Heat exploded under her rib cage as time distorted into a comforting fluid, and she recalled their first meeting in the morgue at Harborview Medical Center. They’d met during an autopsy of one of the X Marks the Spot Killer’s victims, and while she didn’t exactly consider that a story worth telling to friends and family, she couldn’t discount that case had started her on a path she’d never regret taking. Not when it’d led to him, to this moment. “Even surrounded by all those dead bodies?”
Nicholas unshouldered his overnight bag and dropped it into a chair by the door. A laugh rumbled through him, and those green-blue eyes brightened as he turned to face her. “You’re a medical examiner. It would’ve been weird if there hadn’t been any dead bodies.”
“Well, isn’t that sweeter than a sugar cookie in the supermarket?” She couldn’t help but smile as she nodded toward the edge of the hospital bed, and he took her direction, sitting again. The mattress dipped under his weight, anchoring her to the moment. “In case it wasn’t obvious, I love you, too.”
“Does that mean you forgive me?” His smile notched her awareness of him higher just before he leaned into her, careful of her wrist, and pressed his mouth to hers.
She set her head back against the pillows. “Get me some real, unburned chocolate doughnuts with rainbow sprinkles and rescue Koko from Animal Services, and I might consider it.”
“Anything for you, Doc,” he said.
Hints of his aftershave chased back the antiseptic smell she’d become accustomed to over the years. She hadn’t realized how much she’d come to rely on that smell, that it’d become part of her. Her smile faltered as she examined the cast. She wouldn’t know the extent of her injury until she was able to discuss her diagnosis with her surgeon herself, but something deep inside said whatever came next, she and Nicholas would handle it. Together.
She tried to curl her fingers into her palm, but the tendons in her wrist needed a considerable time to recover. “It’s really over, isn’t it? I didn’t imagine it.”
“Caldwell can’t hurt you anymore.” He smoothed his thumb over the back of her arm, and the nightmares hiding behind her eyes seemed like a distant memory. The violent lacerations along the side of his face transformed the profiler into a rougher version of himself, one she couldn’t seem to pull away from. “He can’t hurt anyone. The new county medical examiner released Kara’s and Paige’s remains to the families. He was able to prove Archer Caldwell attacked both victims after you took a bite out of him and preserved his DNA. They’re going home because of you, Aubrey. Once you’ve been discharged, we can put this whole thing behind us.”
“Then what? What am I supposed to do if I can’t be down in that morgue to give families the answers they’re looking for?” How did she not let Caldwell win?
“You’ll figure it out. You just need to take it one day at a time and know you’re not alone. It’s going to take time. You’re going to want to give up, and it’s going to be painful, but I’ll be there with you every step of the way. As long as we’re together, we can get through anything.”
Nicholas swept his fingertips across her forehead. Bending at the waist, he reached down into his duffel bag and produced a white rectangular box. “Until then, we’re going to watch every episode of your favorite cartoon and make ourselves sick with these.”
Her mouth watered as he revealed the chocolate doughnuts with her favorite multicolored sprinkles, and a laugh bubbled up through her. He’d brought her doughnuts, and she found herself falling a little bit more in love with him. The grumpy profiler she’d called in a favor to be assigned to her sister’s investigation had a soft spot after all.
Aubrey used his help to straighten and crushed her mouth to his. Her profiler. Her partner. Her everything. “You realize you’re going to have to feed those—and everything else—to me for the foreseeable future, right? I have to warn you, the last man who put his hand near my mouth paid the price. Are you sure you’re up for such a dangerous assignment, Agent James?”
Nicholas raised a doughnut between them and set it against her lips, his smile wider than she’d ever seen it before. “I’ve got to tell you that makes me happier than a dead pig in sunshine, Dr. Flood.”
“I don’t know what that means,” she said.
He kissed her again, sweeping doughnut crumbs from her mouth. “Neither do I.”
EPILOGUE
One week later...
The pop of the cork exploded in his ears.
Shouts and claps filled the BAU conference room as Nicholas accepted the first glass of champagne from SSA Peters. It was over. The case was closed, and he couldn’t help but celebrate the end of one of the most grueling, complicated cases of his career. Or that he’d walked away with the greatest prize he could’ve ever imagined—his future.
Aubrey flashed a wide smile up at him from her seat.
SSA Peters raised his glass, dark eyes brighter than Nicholas had seen them in a long time. “You might’ve cut it a bit close, Nicholas, but the FBI has officially closed the investigation into the deaths of Kara Flood and Paige Cress.” He directed his attention to Aubrey.
“Dr. Flood, Director Branson has asked me to share her condolences. While it’s impossible for us to ease your grief, I wanted you to know the BAU is here for you, and it’s been a privilege working alongside you. To Nicholas James and Aubrey Flood.”
Aubrey gripped her glass with the tips of her fingers and raised it as high as she could. Unable to mix alcohol with her pain medication, she’d chosen to stick with water for celebratory drinks with the team.
Madeline Striker, Dashiell West, Liam McDare and David Dyson all raised their glasses in tandem. “To Nicholas and Aubrey!”
“To Nicholas,” Aubrey said. “The best partner I could ask for.”
