The Devil's Closet Read Online Free PDF Page B

easier. He helps me right along and makes me feel like I can really do this job. I certainly couldn’t ask for a better training officer.”
    And a point for her side. I grabbed my vest, slamming my locker door shut.
    “It was nice to meet you, Jordan. Good luck.” I headed for the door.
    The entire situation hadn’t gone well, at least for me. I knew I wasn’t very nice, but that was precisely the point. The ideal objective was to make her feel small and unimportant, which I did. But this pettiness didn’t make me feel better. Any normal, living man who would have to ride around in a car for eight hours a day with a girl like Jordan Miller would be one happy, and horny, man. I don’t care who they are or how happily married, men are only human. I’m realistic.
    I desperately needed to get my head back in the Hanna Parker investigation and off Jordan Miller. I checked with the crime lab to see if they had any preliminary tests back. Luck was with me.
    As suspected, Hanna Parker had been sexually assaulted. But there was no seminal fluid found anywhere on her body, inside her, or on any of her clothing, which was very strange. They did find traces of drywall on her dress, but before I asked, the lab technician told me there had been drywall in the back of the stolen van, so that was to be expected. An analysis for fibers or other microscopic material hadn’t come back yet, and they would let me know as soon as it did.
    After leaving the lab, I went back up to my office and found Coop waiting.
    “I forgot to tell you earlier, we checked into the blue jumpsuit thing. There are four factories in the county whose employees wear blue jumpsuits: a total of twenty-six hundred people. We’re going to start cross-referencing every one of them against the four hundred registered sex offenders, but as you can imagine, it’s gonna take a hell of a long time.”
    “Fantastic,” I said under my breath.
    “CeeCee, can you come up with any type of profile at all on this guy? I know you’re not a profiling expert, but you usually nail it regardless.”
    “I can’t come up with anything but the obvious. A white male, anywhere from age forty to late fifties, very organized, and I believe obsessive compulsive. Look how meticulous he was in brushing the dirt off Hanna’s clothes and making them neat. His house is probably spotless. There’s also her hair and the makeup. Maybe the guy has gender issues? I don’t know, Coop. Maybe Kincaid is right and we should ask the FBI for additional support.”
    Both Coop and I remained quiet for a few minutes, deep in thought. How I hated hitting a brick wall. Normally, there’s always something to check out, but when it stops, that’s when the case gets difficult. We had to be missing something.
    “CeeCee,” Coop said finally, “I was trying to figure out a way to tell you, but I don’t know how other than to just spit it out. Kincaid just spoke with the FBI a few minutes ago. The sheriff had talked to them earlier and set it all up—they’re coming. There is no other option.”
    “So? That’s fine. I’m not that upset about it, for crying out loud.”
    “I have a feeling you will be after what I have to tell you.” He paused before dropping the bomb. “Michael is one of the agents. He’ll be here tomorrow.”
    Direct hit. I stopped breathing. And on top of that, my heart started beating so rapidly I thought I was having a heart attack that very minute. I don’t know why it never crossed my mind that Michael could be one of the agents coming.
    Special Agent Michael Hagerman, the man who helped the others save my life a year ago, was also the man who nearly cost me my marriage. And he was coming back. Michael and I had worked on the infamous drug and homicide case together last year, and grew more than close during it. We kissed several times, but it never went any further physically. Unfortunately, our emotions did. Michael was deeply in love with me when he left, and