Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) (9 page)

“What has your hair on fire, lass?” McGregor asked as she dashed through the door.

“Hey, is Del around? I think I have some connections.”

“He’s got company,” he said as he bent his head to the office.

She saw the newswoman who had been such a bitch the last few weeks in there. It was at that point, she realized they had shut down all of the computers.

“Why is he talking to her?”

“No reason to be jealous, love. He was ordered to talk to her.”

She frowned at McGregor. The giant Scot was often an ass, but she liked him. Now, he was just confusing her.

“What are you talking about?”

“He’s not
interested
in her.”

She hadn’t even thought about that. Emma looked back at the window and found Del staring at her. There was a little smile curving his lips, and she felt her heart jump a beat. Bloody hell, he was barely trying and she was melting.

“See, there, he only has eyes for you.”

Without looking, she smacked McGregor on the back of the head.

“Bloody hell. What was that for?”

“Behave or I’ll tell Elle how you look at her when you think no one sees you.”

He frowned at her. “I do not.”

She looked at him. “Yes, you do. Remember, I have a photographic memory, and I always remember dates. It was September third, and she dropped something in the hallway. You stood there staring at her arse. So, stop being a wanker, or I will tell her.”

“Tell who what?” an annoying voice said from behind her. Emma turned around and found the newswoman behind her. Del was standing behind Jin looking irritated. With her possibly?

“It was personal, so none of your business.”

Jin faltered a bit. Apparently, bitchy newswoman didn’t get rude answers that often. “And you would be?”

“Still, none of your business.”

McGregor coughed, and Emma had a sneaking suspicion that he was trying not to laugh.

“Well, you put me in my place.”

“Actually, I believe that your place lies beyond the doors outside of our squad room, but that is just a personal opinion.”

Her eyebrows shot up. “Well, I guess that is the end of this discussion. Thank you for your time, Captain Delano.”

She offered Del her hand, and a flirty smile that made Emma want to smack it off her. What the hell did the woman think she was doing?

“Doona fash yourself, lass,” McGregor whispered as they watched Del walk Jin out of the building.
Don’t worry
.

“What makes you think I’m worried?”

“Because you look like you wanted to tear out her heart and dine on it with a nice bottle of red wine.”

She closed her eyes. “I was that obvious?”

He chuckled and she opened her eyes. “Doona worry, love. I think he feels the same way.”

As Del made his way back, Adam joined him. “Hey, Emma, you have something?”

“Something.” Her mind started work again.
Goddesses
. “Oh, yes. The reason I am here.”

“What do you have?” Del asked.

“I have a killer. Or, at least a profile. If I am right, this bastard has been doing this a very long time.”

T
he reporter was proving
to be the most wonderful asset. Only in America would he be able to use a reporter so easily. He only had a few more days before he would lose his
special friend
.

A wail rose up. She was awake again. With anticipation singing in his blood, he went back to work.

I
t took
a good ten minutes to get everyone into the squad room. Emma and Adam were working on bringing up her research on the big screen as everyone took their seats.

“So, tell us, Beautiful Mind, what do you have?” Marcus said.

She slanted a look at Del, and he had to fight the smile. The woman liked to be right. It was another trait they both shared.

“I started going through reports in the last two years in this area.”

“We haven’t had any murders like this one,” Drew said.

Another look from her. Okay, so he got what she meant. Drew was a geek, but he didn’t have a lot of common sense.

“I am talking about the Pacific Rim area. It was hard because there were several different languages to sort out.” She clicked on a few buttons. “I found two that caught my interest in Japan. Both of them had tattoos when they were found, but they did not have them before they were abducted. Same MO. Two to three weeks, then they were found just a few hours old.”

“No suspects?” Del asked.

“Not really. But these two had something that we heard with Susan’s situation. There was a mysterious man the women were dating. The one thing that stood out was that he was Gaijin—an outsider.”

“So, definitely not from Japan,” Adam murmured.

She nodded. “I am guessing he was white, but not sure if he was from the US or somewhere else. He could have been European. No one, from what I could figure out had talked to the man, so I am assuming he was labeled because he was white. One thing was for sure, he had money from what they said. A friend claimed the first woman, Grace, had gotten quite a lot of jewelry from her mystery man.”

“Maybe he has something against Asian women?” Del asked.

She shrugged. “I don’t deal with that kind of thing. I just deal with the MO and connections. But, it could be that he found it easier to move about in these societies.”

“Even if he is Gaijin?” Adam asked.

She nodded. “Think about it. First, some of the women might not tell family about their new boyfriend. Secondly, he probably found women who were attracted to men with a lot of money. These two came from very simple backgrounds. A man who promises to take care of them might be irresistible. Convincing them not to tell anyone much about their new boyfriend might not be that difficult. It would definitely be less difficult than dating a woman who would want to show him off to her family.”

