Chapter 24

Frazer started to gather their mugs.

"Don't worry. I'll get that." Hope took the cup out of Frazer's hand. "You go on back to the Hayeses and remind them to be cautious too."

Aaron, in turn, took the cups from her hand. "Both of you go to bed. I'll take care of clean up. I want to check in with the guys before getting some sleep of my own."

"A man who does housework. Surprised you're still single." Frazer slipped into his coat.

"Maybe I like being single." Aaron narrowed his eyes. No way the profiler didn't know his pathetic story or that his ex-fiancée was now his sister-in-law.

Frazer gave him a wry look. "Most of us do, until suddenly we don't."

"Leave Aaron alone," Hope admonished. "Plenty of people prefer to be alone. Nothing wrong with that."

Frazer looked like he wanted to argue but changed his mind. Instead, he forced a grin. "You're correct. Funnily enough I seem to remember Leech didn't want to be alone. He said he wanted to find the right woman and settle down but could never find anyone who really understood him."

"Because he's a murderous asshole?" Aaron's lip curled.

"People say things on the stand that make them appear ‘normal' by society's standards. Didn't Sylvie say he was recreating his ‘family' with each murder?"

"Yes. His father was a philanderer, and his mother caught him cheating with Julius's nanny in their bed. They fought, and he tried to smother her with a pillow. She grabbed a letter opener that happened to be in reach and stabbed him with it. He managed to finish the job before he bled out. What neither of them probably realized is little Julius was hiding in the closet and watching the whole thing. Apparently, he told the police who spoke to him later that he'd thought his parents were asleep."

Aaron didn't want to feel sorry for Leech, but he could sympathize with the child he'd been.

"He never admitted to the murders, so we don't know why he chose his victims, but Sylvie believed he was punishing people for what he saw as their sins, and I agreed with her," Frazer explained. "I do think he's truthful about wanting someone in his life to share things with." He looked down his nose at Hope. "He had a crush on you during the first trial."

Aaron watched the remaining color drain from Hope's face, leaving her the shade of skimmed milk.

"Do you think he might have found someone while in prison?" asked Hope.

"I'll check those visitor logs and cull out any repeat females before I go to bed. See what the analysts can discover overnight."

"If they're not suspects, they could be potential victims." Hope covered a yawn.

"They should have thought of that before they went and attached themselves to a serial killer," the profiler said testily.

Hope crossed her arms. "Yes, well, people say the same about me."

Frazer winced. He also looked ready to collapse on his feet. Aaron wasn't far behind.

"I suppose they do. Apologies. As you know, it's easy to become cynical in this job." Frazer covered a yawn. "Prison is a harsh environment for anyone, let alone a privileged man of wealth. I can see him having a few pen pals at the very least."

"Enough to have fallen in love?" Hope wondered.

"Leech doesn't have the capacity to love," Frazer stated baldly. "He thinks he does though, so maybe he is with someone who is hiding him. Someone who thinks they love him?"

"You'd have to be pretty fucking weird to pick a monster as a love interest." Aaron knew it was common for people to attach themselves to the incarcerated, but it didn't make sense to him. "Who wants to hang out in max security for date nights?"

Frazer laughed. "You're talking to a man who regularly visits psychopaths in prison."

"No comment on your weirdo status." Hope crossed to the top of the stairs as Frazer headed out the door. "Goodnight. Sorry you had a horrible day."

Frazer grimaced. "It could have been worse. Remember, your calls and texts will be monitored, so no sexting unless you want an audience. If Leech reaches out, stay on the line for as long as possible, but if you can't bear to listen to whatever he's spouting simply put it down and walk away." He looked over at Aaron. "Take care of her. Don't let her out of your sight."

"Where exactly would I go?" Bitterness laced her words.

Aaron nodded to Frazer. "I'll have one of the team escort you to your car."

Frazer opened his mouth to argue but glanced at Hope and seemed to think better of it. "Right. Thanks."

Aaron followed the guy downstairs and handed out some instructions, including having Cadell follow Frazer back to where he was staying. Good practice for both of them. Then Aaron checked everyone was in position and there was nothing he needed to be concerned about right now. Another three inches of snow had fallen and, aside from some earlier snowmen action in the park across the road, all was quiet. He went back upstairs. Thankfully, Hope had gone to bed.

He put all the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on. Washed out the coffeepot.

Then he grabbed the box with the case files, turned off the lights, and headed upstairs. The guys had set up his camp bed in the office where the old clothes lived. He closed the cupboard door. He didn't want to see reminders of Hope's family, not tonight, not when he planned to read in detail about their murders.

Aaron put the box on the floor and turned on a lamp that sat on the large desk beside a nice iMac. Bookshelves lined one wall. He peered closer but rather than the law journals he expected, the books were all focused on criminal procedure and writing fiction. Then he remembered her late husband had been an author.

He cleaned up in the guest bathroom. Hope had left her door ajar, and he figured it was for the cat. He'd stripped down to his briefs when a scream shattered the quiet air.

He grabbed his SIG and dashed into Hope's bedroom, forming a firing stance.

Hope stood in her plaid pajamas dancing on the spot and pointed at the bed.

A large house spider sat on the pillow, all eight eyes pointed in his direction.

Aaron lowered his weapon, feeling like an idiot. Cowboy and Griffin burst in and then stood there in their sleep pants with their weapons drawn. Now that the threat of danger was over, Aaron's heart beat like thunder. Not that Hope looked reassured by the presence of three highly trained operatives in her bedroom.

"What's going on?" Cowboy's brows were sky-high and if he said anything about Aaron being in his underwear Aaron was going to kill the man and dump the body in the river.

"Spider." He looked at Hope. "Do you have a glass?"

She darted into the en suite bathroom.

"Alpha team are going to be pissed they missed out on this excitement." Cowboy lowered his weapon. "Three of us in our underwear in Hope Harper's bedroom. Mind if I bounce on the bed to seal the moment in posterity?"

Aaron glared at the guy. "Why don't you suggest a pillow fight while you're at it?"

"Well, that wasn't the kind of bouncing I had in mind, but I'm game if you are." He wiggled his eyebrows to add to the delivery. Then he grinned as Hope came back into the room drying a glass with a hand towel. "I think you've got this handled, Professor. We'll leave you to it."

Aaron rolled his eyes and took the glass from Hope's fingers, ignoring the brief zip of connection. He placed the glass quickly over the eight-legged beast and trapped the poor thing inside.

"Postcard? Thank you card? Anything like that?"

She strode to her briefcase, pulled out a file folder, removed the contents and handed the cardboard to him.

"Here." Her hands shook as she quickly backed away.

He slipped the card under the glass and flipped it over so the spider fell to the bottom. "Voilà. Let me dispose of this guy somewhere it'll be happier, and you can get some sleep."

"Outside. Maybe throw it onto one of the flowerpots on the roof."

"I'll find him a spot."

"Outside," she insisted.

"Outside," he promised.

"Thank you." Her cheeks were flushed. Embarrassment? Or something else…

"You're welcome. Glad to finally be of service." He told himself he didn't flex his hard-earned muscles to show off his six-pack abs, but he was a liar.

"Goodnight, Aaron." She laughed then. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scream. Reflex. I'm usually on my own, and no one hears me. Thank you for dealing with it."

Aaron shook his head as he left and headed up the stairs. The woman was willing to go hand-to-hand with a man who'd ruthlessly killed ten people now, but a two-inch arachnid reduced her to a quivering mess.

Damned if he knew why that made him smile.