Page 75 of Night Hawk
Sierra grabbed the first one. “I’m eating for two.”
“Guess since I’m the oldest I should get the next one.” Blake snatched a cookie before anyone could argue.
“We arenotdoing the age thing.” Erik took the next cookie and passed the plate to Brendan. “I’ve been last all my life, and I have to take small victories where I can get them.”
Kelsey took a cookie and sank her teeth into it. “Seriously, I want your parents to adopt me.”
The others laughed, but this was too close to Toni’s recent thoughts for her to join them. She returned to the table and helped polish off the plate of gooey cookies. Everyone settled into the family room, and she and Clay cleared the final dishes and loaded the dishwasher.
“Thanks for dinner,” she said to Erik when he came in with Pong’s empty water bowl.
He rinsed the bowl and looked at her. “You won’t thank me if you’re still here when it’s my time to cook again. You’ll get the same meal.”
“Hey, who gets tired of tacos?” She grinned.
“I appreciate your attitude.” He filled the bowl. “You would be such a welcome addition to our family.”
He passed Clay and gave him a pointed look.
“I’m working on it,” Clay said.
“And here I thought you were the family charmer.” Erik laughed and put the bowl down for Pong, who started noisily lapping up the water.
“Ignore Erik.” Clay grabbed his work things and spread them out on the table again.
She wanted to ignore the comment. To focus on her work instead. But her thoughts were filled with this wonderful family, and her heart had softened toward Clay. Getting together with him now seemed like it could be a great thing, but her reasons weren’t clear. Was she opening up to him because he and his family seemed easy when everything with her family was so complicated? Or did she truly care for him and want to get to know him better?
She started to sigh but quietly let out her breath so she wouldn’t draw Clay’s attention. She switched her focus to reviewing the background of one of the girls Erik had identified in Rader’s pictures.
An hour later, Clay leaned back and stretched his arms overhead. “You find anything?”
She shook her head. “I’ve looked at five girls, and none of them seem to have a connection. And they’re not linked to Lisa, Wilshire, Rader, or Hibbard.”
“Yeah, I’m striking out too.” Clay pushed his computer away. “We need to find something actionable soon.”
“You want actionable?” Sierra called out from the sofa. “I’ve got something that could blow this thing wide open.”
Clay jumped from his chair and eyed Sierra as he charged toward her. “What is it?”
She smiled. “Emory got a match for the DNA on Rader’s bird.”
“Who is it?” Toni rushed into the family room.
“Guy’s name is Sheldon Sharkey.”
“For real?” Clay peered at Sierra. “That’s the guy’s real name? Sounds made up.”
“It’s what was in CODIS, so yeah, it’s real,” Sierra said.
Clay knew she didn’t bother to explain the acronym for the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System as everyone in the room would know what it stood for. “Erik, can you—”
“Find some info on him,” Erik replied, his fingers flying over his keyboard. “Give me a minute or two.”
Clay didn’t want to wait even that long, but he had no choice. He started pacing, passing Toni several times as she stared at Erik from behind the sofa.
“It’s his legal name, all right,” Erik called out.
“We could be looking at a killer here and need to proceed cautiously,” Clay said.
