Kate blinked several times. “Okay. You’re acting like that’s normal, so I’m just going to pretend it’s normal and move on before my head explodes.”
“Good idea.”
“Thank you for forgiving me, by the way.”
Anya smiled again. “Sure. I mean, I don’t think Derek does, but…” She lifted a shoulder and eyed the files. “Are you ready to get back to work?”
“Yes. I promised you my undivided attention to the case, and you have it. Wait, what favor?” Kate picked up her water and took a sip.
“Oh, we’ll get to that more later. But it involves the possibility of the UNSUB having explicit sex tapes of me that I would likenotto get out.”
They spent the next few minutes carefully dabbing the water that Kate had just spewed onto the files, trying not to damage them.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
“Son of a bitch, Max was right.”Anya stood up and flipped through the cold case files, gathering the case notes from each one. “I wish I had a murder board,” she muttered. After leaving the FBI, Anya didn’t look back. No case lingered in her mind, not even the last one. Hell, Anya rarely watched crime dramas on television. So, since she didn’t have a murder board, the refrigerator would have to do. She hung the notes in order using magnets.
“You’re going to run out of room.”
“I know.” Anya glanced over her shoulder. “Could you clean the island, please? Just pack up the food so I can lay more notes out.”
“Sure.” Kate started closing up containers and moving them to another counter. “Are you sure Derek can’t get into these?”
“Oh, he can. But he learned his lesson the last time he decided to steal my sushi. He also got a bit of wasabi, which wasn’t good for either of us.” After Anya had nearly covered the fridge entirely, she moved to the island and began laying out the case notes in order.
“That doesn’t sound good at all.” Kate stepped closer to Anya and held out a hand. “Can I help?”
Anya shook her head. “I know what I’m looking for.” She went back to her task, then stopped again. “Actually, I need your computer.”
“My computer or the FBI database?”
Anya lifted a brow. “SAC Sullivan, that was a silly question, wasn’t it?” She pointed at her own laptop, which was in plain sight.
“Right.” Kate retrieved her computer from the table and brought it to the makeshift workstation on the kitchen island. “I’m sorry, Anya. I normally wouldn’t question your expertise, but…”
“But? You already started the skepticism, Kate, you may as well finish it.”
“No, no. Not skepticism, Anya. I’m merely stating that my profiler looked at these cases while I was on the flight here, and he determined them to be unrelated.”
Of course,he did.Anya didn’t feel jealous; she felt annoyed. “How old is your profiler?” Anya asked with genuine curiosity.
Kate frowned. “Um, twenty-eight, I think.”
Anya nodded. “And he decided in the time it took you to fly from New York to Nevada that these cases were not related?”
“With all due respect, Anya, you came to the conclusion they were in less time,” Kate pointed out. “Not to mention you’ve been out of the game for a while. And I don’t mean any disrespect to your…current occupation, but I don’t imagine there’s much talking going on.”
Anya snickered sardonically. “You’d be surprised. Do you think my education just ceases to exist because my job now requires me to use more than just my brain?”
“N-no, of course not, but…”
“But nothing, Kate.” Anya sighed. She was wasting precious time explaining this, but to convert Kate’s opinion, Anya neededto convince her that she still knew what she was doing. “What’s his name? Your profiler.”
“Cody Anderson.”
“Let me guess Agent Anderson’s profile of the UNSUB of my case, and then I’ll tell you why I disagree with his assessment of both the UNSUB and these cases. If you still doubt me,” Anya scoffed. “Well, you won’t.”
She opened the fridge, careful not to disturb the papers she’d hung up there, and retrieved two bottles of water, handing one to Kate as she returned to the island. Twisting off the cap, Anya narrowed her eyes. She imagined what a twenty-eight-year-old Cody Anderson would think about the five women who were murdered after sleeping with a dominatrix. Obviously, she was oversimplifying the situation, but she wondered if Anderson would do the same thing if he could so quickly toss aside the cold cases without a second thought.