Nicholas took a gulp of his champagne, one hand on her uninjured shoulder, while the team dissolved into casual conversation. He caught sight of Liam McDare as the IT expert peeled from the mass of agents, answering his phone. Tension bled into the back of Liam’s neck. Angry whispers cut through the echo of conversation from the tech guru’s position by the floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking Puget Sound, and Nicholas closed the distance between them.
“No, Lorelai. You know I don’t want them there. I told you that before we started all this planning.” Liam ended the call, his rough exhale fogging the window. He turned back to join the party but pulled up short at the sight of Nicholas. Shock quickly transformed to faked enthusiasm, but Liam refused to meet his gaze. “Congratulations on closing your case, Agent James. I’ve read your report. It’s amazing what you did out there.”
“Thanks,” Nicholas said. “Everything okay? And before you lie to me, I heard some of your conversation.”
Liam shook off Nicholas’s concern. “It’s nothing. Lorelai is traveling with the director. We haven’t seen each other in a few weeks, and it’s starting to show. That’s all.”
“She wants you to invite your parents to the wedding.” Because that was what most couples were supposed to do, share their wedding day with their loved ones, family and friends, but Liam McDare and his fiancée weren’t most couples. They were members of the Behavioral Analysis Unit. Every emotion, every fear was amplified ten times because of the work they dealt with day-to-day. He had firsthand experience.
“She’s trying to convince me I’ll regret it if I don’t invite them, but she doesn’t understand,” Liam said. “Her parents aren’t on their third spouses. They’ve been married over twenty years and still laugh and love each other. Mine will go at each other’s throats the minute they’re in the same room together.”
The tech expert swung his glass out to his side. “I don’t know. Sometimes I think Lorelai is more excited about the wedding than what comes afterward, and then where will we be?” He took a swig of champagne. “Right where my parents are. Miserable, divorced and bitter.”
Nicholas gl
anced at Aubrey as she talked with West. Honey-warm eyes lightened as she turned her attention to him at the same moment, as though she’d sensed the weight of his gaze. A flood of appreciation rushed through his veins as the future spread out in front of him. The injuries to her shoulder, ribs and wrist had threatened her career, but Nicholas had known the moment he’d found her in those underground tunnels, there wasn’t anything he wouldn’t do to give her the life she deserved. He turned back to Liam, slapping him on the shoulder with his free hand.
“Love isn’t about who’s coming or not coming to the wedding, color palettes, flower choices and bridesmaids’ dresses, Liam. It’s about the two of you. That’s all that matters. It’s about trust. It’s about believing that even if you don’t know what comes next, you do it together, and you support one another unconditionally. That’s the only way this is going to work. Talk to Lorelai. Tell her the real reason you don’t want your parents at the wedding. Everything will work out.”
He slipped away from Liam and stepped into Aubrey’s side. He wound one arm around her waist. Pressing his mouth to her ear, he inhaled as much of her simple perfume as his lungs allowed. “Time to go, Doc. You’re going to be late for your appointment.”
“Appointment?” Aubrey waved to West then allowed him to drag her toward the door, confusion contorting her expression. “My appointment with the hospital administrator isn’t until next week.”
“Not that kind of appointment.” He led her through the BAU offices and into the lobby. “This one involves sweatpants, doughnuts and cartoons, and we’ve got all the time in the world.”
“I like the sound of that.” Aubrey punched the button for the elevators. “As long as you’re not making the doughnuts, that is.”
He couldn’t help but laugh. “Picked up an unhealthy amount from the bakery just this morning.”
The elevator doors opened, but Aubrey turned into him instead of stepping into the car. Her cast scratched at his jaw as she framed his face. She pressed her mouth to his. “Well, aren’t you sweeter than a porcupine eating a pineapple. I could get used to this, Agent James.”
“Good.” He let the elevator doors close. “Because it’s only going to get better from here.”
And he couldn’t wait to get started.
* * *
Don’t miss the next books in the
Behavioral Analysis Unit series:
Decoding a Criminal, Barb Han,
August 2021
Tracing a Kidnapper, Juno Rushdan,
September 2021
Trapping a Terrorist, Caridad Piñeiro,
October 2021
Look for them when they go on sale wherever
Harlequin Intrigue books are sold!
Keep reading for an excerpt from Uncovering Small Town Secrets by Tyler Anne Snell.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOYED THIS BOOK FROM
Seek thrills. Solve crimes. Justice served.
Dive into action-packed stories that will keep you on the edge of your seat. Solve the crime and deliver justice at all costs.
6 NEW BOOKS AVAILABLE EVERY MONTH!
Uncovering Small Town Secrets
by Tyler Anne Snell
Chapter One
Everyone in town went looking for Annie McHale when she first went missing. A year later and only three people went looking for Fallon Dean.
Detective Gordon was the third person to join the search. In his late fifties, he had been a week away from retiring and thought that Fallon had simply run away. But nothing had been that simple in Kelby Creek, Alabama. Not since the scandal known as The Flood had rocked Dawn County and nearly destroyed the small town. So, after conferring with the interim sheriff, he’d been encouraged to extend his stay to make sure nothing bad had happened to the twenty-three-year-old.
