“Hey, Dad,” he said cheerfully as he entered the room. He grabbed a chair and pushed it close to his father’s bed. “It’s Saturday again. Which means that it’s time for your favorite son to visit.”

He chuckled to himself because he was his father’s only child. “I see you got a new nurse on the floor. She’s a hottie, or didn’t you notice?”

His father’s gaze held his for a long moment before flicking away to focus on the television mounted over his bed. It was Konrad’s way of getting the last word without uttering a sound.

“I don’t think so,” Cade said, and got up to find the remote so that he could turn off the TV. Instead he stopped in his tracks when he saw what was on-screen.

“Oh . . . fuck,” he whispered. Divers in dry suits were standing on the Ohio side of the river. It appeared the camera was positioned on the Kentucky side, but it had a hell of a telescopic lens. Flanking the divers were two men in suits.

One had dark hair, the other bright white.

Cade recognized the guy with white hair. He’d gotten a lot of press coverage in the last few years, all of it good. FBI Special Agent Deacon Novak was a media darling. And a damn good cop.

The chyron at the bottom of the screen read: Divers Search Ohio River for Body Parts.

He swallowed hard. Fucking hell.

Relax. No way they can trace those parts to you. You were careful.

Yes, he had been, but he’d also thought he’d been careful enough that the parts would never be found in the first place. Fucking hell.

He gave himself a little shake and turned up the TV volume. And listened.

The first body part found had been a head, dragged up by a fisherman early that morning. The guy must have come along shortly after Cade dumped Brian Carlyle and Paul Engel, the most recent perverts.

What had the fisherman seen? Did he see me?

Cade needed the man’s name. He needed to make sure that the fisherman didn’t remember anything that might lead the police to him.

They’d been diving all morning, according to the newscaster, pulling up the remains of at least three individuals. On the case were Agent Novak and Detective Kimble, members of the Major Case Enforcement Squad, an FBI/CinciPD joint task force.

Cade would have to make sure they didn’t cause him any trouble. He’d never had to kill a cop, but if it came down to them or him?

I’ll choose me every damn time.

But first things first. He switched off the TV. He needed to find that fisherman.

Cincinnati, Ohio
Saturday, March 16, 3:15 p.m.

“Did you two get enough to eat?” Dani asked the Rowland brothers.