“Convince me. We’ll go back to HQ, talk to their families, and you find me someone in their lives who would want them dead,” Ruby replied.

It was time to really test Gabe’s detective skills.

CHAPTER FIVE

Gabe Ruiz was no stranger to dead bodies. It was Ruby he found unsettling, completely silent the entire drive back to the Bureau. It was just his luck that Bellisario would stick him with an ice queen for his first case out of Quantico.

Gabe knew about Ruby Hunter. She had an exemplary track record of closing cases, but the whole Vallejo thing left people spinning a lot of rumors. Did Ruby go off the rails or did the guy have it coming? She’d managed to bring him in by herself, so there were no witnesses to how the takedown happened.

Whatever happened, clearly, she was not over it. The woman was clearly traumatized. Anybody would be, but Gabe wasn’t going to let her drag him into her obsessions. He hadn’t worked this hard, served his country in different capacities for this long, just to get tangled up in Ruby’s tragedy.

He had his own version of loss to deal with. He didn’t need hers to pile up on top of his.

If she kept up her strong, silent type act, maybe he’d have to switch his concerns to being shut right out versus being dragged in.

She finally spoke as they got into the elevator.

“Vanessa’s roommate Emily is already waiting to talk,” Ruby said, “or there’s her brother if you’d prefer.”

Gabe concealed a grimace. Ruby already knew what his answer would be. She phrased it as an offer, but she knew he wouldn’t take it. He was not in the frame of mind to sit across from Vanessa’s brother and ask intrusive questions.

Gabe instinctively touched the cross around his neck, then quickly pulled his hand away. Ruby was probably watching for all his tells. He didn’t need to give her fodder to criticize him.

“I’ll talk to the roommate,” he said. They were probably friends, good friends even, but comforting a friend was still different from comforting siblings or parents who had just lost their child.

Prodding friends and family was not Gabe’s preferred method of gathering information. People were forgetful, ashamed, and had a hundred other reasons they could be unreliable. Unfortunately, the killer’s timeline outpaced getting proper evidence. By the time credit cards were cross-referenced and web browsers analyzed, they could have another body.

There was no getting out of this. After the crime scene and the coroner’s office, there were no other immediate leads to follow. No leads and a killer’s timeline looming over them.

Gabe liked being out in the field, feeling the weight of a sidearm, prepared for the possibility of a runner. Getting closed into a room with grief?