Free Cavanaugh's Bodyguard by Marie Ferrarella

had gone on for more than a year even if it was only during the length of one month each time, deserved to have the attention of more than just two detectives. The fact that it didn’t raised questions. “Why aren’t there more of you on it?” he asked.
    She would have loved to bring a great many issues to his attention. There was the fact that Howard wanted to keep his budget figures reined in while demanding that all his detectives put in extra hours. That would make it appear as if cases were being solved by his division in a minimum of time since only the core hours were logged in.
    There was also the fact that since Howard had come in morale had dropped to a dangerously low point. But too many complaints might come across to the chief as her being petulant. The case was too important for her to risk possibly losing the chief’s goodwill.
    She worded her answer as diplomatically as she could. “I don’t think that the lieutenant wants it to appear as if he’s exceeding his budget on some momentary whim.”
    Brian’s eyes narrowed at the description. “Taking down a serial killer is hardly a whim in my book,” he responded. “It’s being a good cop.” He looked from his niece to her partner. “Have you found any suspects yet?”
    Bridget ran her tongue along her lips that had grown very dry in the last few minutes. “Well, in theory,” she began.
    “And this theory is?” Brian prodded.
    Bridget blew out a breath. Here goes nothing. “That whoever the killer is, he might also be trying to get even with the police department, making them regret that they didn’t hire him.”
    That was a new angle. But Brian had learned long ago not to appear surprised by anything while on the job, so, to the two people in his office, he looked as if he took this new information in stride.
    His expression gave nothing away as he asked, “You think that the killer is someone who tried to get into the academy?”
    “It does seem likely,” Josh told him. “The killer never tried to hide any of the bodies of his victims. Instead, he always made sure to leave them out in plain sight, as if he was taunting the police with his kills.”
    “According to the ME’s report,” Bridget added, “these women were all killed late at night. Depending on where, that gave the killer plenty of time to either move the bodies where they couldn’t be found or get rid of them altogether. But he didn’t. It’s like he wants the police department to see his work.”
    “He’s rubbing our noses in it,” Brian summarized.
    Enthused because the chief wasn’t dismissing their theory out of hand, Bridget laid out her plan. “Exactly. I’d like to go through all the old academy applications from about three, four years ago, limiting the search to strictly the ones who didn’t wind up graduating for one reason or another.”
    Brian nodded, seeing no reason to deny her request. “Do it.” He noticed the way Bridget suddenly caught her lower lip between her teeth. The unconscious action reminded him of Janelle. His daughter had the same habit when she debated whether or not to bring something to light. “What?” he asked encouragingly.
    “We could certainly use some extra people to make this go faster.”
    Brian didn’t see what the problem was. “Get them,” he instructed. “Borrow them from other departments if you have to.”
    She searched for a way to delicately approach what she was about to say next without making it sound as if she was being disloyal to her department—or the man in charge of it. This being diplomatic was hard . As a rule, she liked speaking her mind, not tiptoeing through invisible minefields.
    When she paused, Brian read between the lines. His days as a detective were not so far in the past that he couldn’t remember what it was like to have to rein himself in and make sure he didn’t get ahead of himself and step on toes that were very capable of kicking back.
    “I’ll inform Lieutenant Howard of my