LITMIR.BIZ

       CHAPTER FOUR

      IT DIDN’T SURPRISE Ryan that they’d been put on this case. Some might question the decision, given his partner’s background—if they even knew, which most didn’t. But the chief made the right call. Evelyn’s instincts were primal. In one breath, she could transport herself into the mind of the predator, see what he saw and think how he thought. If a psychopathic serial killer had unleashed fear onto the streets of Seattle, there was no one better than Evelyn Davis to bring him down. Ryan floored the gas.

      Watching Evelyn work had freaked Ryan out the first year of their partnership. Kate had chuckled at him when he’d mentioned it. She’d told him to chill out and bring his new partner by so she could meet her new friend.

      One case under their belt together, and he was sold. How could he not be? She’d empathized with the grieving widow, whom the rest of the squad felt was a victim, all while asking the right questions to pull out the truth: that the woman had, in fact, murdered her husband.

      He’d rolled with Evelyn’s instincts from that day forward, letting her take the lead. She still mesmerized him. She caught things before anyone else did, connected dots that had barely surfaced and her closing rate of 80 percent compared to the rest of SPD’s 50 percent continued to push her into the spotlight—which made her squirm, and him laugh. It was quite possibly the only tell that made her human, instead of a demigod.

      So while he wasn’t surprised that Chief Diaz asked for them, he wondered what the hell his partner was thinking. How well had she compartmentalized the information they’d been briefed on?

      Ryan knew what she’d kept guarded from everyone, what her background held. He’d made it a priority to get beneath her carefully constructed barriers when they became partners. He needed to know the woman who held his life in her hands. Fiercely private, she’d kept everyone at arm’s length. A year after she’d met Kate, and only when certain of her safety, she’d finally let her guard down. But only around him and Kate, and only so much.

      After Ava was born, she’d let him and Kate in—truly in—and what Evelyn entrusted them with horrified them. She’d gone from partner to family that night.

      A normal person would’ve become a statistic. But Evelyn wasn’t normal. Instead of losing herself to the grief, she focused on bringing justice to victims’ families. He’d once asked Evelyn why she’d become a cop. She’d quietly told him she wanted to give closure to families—the one thing she’d never gotten, and the one constant that drove everything she did.

      He doubted she’d ever fully let them in, and that was okay. She had trusted him—trusted them—with her darkest moment. In turn, he trusted her with his life.

      A question gnawed at him, despite his best attempt to eject it from his mind. He took a hard left, tires squealing. Would this case hit too close?

      She’d shifted into herself as she absorbed the case file details. He’d seen it before. When she didn’t want to deal with some unseen emotion or issue, a hardness descended. Her sapphire-colored eyes darkened, her lips set into a firm line and her already impeccable posture straightened even more. Fascinating as it was to see someone change like that, he didn’t like it. He hated to see her prepare for some invisible battle, shielding herself from some unseen attack, leaving him—and anyone else, for that matter—helpless to defend her.

      “You okay?” He glanced at her.

      “You know I am.”

      “Do I?”