Harper shook her head. “I’m just telling you this because…because I can’t do this anymore, Reid. Dani—Danielle—she became important to me. I needed to protect her. I didn’t protect Jan…I had to protect Dani.” She met his gaze. “Do you understand? If I’d failed—again—it would have killed me.”

He nodded. “That’s why, that night in the car, you were so emotional.”

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry,” he said again. “But you got that guy in Tucson, right?”

“No. He never surfaced. Never killed again.”

His eyes widened. “Oh, man. You don’t think this guy…”

“No. When the first Raggedy Ann doll showed up, I’ll admit, the thought crossed my mind. Things were too different, though. My guy would wait for the victims to return home. He raped, tortured, killed…left the doll. We had no suspects.” She blew out her breath. “And I had no closure.”

“Wow. Makes sense why this case became so personal to you, Harper. You should have told me.”

“What I did was wrong. Dani could have gotten killed. I think this guy was so angry, so mad that he had her and she got away, that he let his guard down. Or else he was so arrogant he thought he’d never get caught. But that night, he came in with a knife. I don’t think he intended to abduct her. I think he was mad. I think he was over the whole stalking thing…I think he just wanted her dead. I think he was through playing games. He wanted it over with as much as we did.”

“How could he not have known you’d be waiting?”

“I was a cop, but I was a woman. I guess he thought we’d be trembling in fear of him. That’s how I picture him, anyway. An egotistical man playing cat and mouse with two inferior women. It may have even insulted him that they were relying on me—a woman—to protect Dani.”

“Maybe you should go into profiling. You seem to have this guy pegged.”

She picked up her pizza again, knowing it was cold. “I think I’m…I’m tired, Reid. I always wanted to be a cop—a detective. Always. But now…I think I’m done.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I have no idea.”

“Well, I think you should do what Mize said…take the two months to think about it.”

“I will.”

Then he smiled. “So you’re really going to LA to see Danielle Stevens?”

She drank the last of her drink. “No. I’m going to see Dani Strauss.”

Chapter Fifty-Three