Silent Desires (Shattered Silence Duet Book 1)
Silent Desires: Chapter 53

How does one tiny girl attract so much negative attention? It’s mind-boggling. She barely had any interactions with that asshole, and he just goes straight to assaulting her. Some guys are real pieces of shit. It’s the part of my job I hate to love: getting evidence on scum like him and taking them down. Is it possible that Brad is our killer? His background check says he was born and raised here, in Blue River, so it’s extremely unlikely. But a town can have more than one killer.

I see the front doors open, and the twins quickly walk our way with my little kitten, Mina, pressed between them. Max has his arm around her shoulder, while Jasper holds her hand.

When they get to our vehicle, Ben flings the side door open and moves back to let them help her into the SUV. I’d love to jump out to greet her, but we can’t be seen here. All three of us are already sitting in the back, waiting for her, and when she enters, we all try to pull her to us at once.

“Me first, assholes,” I say, pushing them away and scooping her into my lap in the middle row. The twins close the door and climb into the front seats as I give her a big hug, trying to be as gentle as I can while reassuring myself that she’s okay. I kiss her head and then hold her face in my hands, tilting it toward mine. She looks into my eyes and offers me a small smile. I press a kiss to the top of her nose before pulling back and resting my forehead against hers.

“Kitten, we have to stop meeting like this. I’m going to have a heart attack.” I pull her face to my chest, tucking her under my chin and holding her tight.

“Lord knows you’re old enough for one,” Max adds, and Mina’s body starts shaking.

“Hey, hey, it’s okay, it’s okay. Look at me,” I say, tilting her face back up to mine. Where I expect to see sadness and tears, I see amusement and laughter. My gaze darts to Max, and I give him a smile. Thank god for his ability to replace humor in a situation like this.

“All right, whoever gets the best laugh out of her before we get home gets out of all chores for a week,” I declare to everyone in the SUV.

“Oh, it’s on!” Max chuckles, rubbing his hands together in excitement.

“Are you playing too?” Ben asks, and I nod.

“I’m in.”

“Me too,” voices echo around the car.

“Now give me my Princess. I need a hug,” Ben says, opening his arms to her.

Jasper pushes Max’s shoulder, as he says, “all right, here you go.” Mina chuckles at his antics, making us all smile.

“Jasper’s the one to beat now,“ I tell them.

“All right, come here, Princess.” Ben pulls Mina into his lap gently. He peppers her face with kisses, making her giggle. Then, with a serious face, he says, “I ordered a chicken and an egg online. I’ll let you know which comes first.” Her eyebrows tilt down in confusion, but when she finally gets the joke, a huge smile breaks out on her face.

He continues. “Where was King David’s temple located? Beside his ear. Why was Cinderella so bad at soccer? She kept running away from the ball.” That one pushes the laughter out of her, and she rests her head on his shoulder with a big smile on her face.

“Ben’s got the lead,” I announce to the car.

“Ah, shouldn’t we be going home now?” Ben asks.

“I thought we were waiting on the other two,” Max says.

“No, they came in their own car, and Tucker will bring your truck home for you.”

“Okay, I’ll get us home then.” Max starts the SUV and pulls out of the parking lot.

“I’ve waited long enough. Give me my Malishka now,” Atlas demands, opening his arms toward them. Mina turns toward him in the back seat and slowly climbs over, flashing us a bit of her panties on the way. I stifle a groan as I make eye contact with Ben, who smirks at me. Why isn’t she wearing tights or leggings? It’s too cold to go bare-legged.

I watch as Atlas looks her over for injuries. When he seems satisfied with what he sees, he kisses her forehead and holds her close. I raise an eyebrow at him as if to say, Your turn.

“Why does Santa Claus have such a big sack? He only comes once a year.” That gets the biggest laugh out of her yet, and Atlas smirks at me.

Max pipes up from the front. “How do you circumcise a hillbilly? Kick his sister in the jaw.” She keeps laughing as she clings to Atlas.

“Atlas is still in the lead,” I tell them.

“Hey, Angel?” Jasper says. She looks over at him as he pretends to push a pencil into his head, then pulls it out the other side. It’s like a magic trick for infants. When she just stares at him, he does it again, pretending to push it through his pouting lower lip, making her laugh.

“Hmm, I still think it’s Atlas,” I say. He smiles proudly as he kisses her temple and holds her close.

I smirk as an idea comes to me. I’m not sure if she’s ticklish or where, but I bet I can win if I replace out. I lean over the seat and stroke her face with my fingers. I don’t want her to see it coming. Her feet are on the seat with her knees bent. I trail my fingers over her bare knees, then, as I reach behind them, I dig in and tickle her. She squeals so loud it makes me burst out laughing.

“All right,” Max chuckles from the front as he pulls into our driveway. “What did you do to get that winning laugh out of her?”

I smirk at her. She shakes her head, widening her eyes, and places her finger over my lips to keep me quiet. I smile and kiss her finger, making her blush.

“Ahh, that’s my secret,” I tell him as we all move to get out.

Atlas carries her in while she clings to his chest. My phone buzzes in my pocket. I pull it out and see it’s the chief.

“Chief,” I answer, hanging back while the others move to the house.

“Rossi. We got another body. Same MO. A seventeen-year-old girl named Rachel.”

“Shit. That’s less than a week. We’ve never seen it escalate that fast before.”

“Yeah, he’s accelerating his timeline. I’ll send you the report.”

“All right, I’ll talk to my team.”

“Rossi?”

“Yeah?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if this gets moved up on the FBI’s list. Don’t be shocked to see agents in town soon.”

“Shit, yeah, okay, thanks for the heads up.”

“Bye.”

Shit. This is bad. Not only is there another dead girl, but if the FBI took over this case from local law enforcement, it’s likely they wouldn’t let us keep working on it. They don’t play nice with private investigators. And as good as it would be if they can solve it, we know the case better than anyone. Not only that, but we’ve been working on it for months and it would all be for nothing if we have to stop now.

I just have to hope we can solve it before they get here, or they decide that our undercover status is useful enough that they will actually work with us for once.

Either way, the killer had changed his timeline, and we need to figure out why.