Faceless (Sinister Secrets Book 2) by Candle Sutton (best motivational novels txt) 📕

Images ran through his mind. Although every one looked a lot like Kevyn’s house.

Well, he could get rid of that idea right now. No matter what she said about maybe flipping the house, he didn’t think she’d sell it. At least not as long as she was living in Seattle. If she transferred to another field office, sure…

His hand tightened around his electric razor.

Man, did he hope that didn’t happen. In spite of her flaws, he kind of liked having her around.

Kind of? He liked it a lot.

He pushed the thought aside and let the case invade.

They should have an identity on that body today.

Even though it would bring closure to the family, and could provide them some invaluable clues, he really hoped the body wasn’t Boggess.

Deep inside, in spite of the odds, he still held onto a sliver of hope that they’d find all three kidnapping victims and bring them home alive.

₪   ₪   ₪

Kevyn grabbed a napkin from the glovebox and mopped up the coffee she’d sloshed all over her hand in her haste to get out of the car.

What a morning.

First, she’d overslept her alarm. Probably due to the short night.

She hadn’t intended to go into the basement last night, but when Dak teased her about all the critters that could be living in her basement, she hadn’t been able to resist showing him that the space was sound.

Creepy, sure. But not filled with rats and skunks and other wild animals.

Somehow though, it had seemed a whole lot less creepy with him down there. There was something about him that was both bright and calming, all at the same time.

A far cry from most of the guys she knew.

Then, once he’d started talking about what a great space it was, she’d started seeing what it could be.

Even after he’d gone home, her mind wouldn’t shut down. Color schemes. Flooring. Finish work. Endless options had run through her mind and it had taken over an hour to fall asleep.

She stepped out of the elevator and hurried toward her office, her cup of coffee cooling in her hand.

Dak glanced up as she breezed inside. “Morning.”

How was he always here so early?

Although today, she saw the evidence of the late night in the faint bags beneath his eyes.

“Sorry to keep you up so late.” Why she was apologizing to a grown man who could have left whenever he wanted was a mystery, but she still felt like it was her fault.

He shook his head slowly. “I feel like I should be saying that. I’m the one who didn’t leave at a reasonable time.”

“Because I was blabbing on and on.”

“Well, there was that.” He grinned. “But it was cool. I’m actually thinking maybe I’m ready to ditch the whole apartment thing and buy something myself. You up for helping with another project?”

Oooh, he was asking her to help renovate? The work on her house was winding down – unless she did decide to tackle that basement – so another project would be fun.

Especially one where she didn’t have to live in the mess personally. Or finance the upgrades. “You know it. Be careful you don’t get something that’s more trouble than it’s worth.”

The last thing she wanted was to see him go upside-down in homeownership.

“Maybe I need to take you with me. You’ll know what to look for.”

House shopping where she didn’t have the stress of making the decision. Sounded almost perfect. “You tell me when and I’ll be there.”

“Well, I’m not even sure I’m going to do that so don’t go clearing your calendar yet.” He tapped a file on his desk. “First, we have three missing persons to bring home.”

Right. “Did you hear anything on that body that was found?”

Dak shook his head. “Still waiting. If I haven’t heard anything in a few hours, I’ll follow up on it, but I want to give them a little time.”

“It doesn’t take long to run prints.” She settled at her desk and booted up her computer.

“You’re assuming the prints are viable. We might end up waiting on dental records.”

Ugh. That could take weeks.

“We’ll meet for a recap at nine.” Dak waited for her nod before turning back to his own computer.

Nine. That gave her about forty-five minutes to gather information and organize her thoughts.

Hopefully, between everyone in the group, they’d have enough information to generate a solid lead.

₪   ₪   ₪

About time for the team briefing.

Dak gathered the files for each of their missing persons as his cell phone rang.

“Agent Lakes, Percy from the Coroner’s office. The prints were a little dicey, but we managed to get an ID on that body we brought in last night.”

Thank you, God. This call could change the whole course of their upcoming meeting. “Thanks for calling me.”

“Well, you may want to hold off on thanking me. The vic isn’t Jason Boggess.”

Which was both good and bad.

Good, because it meant that they might still have a shot at saving Boggess’ life.

Bad, because it meant that the body couldn’t tell them anything about the abductions.

“Well, I appreciate the heads-up. Who is it?”

The name Percy gave him meant nothing to him, but he jotted it down anyway. While it was highly unlikely the body had any connection to his case, he’d learned to never make assumptions.

He ended the call to find Kevyn watching him.

“Was that the coroner?” In spite of her careful enunciation, her accent made the word sound more like corner than coroner.

“Yes. The body isn’t Jason Boggess or Wes Andrews.”

“So it’s a dead end.” She winced. “Crikey. Bad choice of words.”

A laugh rumbled up in spite of himself. “Let’s catch up with the team.”

He’d