She snorted as she pulled into her driveway.
“And the second?”
She sighed. “Those dudes are turned on by it.”
“And you don’t want to date them?”
She glanced over at Rowan to find him frowning at her.
“It’s a fetish with them. Like the badge bunnies.” She’d always hated that term, but she knew that there were both women and men who wanted to date cops just because they were cops. And if you both understood the situation, she had no problem with it. As a woman in a male-dominated career, she knew she didn’t want to deal with that.
“Ugh, okay, but Declan seems like a nice guy.”
“Nice guys, don’t want to date a woman who is going to spend her Saturday night and Sunday morning working on a murder.”
He looked like he wanted to say more, but she didn’t have time. “Listen, we can talk about my non-existent love life later. I have work I have to do, and I know you understand that.”
It wasn’tuntil eight the following day that they finally had an ID on their victim. Both she and Eddie had gone home to grab an hour or two of sleep. They knew there was a good chance that their captain would be on their asses to get this one solved and fast.
“Irene Adams,” Robby said.
She looked over at him.
“That’s her name. Sent the info to your phone.”
She sighed as she picked up the phone. The moment she saw the ID photo, her breath backed up in her lungs.
“I know her.”
“Yeah?”
She nodded as she went through the info they had found on her.
Irene Adams was only twenty-five and had recently moved to Baltimore from Richmond, Virginia. She lived alone.
“She worked at Fitzpatrick’s.”
And that’s how badly her face had been beaten last night. She had looked familiar, but Eileen hadn’t been able to place where she knew her from. Again, that was a lot of rage.
Her parents still lived in Richmond, and Eddie offered to do the notification. Even over the phone, it was one of the worst things about this job. As a cop, you will play a starring role in the worst day of people’s lives.
Eddie sighed as he set his phone down. “They’ll be up here tonight to identify her. They’re in Virginia Beach for their anniversary.”
“Damn.” And now, every year, they would remember the death of their daughter.
Her phone buzzed, and she looked at it. “Oh, okay, we have some info on an ex. She filed a restraining order against him six months before leaving Richmond.”
Eddie’s eyebrows shot up. “She filed, then she moved away? That sounds like a lead.”
Eileen nodded. “Yeah, the asshole started stalking her after she broke up with him. Then, he escalated and…” her voice drifted off as she read on.
“And?”
“He broke into her house, smacked her around, and threatened her with a knife.”
Eddie whistled. “I would say that is a lead.”
“Name’s Brantley Brown.”
