He was effectively showing her out. She waved to the evidence guys and climbed into her vehicle. Leaned against the headrest for a moment and jolted awake as she began nodding off.

She didn’t have time to take a break, and yet, she was no good to anyone right now. She watched Gleeson climb into a shiny black BMW she’d never be able to afford on her current salary. He reversed out of the space and then drove jerkily to the entrance onto the highway and sped away.

She was tempted to see where he went but her boss wouldn’t approve. She checked her watch and decided to head back to the precinct. She’d take a break when school was out so she could see Aiden for a short time, maybe catch a nap then. Hopefully, no one else would be murdered in the interim.

Chapter Twenty-One

I sat in a local diner taking a few minutes for myself, drinking more coffee and eating a muffin, while I figured out my next move.

Leave? Or hunker down and ride this thing out? Moving on was tempting, but I was reluctant. Running would make me look guilty and, honestly, I wasn’t done here yet.

Fairbanks PD had released Darby again.

Unease squeezed my intestines.

Had I made a mistake?

I’d replayed the events over and over in my head and didn’t think I’d done anything incriminating. No one could have seen my face let alone recognize me. The fact Adele had called the cops still made me furious, but the 911 recording was unlikely to have captured enough of my voice to identify it.

A miscalculation though. I hated miscalculations.

I’d gotten rid of the blood-soaked clothes and boots by taking them out into the woods with a jerrycan of gasoline and a box of matches, reducing them to ash. I’d destroyed everything that could connect me to the murders.

I only took trophies in order to obfuscate. I didn’t need to masturbate over the memories. I wasn’t a sexual deviant.

I picked up the pieces of muffin on my plate and eyed the server as she went past with a mop and bucket.

Adele might have been a mistake, I conceded.

I wasn’t proud that I’d lost control in that way. It was completely out of character and had scared the shit out of me when the adrenaline had crashed and my mind cleared.

But it had made me focus and clean up after myself. Fix any potential problems I’d anticipated in the aftermath. Tied up any loose ends.

Mistakes were for losers who wanted to get caught. I never wanted to be arrested. I did not intend to go to prison.

I wouldn’t keep killing forever. One of these days the urge would leave me and I’d finally be happy. Until then I needed to curb the emotions that led to dark urges. I needed to act normal.

If only Darby hadn’t pissed me off two nights ago, I wouldn’t be in this damn mess.