Were we, though? I had no clue what Roan and I were in his mind.
“Seems like a bit of an extreme reaction for a friend.”
I worried the inside of my cheek. “He looks out for Cady and me.”
Damien shoved a few dollars into the tip jar. “Always good to have someone looking out for you. I’ll see you around, Aspen.”
He headed for the door, and I just stared after him.
As the door closed behind him, Elsie made bug eyes at me. “Are you crazy? That man is gorgeous, and he’s a vet.”
I shrugged. “I just don’t feel a spark.”
“Maybe you need to get your spark radar examined.”
I snorted and turned to grab my rag to continue my cleaning, but I couldn’t help hearing Damien’s words ringing in my ears. “Roan warned me not to ask, but I had to try.”
Now, what the heck did that mean?
25
ROAN
“This is bad,” Nash muttered as he stared at the poor, mangled bobcat that lay across the trail.
“This was rage,” Lawson said, a muscle fluttering beneath his eye.
I turned away from the fallen animal, unable to take the carnage anymore. Nothing could be gleaned from the body. Not until Dr. Miller arrived and we had test results back from the techs currently scouring the crime scene.
I started back down the trail, knowing my brothers would follow. Their footfalls sounded behind me, confirming as much.
It took less than a minute to reach the trailhead. Even bolder than the last scene.
“Can we get in someone’s car? I’m freezing my balls off,” Nash muttered.
Lawson beeped the locks on his SUV. I climbed into the front passenger seat while Nash got in the back, and Lawson hopped into the driver’s seat.
“I swear it gets colder every year,” Nash said, rubbing his hands together.
Lawson turned over the engine. “Or you’re going soft.”
Nash glared at him. “Just because I don’t want to lose my swimmers doesn’t make me soft.”
Lawson chuckled, but the sound died as he glanced back at the trail. “I don’t see how we still have nothing.”
We had less than nothing. None of the hikers ever saw someone hanging around the deceased animals. None of the Fish and Wildlife or Forest Service officers patrolling the area had seen anything suspicious. And there was no evidence except some hairs from previous animal kills on the blade.
“We know they’re linked,” I said.
“That’s not enough to point us in a direction,” Lawson argued.
Nash scrubbed a hand over his stubbled jaw. “Maybe we need to approach this from a behavioral standpoint instead of an evidence-based one.”
Lawson turned in his seat to look at Nash. “Say more.”
“We need to figure out what the crime scenes tell us about the perpetrator. Can you call that profiler friend of yours?” Nash asked.
Lawson winced. “Ex-profiler. He doesn’t work for the bureau anymore.”
“So?” Nash pushed. “It’s not like he lost all his knowledge when he left. He might be able to provide some insight.”
“I can try, but Anson wanted to leave that life far behind.”
My brows pulled together. “Why?”
Lawson had mentioned how good Anson was at his job on more than one occasion in the past. Had said no one understood the criminal mind better. They used to discuss cases all the time.
Lawson squeezed the back of his neck. “He had a case go bad. Really bad. It marked him.”
Nash winced. “That’s rough.”
Lawson jerked his head in a nod. “I’ll make the call. If he refuses, I won’t push.”
“All you can do is ask,” Nash agreed.
“In the meantime, I’m going to ask Rob to increase the officer presence and see if he can make a request with the Forest Service, too,” I said. Maybe we could catch this prick in the act. But the state and national forests around Cedar Ridge were vast, and it would take a hell of a lot of officers.
Lawson tapped his thumb on the console. “It’s worth a try.”
“Somebody must have seen something,” Nash said. “Kills like these…the person would be covered in blood.”
I grunted. “Not everyone wants to get involved.”
Nash shook his head. “If you saw someone coming down the trail looking like Carrie after the prom, you wouldn’t call the cops?”
“Of course, I would. But not everyone thinks that way. Some people want to avoid contact with the police at all costs,” I pointed out.