Page 8 of Whispers in the Night

Harper had rattled off the names like a litany. Like they were burned into her memory the way Williams, Johnson, and Brown were burned into his.

Silas opened a new window, searched for the Nevada cases. Found Harper’s name all over the investigation reports. Lead profiler. She’d worked the case for eight months after the third victim. Built a profile, coordinated with local law enforcement, consulted with symbology experts.

Then the killer had gone dormant and the case had gone cold.

Five years of nothing.

Until now.

Why Blackridge? Why resume killing here, in a small town hours from his original hunting ground? Had he moved? Or had something—someone—drawn him here?

The thought made Silas’s stomach tighten. Harper Sinclair had moved to Blackridge two months ago, according to what he’d heard. Hiding out in some cabin outside town, keeping to herself.

And now her serial killer had shown up.

Coincidence? Or had the bastard followed her?

Silas pulled up everything he could find on Harper. FBI personnel file was locked, but there were news articles about the Michael Ward case. The botched operation in Chicago six months ago. An explosives expert they’d been hunting for threeyears. Harper and Ward had tracked him to a warehouse. Harper had gone in without backup. Ward had followed.

The building had exploded. Ward died. Harper survived with minor injuries.

The official report called it a tragedy—the suspect had rigged the warehouse with explosives they hadn’t detected. No negligence, just bad luck and a smart bomber.

But the unofficial whispers—the ones that circulated through law enforcement channels—were less kind. Harper had ignored protocol. She’d been reckless. She’d gotten her partner killed through arrogance and poor judgment.

Silas had read those whispers and believed them because they fit his worldview. Arrogant agents who thought they knew better than procedure got people killed. He’d seen it happen. Hell, he’d been that arrogant soldier once, and three men had paid the price.

But looking at Harper’s face at the crime scene—the recognition, the fear, the something that looked like grief—he wondered if the whispers were wrong.

Or maybe they were right and she was just good at hiding the guilt.

Either way, he was stuck working with her. Holloway had made that clear. The city council wanted FBI involvement. The case was too high-profile to turn down expert help. And Harper Sinclair, for all her mistakes, was apparently the foremost expert on this particular killer.

You don’t have to trust me, Detective Kane. You just have to work with me.

Her words. Delivered with that sharp smile that suggested she’d dealt with hostile cops before. That she knew how to navigate being unwanted, unwelcome, blamed for things that might not have been entirely her fault.

Silas’s phone buzzed. Text from Holloway:Meeting at 8. Conference B. Try to play nice.

I’ll behave,Silas typed back.

That’s not the same as playing nice.

Best I can offer.

Three dots appeared, then disappeared. Holloway knew him too well to argue.

Silas checked the time. Five-thirty a.m. Two and a half hours until the meeting. He should eat something, but food held no appeal. Should try to sleep, but that wasn’t happening. Should do something productive instead of sitting here drowning in memories and dreading a partnership he didn’t want.

He pulled up the crime scene photos again. Studied the symbols, the positioning, the careful attention to detail. Organized. Methodical. Patient.

Questions he couldn’t answer alone. Harper would have insights from hunting this killer—patterns, behaviors, methodology he couldn’t see from a single scene.

Which meant working with her. Actually listening to her expertise, even if he didn’t trust her judgment.

Silas poured more coffee he didn’t need and watched the sky outside slowly lighten from black to deep blue to the gray of early morning.

Somewhere in Blackridge, a serial killer was planning his next move. And in a few hours, Silas would have to sit across from Harper Sinclair and figure out how to work with someone he didn’t trust to catch a monster who apparently had a very personal interest in her.