Chapter 13

The next morning Gray woke to the smell of coffee and bacon. Next to a blowjob, that was his very favorite way to start the day, and with two men in his life, he occasionally had the pleasure of both methods in one day. This morning, though, Mason was still sound asleep, as he ought to be after what Gray had put him through the night before.

Gray kissed Mason's temple, then slid from the bed. He was going to have to go in to work after breakfast, so he showered and dressed. By then Mason was stirring. Jack handed Gray coffee without attempting conversation until Gray had drained most of the cup. "Awake now?"

"Give me bacon and I might be."

Jack grinned. Mason entered the kitchen a few moments later in plaid sleep pants and nothing else. The chilly air had pebbled his nipples. Gray wanted to suck them to warm them up, but that would lead to other things, which would lead to Gray being late for work.

Mason accepted coffee from Jack. Then Jack waved them both toward the table.

They ate in silence for the most part, none of them fully awake. When he'd polished off everything on his plate, Gray sighed. He needed to go, but he would so much rather spend the rest of the day loving his boyfriends instead of thinking about what would drive someone to cruelly kill teenagers.

"You okay?" Jack asked, laying a hand over Gray's.

Gray nodded, then shook his head. "No, but I've got to get to work whether I am or not."

"Before you leave, what about rescheduling our trip?"

"What?" The question caught Gray by surprise, though it shouldn't have.

"I've got to call and let the rental place know we're not coming."

"Um…" The nightmare Gray'd had came flooding back.

"This case isn't going to last forever," Jack said.

"I know. It's just…"

"Gray, why don't you just tell us what's bothering you," Mason asked as he walked to the kitchen to put his plate in the dishwasher.

Gray glanced at the clock. "I'll call the rental place, okay, and I'll find out what they have available in the next few weeks, but I've really got to get to work, and I can't think about this right now."

Jack looked so disappointed. Gray was fucking up again.

"It's okay," Mason said. "I guess now's not the time to whine about a vacation."

Jack nodded. "Yeah, I'm sorry." He stood and wrapped his arms around Gray.

"We just want to take care of you," Mason said, making it a three-way hug.

Gray shook his head. "You shouldn't have to."

"Gray, this is a relationship," Jack admonished. "That means there's give and take. You get to be the one who needs help just like we do."

Gray frowned. "I don't like that." He sounded like a fucking pouty child. What was wrong with him?

Jack rolled his eyes. "Of course you don't." He gave Gray a gentle kiss. "Now get going."

Mason kissed Gray too, just a brief brush of lips, but their unconditional love was enough to give Gray the strength to face the day.

Gray and Thornton had been over all the evidence again and again. They'd considered every angle they could come up with, searched Andreas's wife's past, studied all his contacts, checked any footage they could find of people entering his home office over the last few weeks. They couldn't find a single connection with someone from his wife's past.

They had men out looking for Jenna. Where would she go? If only Gray could figure that out. He'd tried to contact Vandal but had no luck. He hoped the man was still alive.

A few days ago, Gray had thought having a motive would lead them right to the killer. Now they had both a motive and a suspect, but they couldn't fucking find him.

Suddenly, as Gray stared at the Post-it notes and printouts filling the board in front of him, something clicked: the vague description Jenna had given him of a tall, fit man with brown hair. Could it be? He raced to a computer, not wanting to say anything until he'd checked.

He motioned Thornton over. "Whittaker matches the description Jenna gave me, and he was in school with Andreas's wife all the way back to third grade. Same college too."

"What about his alibi?"

There's got to be an explanation. Could someone be lying for him?"What was the time of death?"

Thornton flipped through a file. "Between one and two."

"While he was at the fucking movie."

"I bet he left the theater after buying popcorn, probably used a side door. I bet his car was fixed and parked at the theater. Why didn't we think about that?"

"We know now," Thornton said. "I'll get us a warrant, and we'll track the son of a bitch down."

Close. They were so fucking close. They'd tracked Whittaker to a coffee shop. He'd been there an hour ago according to the staff they'd questioned. Now they just needed to trace his steps since then. Gray and Thornton had split up so they could cover more ground. Each of them had a couple of patrol officers with them in case they found Whittaker and he tried to run.

Gray's phone rang. He pulled it out expecting it to be Thornton checking in.

At first he didn't recognize the number, then he realized it was Jenna.

"Where are you?" he asked. "We've ID'd the suspect."

"He's after me." She sounded terrified.

"Where are you?"

"I—" She screamed, a piercing sound of terror.

"Jenna? Jenna?"

The line went dead. "Fuck!"

He called Karen, his favorite computer forensics expert. "I need a trace on the last call to my phone as fast as you can get it."

"I'm on it. I'll call you back."

Next he dialed Thornton. "Jenna just called. He's got her. Karen's tracing the call."

"Where are you?"

Gray told him.

"I'll meet you there with the car."

A few seconds later, Karen called. "I got it." She gave him the address. "It's close to where you are now. Another property owned by Andreas, or at least owned by the holding company he bought his other house under."

"Thank you. You may have saved my informant's life."

"No, you will. Now go get her."

Thornton pulled up soon after Gray ended the call. "The call came from another house Andreas owned over on Burton Street," Gray said as he sat in the passenger seat.

Thornton rattled off orders to the officers who were with them, then took off.

En route, word came that there was no one at Andreas's condo, though there were signs of a struggle. It looked like Jenna had been forced into a vehicle.

"Ideas?" Thornton asked.

"He'd need privacy."

Thornton called Karen. "What's close to the location you gave Sadler? Is there an unoccupied structure nearby?"

Thornton called out locations as she listed them. Unrented office space. A home that was for sale.

"Whittaker's house," Gray said. "It's still a crime scene. I bet he thinks we wouldn't look for him there, and it would give him a thrill."

Thornton peeled away from the curb and set the siren blaring. Gray had to hang on to the armrest to keep from being having his brains rattled.

As he drove like a maniac, Thornton shouted into the radio, sending officers to all the locations Karen had listed.

Jenna couldn't have long. Gray prayed he was right about where she was or that someone else would find her. Please don't let her be another body he had to examine.