Free The Profiler by Chris Taylor

tortured gaze.
    “We’ll find him, Mrs Caruso. I swear to you. We’ll find him.”
    They made their way across the room to the doorway. Clayton turned back. “Mrs Caruso, did Angelina wear any other jewelry?”
    Ellie paused and waited for the woman to answer. It came in the form of a jerky nod. “Yes, she loves jewelry. She never went anywhere without at least one or two pieces on. A necklace. Some earrings. She nearly always wears a silver charm bracelet I gave her last year for Christmas. It’s one of her favorite pieces.”
    Clayton’s lips compressed and he gave a brief nod. “Thank you, Mrs Caruso. We really appreciate your time.”
    Ellie followed him out in silence and tried to dispel the harrowing image of a woman that life had just broken into two.
    * * *
    Stewart Boston scratched at his hair and sent a furtive glance over his shoulder to check that no one was watching. He was four suburbs across from where he lived, but it paid to be careful. Cars sped by along the highway adjacent to the strip of shops where the cheap motel was situated. Much to his relief, no one seemed interested in him. His fingers trembled with excitement as he tried to fit the key into the door. On the third attempt, he was in and his belly clenched in anticipation.
    Her scent reached him, wafting through the thermostatically controlled warm air to tickle and tease his nostrils. His cock hardened. Blood pounded in his ears, deafening him to everything but the sound of her breathing. His own breath came in short, shallow pants. He approached the bed where she lay spread before him, naked and beautiful. He drank in the sweet sight of her and determined to take her with him when he left for his mini vacation.
    “Hello my sweet little cherry blossom. I’m sorry I took so long. I couldn’t get away any sooner.” He pulled off his suit jacket and tossed it on the back of the single armchair and then tugged at his tie.
    Moving closer, he ran a hand that was still not steady down the length of her leg, starting at her hip. She shivered beneath his touch.
    He smiled down at her. “We are going to have so, so much fun. I hope you like surprises.”
    * * *
    Ellie’s fingers worked at the knot of tight muscle in the back of her neck and she stifled a groan of frustration. It had been three days since she’d broken the news to Jacqueline Caruso. With no new leads on the murder, she’d returned to dealing with the pile of other ongoing investigations swamping her desk. The files of the mysterious chest freezer thief were open before her and she skimmed the contents of the initial police report.
    The first theft had occurred nearly three months earlier. Ronald Carter of Mt Druitt had called to report a Westinghouse chest freezer stolen off his back porch. The facts were strikingly similar to the one taken from Jim Whitton three weeks ago. And before that, there was one stolen from the Jacksons in Cranebrook. Same modus operandi . Same stolen goods. A vehicle had accessed the rear of the property and had stolen the chest freezer from an enclosed back porch.
    Ordinarily, such arbitrary crimes would be relegated a lower priority in her work schedule, but Clayton’s comment had unsettled her and she was determined to get to the bottom of this so she could discount that gruesome possibility from her list.
    Ronald Carter was sure he’d caught a glimpse of a white van as it turned into the back lane from his yard. He’d written down the number plate and that had been included in the report. She’d been trying to track down the owner.
    Reaching over, she picked up the telephone and punched in the numbers for the Roads and Maritime Services department. She groaned under her breath when she was immediately placed on hold and wondered how much more time she was going to waste.
    Her thoughts drifted to the cute Fed and she groaned again. She shouldn’t even be thinking of him like that. So what if he was cute? She’d known cute men before. Nothing