“So, you found those two? That’s it?” Del was kind of disappointed. Two women who had been murdered and tattooed might be a lead, but it would take a lot to convince others of the connection.

She shook her head. “No, there are others.” She clicked a few more buttons. More case files appeared with pictures. “First, there was this woman. She was found in Japan, and had a tattoo when she was found. As did this woman in Korea. But both of their tattoos faded in a few hours of them being found.”

“So, they had tattoos, but they disappeared?” McGregor asked.

She nodded. “Which means he had not perfected his work at that point.”

“Why did they fade?”

“Because he killed them too fast,” Elle said. “I remember now. There was another case like this with a traffic victim here. The woman was on her way home from the tattoo artist when she was killed in an accident.”

Emma nodded. “Exactly. That’s why I remembered, because you told me about it.”

“Why would it fade?” Del asked.

She motioned to Elle to explain it.

“Well, we…I mean all of you have tattoos. It takes a while to heal. About two weeks to be precise. Blood must flow to the marked skin for it to heal and leave the tattoo. If the person dies, then the tattoo cannot cure properly. Depending on the length of time between getting the ink and her death will determine how long it stays.”

“It fades, just like this woman’s.” Emma punched a few buttons. When she was onto something big, whether it was working out a glitch in a computer system, or one of their cases, she glowed. “And these two women in Korea. I wouldn’t have connected them all if the MO had not been similar. Apparently, in each of these cases, they were gone for a week.”

“He was working it out…testing his theory?” Cat asked. “That’s sick.”

“It wasn’t like we were going to be dealing with a person who is all there. And because of this, I linked one more to him. There was another woman found in Korea, no tattoo, but she had been missing for over a month. Also, she was not posed, and was found in a wooded area. I am not sure she would have been found if a hiker hadn’t stumbled over her body.”

“What do you think that was about?” Adam asked.

“I think there is a good chance that she was his original test case. Although, I am not entirely sure that this was his first foray into killing. There is a chance that he slowly worked out his plans for killing women over years. Attempted rapes will be something to look at, of course. There is a very good chance that he killed animals as a child.”

Elle nodded. “Serial killers often start out torturing animals early in their life. Did they find any DNA?”

Emma shook her head. “This bastard is clever. He knew just what to do and how to do it.”

“Why Hawaii? And why Japan and Korea?” Del asked.

“You’d have to ask a profiler that and, without any other kind of data, it would be hard for me to guess. He could have just been in the areas and took the time to kill. That’s why I think you should check out all these places the women lived and worked. If you can find a connection to someone who traveled the same route, that would help.”

“Not piling on that much work, are you, lass?”

She didn’t smile. “It shouldn’t be too hard. The last woman in Japan was killed three months before Grace Singh disappeared. Looking at who came in from Japan during those months, then you can narrow it down from there. More than likely white, and male, old enough for something like this, but not too old—or at least in good shape. And money. Lots of money.”

“Yeah, he would have to be able to carry dead weight, and that is never easy,” Marcus said.

“I sent everything to your phones. I need to do some more looking on my end to see if he has been anywhere else, or if anything with goddesses has been mentioned.”

“Another thing,” Marcus mentioned. “Three in each place.”

“That we know of right now. That’s why I want to do some research.”

“It could have something to do with the trinity. Three.” This from McGregor.

Everyone turned to him.

“Explain,” Del said.

“The trinity goes back into all mythology and through Christian history. In the Christian church, you have the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.”

“And other mythology…that makes sense,” Emma said. He could tell from the look in her eye, and the distraction in her tone, that she was already thinking through something.

“Yes, and the Fates…the three with control,” Elle said.

McGregor glanced at his nemesis. “Do you mean to tell me I have something to contribute?”

Elle said nothing to that.

“Okay, so we might have someone working the trinity, finding three women, then moving on,” Del said.

“And he spends time with them,” Elle said.

“Except everyone said that Grace wasn’t seeing anyone,” Floyd stated. “Her coworkers, her friends, family…they said she hadn’t been on a date in months.”

“But, she was out the night she disappeared…and not with friends,” Cat said. She looked at Adam. “Traditional?”

“Yes, and her mother is Korean.”

“What does that mean?” Del asked.

Cat explained, “It means that her parents might not have been happy with her dating a white man. Many very traditional Asian parents do not want their children dating outside of their own ethnicity. Heck, even one boyfriend’s mother had issues with me because I have only Hawaiian and Japanese in my blood. They were Chinese. It isn’t always an issue, and one that isn’t that big these days, but some parents hold onto their traditions. But there was a diversion into another race at some point because Singh is Indian and not Korean.”

“True, although they could have changed it along the way. And, she was definitely a woman who worried about her parents. She lived with them, took care of them. They were quite a bit older than she was,” Adam said. “There’s a very good chance that she didn’t tell them.”

