Page 43 of Keeping Collette

Collette held her breath, waiting to see what Deal would do next. After their visit to her parents, the only time he’d left her alone was when he’d gone back to his apartment to sleep. Every morning, after he’d done his PT, he would come to her place to help her with arrangements. He would bring his laptop and tablet and work from her place. He’d attended meetings remotely.

There had been more hot kisses when he left, but she hadn’t been ready for anything more, and he’d understood that.

Life had to go back to normal, and she hoped that normal would include the man beside her.

Deal stood, the corners of his lips hitched up in a smile. “Always.”

Chapter Twenty

Deal arrived at the office for the first time in a week. Ox hadn’t had any issue with him working from Collette’s place while he helped her with Courtney’s arrangements.

As he’d been sitting beside her at the funeral home, he’d marveled at how strong she’d been. It had been an easy yes when she asked him if he would accompany her in the limo from her place to the funeral home.

The hardest thing he had to do was drag himself away from her each night. He’d wanted to stay, but was aware she was going through an emotional time, and it wasn’t the ideal time to act on the desire, attraction, and need that was growing inside him.

Now though, she’d basically given the green light that she wanted more with him. The implication was clear when she’d said she was starting her next chapter and wanted him to go with her.

Dumping his stuff on his desk, he looked around to see who was there. He’d already seen the guys at PT, but he’d beaten them into the office. Unless they were in the conference room and hadn’t told him.

He pulled out his phone to see if a meeting alert had come in while he’d been driving, but there was nothing.

Heading for the main conference room anyway, he saw that Cass and Irish were in her office, and they were talking quietly, their foreheads resting against each other. Their private moment had Deal aching to be back with Collette.

He continued on his way, and as he stepped into the room, he found the conference table covered with files, and Hound sitting reading one.

“What’s all this?”

Hound looked up. “All the files related to people disappearing in the vicinity of where Courtney was last seen. Also around the area of where her phone pinged.”

“What are you looking for exactly?”

“A stronger connection than what we currently have. There’s so much speculation on what’s going on. The killings, along with the disappearances. I feel like there’s something to it all.”

Deal sat, ready to listen to what his friend had to say. “You think any of it is connected to what happened to Steff?”

He had read through the files of the people murdered and hadn’t found a distinguishing feature they all had. Why the killer chose them out of the others who turned up in that area was still a mystery. One he planned to get to the bottom of.

“I don’t know. But we know Koznovič isn’t the only trafficker in the country. They’re popping up just about every other day. I also think the idea we threw around about a cartel connection to the area has some merit now.”

“Have you put any of your theories to the others or Julian?”

“I spoke briefly to Jag, and he said until we find something more solid, he’d keep it from Steff as he didn’t want to upset her. I haven’t wanted to bring it up with Fox. Considering what happened with Cynthia and the fact Fox seems to have turned a corner after all that shit went down, I don’t want to send him spiraling again.”

Having his heart broken had affected Fox in a way none of them had ever imagined it would’ve. He hadn’t been the leader they were used to. It didn’t mean they’d turned their back on him. The total opposite, they’d stood by his side, propped him up when he needed it, and had put up with his punishing demands at PT every morning. Deal hadn’t minded that, he’d thought they’d been getting a bit slack anyway, so he’d enjoyed pushing his body to the limit and seeing if he could still keep up with it all.

“It’s a risk, but some of those people could’ve been missing because of what Cynthia had done.” Even saying it out loud left a sour taste in Deal’s mouth. The fact she could so easily, without conscience, trick people into thinking their lives were going to get better when the worst was about to happen, still boggled his mind.

“Yeah, although given the pictures of the victims—and this is going to sound callous—they don’t have the looks that I’m betting Koznovič’s clientele are after. Then again, it’s possible that some of them were indeed taken for that reason, and it’s tied back to a cartel being prevalant in that neighborhood. Or it’s one of many locations various traffickers use. On occasions there’s been months between disappearances in that area.”

Deal sat back and contemplated Hound’s theories. As far-fetched as every one of them sounded, they also seemed plausible too, given the shit they’d seen over the years.

“What are you thinking?” Hound asked, as the silence stretched between them.

“Anyone of those things is possible. I still don’t get why the authorities seemed to avoid that area. The police knew they had a killer on their hands, because of the bodies that were turning up. Granted they were all buried in different locations, and until Courtney had gone missing and Cass had used her scary computer skills, they weren’t aware they were taken from the same location.”

“Yeah, but why there?” Hound mused.

“As you say, if we can find some sort of connection, we might be able to get our answer. What do you need me to do?” Deal asked. Courtney may have had her final goodbye, but it didn’t mean it was over for them, though. They all wanted to get the person or people who were responsible.