you know I like to read the files before I look at the photos. After I read what I could I went to bed. This night shift to day shift is killing me, and I needed sleep.”
“What are you two whispering about?” Captain Walker’s intimidating stare bore into Jo then Sullivan.
Taking a shaky breath, she stood. “I’ll be right back.” She raced from the room to her desk.
She didn’t have everything here, but she kept a slim file with the pictures and the autopsy in case she ever came across another case like it. It’d been her second case as a homicide detective and her and Sullivan’s first failure as a team.
Finding the file, she yanked it from the beat to hell desk, slammed the drawer shut, and hurried back into the conference room.
“You all thought he started two years ago, right?” Jo asked setting the file down on the table. “He didn’t. He started a little over five years ago, and I can prove it.”
She opened the file, pulled the pictures out, and passed them to Captain Walker.
The weapon was the same, but the wounds were more ragged in the older picture as if the killer hadn’t been as skilled. Behind the lifeless form was a screen with the same game that filled some of the