“But, she’s dead. Why would her friends hold back?” Del asked.

“Not sure. It could be a way of protecting her reputation. Were they all Asian?” Emma asked.

He nodded. “But there was one teacher that I could not get a hold of. She had an emergency with a family member back on the mainland. In fact, she could be back, so maybe she has something.”

“We need to look at all of the men in her life,” Del said. “Everything, from the men she worked with to the mailman on her route.”

Emma shook her head. “He won’t be
in her life
as you call it. This bastard is rich.”

“Why do you say rich?” Drew asked.

Del answered for her, as he kept her gaze. “He arrived on the island within the last few months and found a house that is isolated. Not that easy to do. And remember, Susan called the man she was seeing
Sugar Daddy
. But…they just said he was older.”

Cat chuckled. “Anyone over thirty is old to those girls. They’re in college.”

“I’ll get hold of that other teacher, see if she knew anything,” Adam said, heading to his office.

“Elle, I sent you the forensic reports and translated them for you. I didn’t know if you read Korean or Japanese.”

“Speak, that I can do, reading…another matter altogether. Thank you.” She looked at Drew. “Let’s go.”

As Elle and Drew were walking away, Del noticed Emma was picking up her things.

“Cat, you and McGregor go check on the status of the search. I know it was bare bones right now, but with this tropical system moving in, I thought it would be good to get another rundown. Marcus, you speak a little Japanese, yes?”

“Could you call any of your contacts in Japan, see what you can find out about the status of those murders? See if you can discover what they didn’t put in those reports?”

He nodded. “I have a couple of buddies stationed there right now. One I served with actually stayed on, married a sweet little Japanese woman. And—he has something to do with the police or something over there. I’ll dig up his info.”

When the others went off to do his bidding, Del turned to talk to Emma, and realized she was on her way out the door. She was in the hallway before he caught up with her.

“Hey, that was some great work,” he said, feeling like an idiot.

For a moment, she just stared at him. Of course she knew it was good work. The woman was a genius. She didn’t need him to tell her that she had done a good job. But still, her eyes lit up and her cheeks turned pink.

“Thank you. I still need to work some of it out.”

He nodded. “So, how about dinner?”

“No, I already have something to eat.”

Again, she just stared at him, and he had to fight the urge to roll his eyes. “I’m asking you out.”

“Oh.” Then she said nothing.

“Yes, no?”

She sighed. “I really want to work on this.”

“I could bring food by your apartment.”

Now he was just being pathetic. He heard the desperation in his own voice. Apparently, she didn’t pick up on it. She frowned at him.

“I said I already had food to eat.” The woman was not being stupid, she just had other things on her mind. It was the way she worked. And it was one of the things about her he admired. But it didn’t make it easy to romance her.

“I wanted to bring you dinner so we could share it.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, oh.”

“Randy sent over chicken and dumplings. Do you like that?”

“Homemade chicken and dumplings?” She nodded. “You got it. Seven?”

She nodded again and offered him a shy smile. She turned and started down the hallway again, but turned back around to hurry back to him. Rising to her tiptoes, she brushed her mouth over his cheek. Then she was rushing out of the building.

He stood there for a long time, his heart in his throat. A little peck on the cheek and he was…enchanted.

Damn, he had it bad, but he couldn’t remember why he should be bothered by it, and he didn’t want to. He had people to call, a mayor and a governor who wanted updates and all he cared about was having dinner with Emma.

E
mma had
the chicken and dumplings on the stove simmering when she heard a knock at the door. This time she knew it was Del.

She hurried to the door and looked through the peephole. When she saw him, her heartbeat danced. She opened the door. He had a few drops of rain in his hair. He smiled at her.

“Hey.”

That one little word made her mind melt. Not the word itself, but the way he said it. His deep voice rolled over it, as if he were saying more than a greeting.

“Hey.”

“Wanna let me come in?”

She felt her face heat as she stepped back to give him room to walk in.

He did, as he pulled off his jacket. He was still wearing his gun. She knew that he kept it with him most of the time. It was as usual to see him wear it as a shirt. And there was part of her that found it damned sexy. Not the gun, because she really didn’t like them. But the way he wore it. It probably had something to do with anthropological meaning. Protection or something.

Good lord. Or something? Yep, he was killing her brain cells each time he kissed her.

“I hadn’t noticed it started raining.”

“Just a light drizzle right now, but soon, it will be a mess.” He drew in a deep breath as she took his coat and hung it on her coat rack. “Damn, that smells good.”

She smiled. “Jaime brought it by today. Apparently, the guys are worried that I don’t eat enough.”

“I wonder about that myself.”

“I eat. And I do have a high metabolism.”

He walked into her living room. “It still looks like something exploded in here.”

She chuckled. “Do you want a beer?”

“You have beer?”

She shrugged. “Randy likes to have a beer every now and then. I keep it on hand.”