would be sure of, though. She wouldn’t go chasing after other men while she was fucking him.
He grabbed his jeans and then gripped her chin, tilting her head while caressing her moist, smooth flesh. “She is inviting you through me.” He made quick work of dressing and headed toward the hallway.
Kylie slipped into her clothes and was right behind him.
“Are there cameras inside the house, too?” It was quite an elaborate surveillance setup she had outside her house, which was a contradiction about her he intended to understand soon. For someone who was so cautious and protective of her home, it didn’t make sense she would agree to meet someone under such dangerous conditions.
Perry grabbed the door handle to the middle bedroom and was surprised when she dove at him, using more strength than he would guess she had to rip his hand off the handle. “What’s in there, darling?”
“If I wanted you to know, it wouldn’t be locked.”
He reached for her, but she took a step backward and then pointed toward her living room. “Move,” she instructed.
It was a damn shame he never followed orders that well. He grabbed the door handle again and tried turning it, acknowledging that it was locked.
“If you recorded us fucking, I have a right to know.”
“If you were worried about that, you should have asked before you fucked me.”
He turned the doorknob with a bit more force, fairly confident he could break it if he wanted. Not that he would, but something more than a thesis paper was hidden behind that door.
“Perry, don’t make me call nine-one-one.”
It was her tone that grabbed him more than her words. She meant it. She would humiliate him by calling Dispatch to keep him out of the room. Letting go of the door, he stalked down the hallway and out her front door, leaving it open behind him. Without turning around he knew she stood in the doorway. Her gaze pierced the back of his neck, making it prickle.
“I’ll be here at five on Wednesday to take you to my sister’s,” he called over his shoulder. By the time he climbed in and started his Jeep, Kylie’s front door was closed. “I’m going to learn what you’re up to, Kylie Dover,” he whispered into the darkness, and pulled away from her curb.
Checking his phone that he’d intentionally left in the car, he pushed the button to hear voice-mail messages. There were two new messages.
“Flynn, this is Bealey,” the first message began.
Officer Ron Bealey oversaw the Crime Analysis Department, his frazzled tone proof of the never-ending job he appeared to embrace. Bealey had been with the department long before Perry’s sister’s husband, David, joined the force.
“We’ve torn down that hard drive you sent over. There are no chat archives from any program showing she spoke with anyone by the name of Peter. Give me a call in the morning. We’ll have the hard drive ready to ship back over. Sorry to offer a dead end, man,” Bealey added, and hung up.
The automated voice asked whether Perry wanted to save or delete the message. He saved the message and listened as the second message began.
“Perry, what are you doing, bro? It’s Noah. Call me back when you can.”
The automated voice offered Perry his options. Glancing to see when the call came in and then what time it was now, he quickly dialed Noah Kayne’s number. It rang four times before a woman answered.
“Is Noah there?” Perry asked.
“Sure. Oh wait, you’re Perry,” she said, her soft voice suddenly sounding animated. “Noah, it’s Perry,” she called out. “He’ll be right here.”
Perry didn’t wait a minute before his old FBI friend came on the line.
“Screening your calls,” Noah teased when he came on the line.
“Got to keep out the riffraff.” Perry accelerated onto the interstate and headed toward his neighborhood. His friend sounded relaxed, happy, and shooting the shit with him for a few minutes helped lighten Perry’s mood. By the time he pulled into his driveway, he was laughing over an old joke. “One of these days I’m going to show up on your doorstep and set that woman right about you.”
“She’s head over heels for me, my friend. Nothing you can say will change her mind.”
“I thought you said she was intelligent.” Perry laughed easily when Noah defended Rain to the point where he announced she’d agreed to marry him. “And this convinces me that she’s right in the head?” Perry envied Noah’s happiness, though, and it hit him as odd that he did. “Congrats, man. I’ll be looking for my invite.”
“Invite, hell. You’re going to be my best man.”
“Well, hell. I’m honored. And more than willing to give you away.”
“The bride is given away, not the groom.”
“Damn shame,” Perry said, and headed inside and to his refrigerator. Pulling out a beer, he treaded through his dark house to his den and computer. “I tell you what, though. We’ve got a mess down here that hopefully I’ll have cleared up before the wedding. Have you set the date?”
“Rain hasn’t decided on a date yet. I’ll let you know when she tells me. Don’t be surprised if you and I get about a week’s notice. She seems to think that even though I’m the one who proposed, I might change my mind if I know the date too far in advance.”
“Don’t ask me to explain women to you,” Perry said, snorting and then taking a long drink of his beer. Relaxing in his chair, he remembered the quick change in Kylie’s attitude when he made a show of trying to get inside the middle bedroom. It was like cornering a nervous cat. He swore if he’d pushed her a moment longer, she would have pounced. Although if she attacked, it would have been round two of the lovemaking. Damn if that woman didn’t get turned on when he got rough. Thinking about it now got his dick hard all over again. “I’ve got a little vixen right now who is doing her best to make my life hell.”
“Sorry if she won’t put out. Can’t help you there,” Noah said, laughing. “But what is the mess you’ve got going on?”
Like always, any time either of them got knee-deep in bullshit, talking it out with each other usually helped. It did for Perry at least. He knew his friend couldn’t always discuss cases in depth when he was buried up to his balls in them. But there had been a time or two over the years when he’d unloaded probably more than he should have on Perry.
“Several teenage girls have come up missing. We had one the other day who appeared out of nowhere, raped and beaten damn near beyond recognition. She made it to the back of the grocery store before collapsing and dying. One of the employees there found her.”
“Shit. You got leads?”
“I got voice mail right before calling you back. They can’t find anything on her hard drive. Another girl who snuck out of her parents’ house to meet a guy and got intercepted by her father had been chatting with someone named Peter. I think he’s an online sexual predator right here in town. There’s a Web site that I found that had the girl we found today’s picture on it.”
“One of the porn sites you mentioned?” Noah was all business now. “You wanted me to help you figure out how to locate where the Web sites originate, right?”
“Yup. I got put on Kathleen Long’s case today, the girl we found behind the store. So hopefully I’ll get a bit more cooperation out of the department now.”
“What’s the Web site that had her picture on it?”
“Are you online now?” Perry moved his mouse, and his screen glowed to life in the dark den. Gulping down more beer, he quickly logged into his chat program and pulled up the Web site.
“I’m logging in now,” Noah told him.
Perry waited until he saw Noah appear on his buddy list and then sent the link to the Web site. At the same time, the site opened on the screen. The pictures were different than they’d been the last time Perry looked.
“Damn it, she’s not there anymore.”
“Big surprise, huh.”
“No shit. But I saved the page. Hold on.” Perry went to the saved file and then sent it to Noah. “Two girls have disappeared over the past six months. Another would have disappeared if her father hadn’t followed her and prevented it. We know all of them were talking to a boy who went by ‘Peter.’ He claims to be their age, but always says he lives in a town nearby. He lures them out of the house and that’s the last we hear of them. I can’t prove yet
