Blessing took a breath and shook her head. “Don’t you worry. I’ll handle them,” she said and then left to do just that.
“I can be available anytime, anywhere. I’m freelance, and I even have my own setup at home,” Killian offered as Jonah turned around and spoke to Ryan. Killian continued, “If you have the product, we can shoot anywhere depending on if you’re up to it.”
The weight on my shoulders felt too heavy to bear. I had no idea what I was about to be facing or what to do.
He pulled out a card. “My cell phone number is on the back. Call me. We can discuss making new plans… Or you can just call me to talk.”
I reached for the card, but he held on to it. “Talk?” I asked.
His lips lifted into a small smile. “Talk, text. Get to know one another by phone, until I can ask you out properly.”
“Wh-what? Ask me out? Like on a date?” I asked as though the request was so beyond foreign it was spoken in a different language.
My response had him grinning. “Yeah, Addison, a date. When you’re up to it and things cool down. For now though, sometimes it helps to talk out an intense situation with someone who’s not involved. Sounds like you’ve been through a lot and are about to go through more. I know how that feels. Drowning in the thoughts you’re too afraid to share with your loved ones.”
I nodded, feeling every word of what he said. Putting my fears and anxieties on my sisters and Mama Kerri had to stop. They’d been through enough.
“Call me,” he reiterated.
“Um…”
“Addison?”
I licked my lips and blinked, not sure what to say or do. So many things were coming at me all at once.
“Just reach out. We can talk about everything or nothing, but I’d like to hear from you. I’ll worry if you don’t.”
“You’ll worry about having my foot shoved so far up your ass you won’t be able to eat. Ever.” Jonah growled, catching our conversation and clearly not liking what he was hearing. He tugged me to his side and away from Killian. “Come on, Addy. Let’s get you home.”
“Okay. And Killian, I’ll call.” I fingered his business card.
“I’ll be waiting. Be safe.”
I barely had it in me to smile sadly.
Safety was an illusion. I didn’t think I’d ever feel safe again.
CHAPTER TWO
Eight beloved women were all staring at me, equal expressions of worry plastered across their loving faces. Simone was glued to my side, meaning her thigh and my thigh were touching from hip to knee. She held one of my hands in both of hers. Mama Kerri was on my other side, holding my other hand. Sonia per usual was pacing, her type-A personality and supreme intellect trying to put two and two together while Jonah and Ryan stood across the room. Liliana, Charlie, and Genesis sat quietly on the opposite side of the huge U-shaped couch. Blessing sat dead center, legs crossed, a sexy stiletto-covered foot kicking the air in barely controlled fury as she leaned back against the couch, arms crossed over her chest.
“You told us that the Backseat Strangler was gone. History. Dead to rights. Now you’re telling us there’s a potential copycat or worse, a second killer?” Sonia stopped mid-pace, spun around, and glared at Jonah and Ryan.
Ryan held his hands up in a placating gesture. “Senator Wright, I understand this an upsetting development, but the FBI is on top of this. Jonah and I and the entire team are hunting down every possible lead in order to figure out if this is connected or not.”
“Just to be clear, you don’t know for sure whether it’s a copycat or a second killer?”
Jonah sighed. “Sonia, it’s not as simple as that. It looks like it could be either.”
“Are you even sure it’s connected? Maybe this is a sicko that is obsessed with Addy’s image in a magazine. She’s gorgeous. Lots of men want her.” She gestured at me and huffed. “Look at her. Right now, she’s freaked out, scared out of her mind with puffy eyes from crying, and she still looks like she could do a shoot for Victoria’s Secret and sell a warehouse full of product in the process.”
“Love you too, SoSo,” I said, my own way of thanking her for the compliment. Especially since the woman was an elegant beauty herself. All poise and purpose with that white blonde hair and red lipstick.
“No one here is taking any ideas off the table, Senator,” Ryan pushed thoughtfully and rather respectfully, which would go a long way with Sonia. “We’re just trying to make sure we cover all the bases. But the biggest worry is that this particular victim was burned with cigarettes on her inner arms prior to being strangled. That detail was never made public. The press was informed that Addison had been kidnapped and hurt in the process but nothing more. Also, the victim is white, late twenties, brown hair, green eyes, a fuller figure, and had one of Addison’s images placed in her hand and left for us to find.”
“Dios mio.” Liliana gasped and made the sign of the cross, then closed her eyes. Her short, curly brown hair was down hanging around her face, just touching her shoulders while her lips moved in what I knew to be a silent prayer for the lost soul. Liliana, my Latina sister, had a strong sense of faith in the Almighty. The most religious woman in our family, she went to church every Sunday and sometimes Bible study on Wednesdays as well, whereas I considered myself more of a spiritual person like the rest of us.
“Why Addy?” Blessing asked.
Ryan’s gaze moved to Blessing and softened. “One theory is that she got away. And that made the killer angry. Another is that there was a killing duo. One being the dominant and the other the submissive. The dominant died and so now the other is seeking revenge. Or perhaps he feels the job isn’t quite done. Which also means Simone isn’t safe either. Frankly, none of you are. Then of course there is the matter of a copycat. However, like I said, the public didn’t know about the burns to Addison’s arms, leading us to believe whoever murdered this woman knew that intimate detail, which makes it more plausible that there was more than one person committing the initial crimes.”
Jonah pushed off the wall and came over to me where he kneeled down bringing him to eye level. He put a hand to my knee. “Okay, sweetheart, this is the hard part and a portion of why we brought you all together.”
I frowned and swallowed against my suddenly dry throat. “How so?” I croaked.
“You were with the killer for almost an entire day. Did you ever see two men at the same time?”
I shook my head. “No, I…” I thought back to being there. In that dark basement of that rat-infested, disgusting building. I couldn’t help the flinch that stole across my face.
Mama Kerri wrapped her arm around my back and turned my chin toward hers lightly. “Don’t go all the way back there, baby. See yourself as though you are outside of your body. Think about the room. What did it look like?” she asked softly, her blue-green gaze kind and familiar, her hold warm and comforting.
“Um…” I licked my lips and tried to imagine looking at myself from an outsider’s perspective. “It was dark. Gray. Cold. Every so often I’d feel a rat rush past my feet and legs where they were tied to the chair.”