“You’ve been through a lot,” he started as he stroked the stubble on his face. “I think you need to weigh how important this job is to you. Are you willing to do what’s needed to get back in the field?”

I knew what he meant. My mind needed to be completely focused on my work. There could be no more slip ups with alcohol or drugs, I couldn’t disappear for months when things got hard. I couldn’t let Len become a distraction.

I shook my head, because I didn’t have an answer to his question.

“Think on it,” Grey said. “I don’t need to give my recommendation until we’re back, but I need to be sure you are fully on this team and can follow orders.”

I climbed into the hotel bed, a sinking feeling in my chest growing as I realized this was the first night in a while Len was not beside me.

I prepared myself for the nightmares that would plague me without her presence. Most agents had some sort of trauma, our job always putting us near death.

I only hoped I could contain it enough not to spark more worry.

* * *

I’d dropped the rest of the team off at the small airport nearby hosting the jet. It was only another thirty minute drive to my own airport, where I would drop off the rental car. The drive and flight alone gave me the space to clear my head.

It was only five minutes into the drive when my phone rang. Afraid Grey had forgotten something, I answered through the car’s Bluetooth.

Mags’ voice came through the speakers. “The lab results came back on the package left at your doorstep.”

“Does it confirm Ethan left it?” I asked, barely phased.

“No, the fingerprints were inconclusive,” she answered. “But there was something interesting. The letter inside was not written in paint like you originally suspected. The components came back consistent with lip gloss.” ‘

Lip gloss?

That didn’t make sense, nor did it fit Ethan’s profile. He hated women, despised every part of them. Mimicking their behavior, and using a common makeup product wouldn’t fit his profile at all.

My chest tightened, and the nagging feeling hit again, the one where I’d left Len still exposed to danger in Briarport. What if we didn’t arrest the right person?

There was so much to point to Ethan being the Coastal Killer, but the more I thought back on it, there was a chance he didn’t act alone. What if he had been helping someone else? Someone who had been pulling the strings the whole time?

I needed to get back to Len, fast.

“Mags, tell Grey to meet me back in Briarport,” I said.

“What? Why?” she asked.

“I don’t think this is over,” I said.

“It will take them well over an hour to make it back.”.