Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [373]
“Hey, Tully?”
He realized O’Dell was staring at him again with a look of concern.
“Are you feeling okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine. Just tired. Stayed up too late last night.”
“Oh, really? Hot date?” Racine hoisted herself up onto an empty countertop, her long legs allowing her to do it in one smooth motion.
“My daughter and I stayed up watching Rear Window.”
“Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly? I love that movie. I guess I didn’t realize you were married, Tully.”
“Divorced.”
“Oh, okay.” The detective smiled at him as if she was glad. Most people automatically mumbled some sort of apology, which he didn’t really understand, either.
He glanced over at O’Dell, who was pretending to be occupied with some evidence bags instead of paying attention to Racine’s flirting. Or at least, he thought Racine was flirting with him. He’d never been good at it himself or even good at detecting it, for that matter. At least O’Dell was trying to behave herself with Racine, as if being nice to the detective would make up for them keeping her in the dark about the cyanide capsule. He wasn’t sure he agreed that they should be withholding information. This was Racine’s case, after all. Not theirs. They were here only to assist and offer consultation.
Tully still wondered why Cunningham and BSU had even been called in on this case. Who had made that call and what did they know? Had someone already suggested a connection between this girl and the five young men from the cabin raid? And if so, who was it and how did they know? Evidently, it wasn’t anyone at the District PD, because Racine seemed clueless.
His stomach still felt queasy, though the Coke was helping. He was fine as long as he concentrated on the case and not the fact that the dead girl could just as easily have been Emma. He found himself wondering what had made this girl different. Why had the killer chosen her?
“Okay, you two,” Racine said. “Tell me what you know.”
Tully shot a look at O’Dell. Had Racine finally figured out they hadn’t told her something? Before either of them could answer, Racine continued, “Since we have some time, tell me about this guy from what we’ve learned so far. I have to get out there and start looking for this fucking psycho. You guys are the profilers. Tell me what I’m supposed to look for.”
Tully relaxed, almost sighing. O’Dell hadn’t flinched. She was good, impressive. They hadn’t known each other for very long, but he did know that O’Dell was a better liar than he was. He’d let her have the first shot at Racine’s question.
“Everything so far points to him as being organized.”
Racine nodded. “Okay, I know about organized versus disorganized. You can save me the textbook stuff. I’m after specifics.”
“It’s awfully early for specifics,” O’Dell told her.
This time Tully could tell O’Dell was not just being difficult with the detective; she was being careful. Maybe too careful. They owed Racine something.
“I’d say he’s between twenty-five to thirty years old,” Tully said. “Above-average intelligence. He probably holds a regular job and appears to be socially competent to those who know him. Not necessarily a loner. Maybe even a bit arrogant, a braggart.”
Racine flipped open a small notebook and was jotting the information down, though what he was giving her could be considered classic textbook generalities, exactly what she had said she didn’t want.
“He knows a thing or two about police procedure,” O’Dell added, obviously deciding it safe to divulge some of what