It had made the tired, grouchy man even more tired and even more grouchy. He’d done his investigation wearing an expression that looked like he always had a glass of spoiled milk stuck beneath his nose. However, worse than how he asked his questions during the investigation was the less-than-enthused answers he received.
The town had a lot of history it was trying to forget, but Fallon? He’d caused an accident that some weren’t ready to let go.
Then there was Larissa Cole.
Before Detective Gordon had been assigned the case, Larissa had been first in line to help. The moment the Dean family had come to Kelby Creek five years prior, she’d taken to them with an open heart and a maternal air that neither Dean sibling had felt in a long while. If she believed Fallon had left town of his own free will, it didn’t matter because she was worried, regardless. She had become Millie’s best friend and, while she loved Fallon like a brother, it was Millie who was hurting.
And hunting.
It had been six months to the day since Millie Dean had seen her little brother. In the time between first meeting with Detective Gordon to plead the case that something was wrong to now standing in her kitchen, looking out the window into the hot June daylight, only the smaller details had changed.
Fallon’s lease on his apartment had expired, and all of his belongings were in Millie’s guest bedroom. His cell phone was still paid for but had long since been off, just as his job at the newspaper had been filled. Even the rumor mill had gone on hiatus when it came to the Dean family.
They smiled and waved and had pleasant small talk with Millie at the grocery store or walking along the sidewalk of the neighborhood. They gave her the traditional Southern nod or half-wave when catching her eye while driving. They said it was about time Detective Gordon retired after only two months of searching, and they sure as the day was humid didn’t offer to help look for him, not even on the six-month anniversary of his disappearance.
As far as Kelby Creek was convinced, although he was a grown man, Fallon Dean was a runaway. The name had stuck ever since he ran away as a teenager. And now everyone was convinced he wasn’t missing.
Millie fisted her hand against the lemon-printed towel draped over the lip of the sink. Six months and one day ago she would have fretted at wrinkling the fabric. It was for light hand dabbing and decoration. Something she’d bought in the city on impulse because it had matched a sundress she’d once gotten a lot of compliments on at the grocery store.
But now?
Now she crumpled it in her hand like a wet paper towel.
Long gone was the woman in the lemon sundress. In her place had moved the sister who would do anything to find her only family.
Even if that meant starting over again.
She dropped the towel on the counter and turned on her heel. Her home had been built in the seventies but renovated by the owner before her. Nothing felt vintage about the two-bedroom anymore. It was all clean lines, whites, grays and wood, with accent walls of shiplap here and there.
One of those accent walls stood behind the eat-in table. On that wall was mounted a white board much too large for the space.
Millie traced her own handwriting across its surface.
Then she went to the coffee maker and started a new cup.
It wasn’t until her phone rang hours later that she realized it had gone dark outside.
“Hello?”
Millie’s stomach growled in tandem with her answering the call. Larissa’s voice came through in a rush.
“Zach just called and asked who the man was moving into the rental next to your house. He said there was a moving truck out in front of it at the curb when he drove past to go to church and was still there when he came back.”
Millie pushed out of the dining chair she’d nearly grown roots on as she’d gone over every detail of her own investigation into Fallon and made a path back to the kitchen window. A streetlamp stood sentry between her mailbox and the rental house in question, but its light showed an empty road.
“I didn’t see a moving truck earlier
and I don’t see one now. Are you sure Zach saw right?”
There was motion on Larissa’s side of the phone. She repeated the question to their coworker Zach, who must have been in the background. He responded but Millie couldn’t hear him.
“He’s sure. He said your car was in the driveway both times too so you must have seen him.” Larissa paused. Millie could picture the forty-two-year-old perfectly despite the distance between them. Her round face arranging into a harmless, comfort-filled expression, glasses in need of being pushed back up the bridge of her nose and brown eyes that held more maternal concern than Millie or Fallon had ever gotten from their own mother. “What have you been up to today?”
Millie only ever felt guilt about her determination to find her brother when she decided to lie to her best friend about how determined she still was. Larissa had tried to take off work to spend the day with Millie, knowing it was the anniversary, but the truth was that Millie had woken up that morning with one goal.
To finally get answers.
No matter what.
Telling that to the levelheaded, good-intentioned mother hen who had seen firsthand how Millie had changed in the last six months?
It only made the worry in Larissa grow from her heart and fan out into her own life.
And Millie didn’t want that.
So she lied and said she wanted to spend the day alone, lounging and catching up on her TV shows.
“I’ve been stuck in TV land all day,” she said now. “Community has six seasons and I was only on season two. You know I’m a completist when it comes to shows.”
There was a hesitation again but then Larissa seemed to accept the fib.
“Well, make sure you get some food in you since I know how you can forget to eat sometimes when you’re focused,” she said. “I’m still coming over to drop off some cookies after my shift around ten. You better show me some dirty dishes to prove you ate.” Larissa’s soothing tone switched as quickly as the topic. “Now, go next door and find out who your new neighbor is. It’s not every day someone moves to Kelby Creek.”
Profiling a Killer Page 19
