Free Taken in Hand by Barbara Westbrook

with
    embarrassment with each disjointed one. Chad coped by
    hiding—and he admitted to himself he was hiding—in the
    guest room after he showered and dressed in his own
    clothes. He’d never been more humiliated in his life. His only
    consolation was that it could have been worse. Someone
    other than the arrogant Adam Morrison could have
    witnessed his disgrace. Knowing he was foolish to be furious
    with Adam over what he’d caused himself didn’t help. He’d
    failed the role he’d taken on, gotten himself drugged, and
    nearly raped all because he had to open his big mouth and
    assert his macho pride instead of playing the role he’d sworn
    he’d play. He’d fucked up. Along with that were those flashes
    of disturbing memories that had him nursing a hard-on
    along with his sore ass.
    In an effort to take his mind off the events of the night
    before, he called into the office for a report on the preacher
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    and his brother. Phillips told him Jason Rubin had such a
    clean record he probably squeaked when he walked. The
    man had never even gotten a parking ticket. His brother,
    Jeremy, however, looked better and better as a suspect. He’d
    managed not to end up in jail, but he did have an assault
    charge against him two years ago that he’d skated on when
    the victim refused to press charges. It made him a prime
    candidate for the murders.
    “Jeremy Rubin showed up here again around three
    months ago, only a month before the murders started. He
    comes and goes, traveling around, taking whatever job he
    can find,” Philips said. “It doesn’t look like he’s held any job
    more than six months ever.”
    “None at the University or club?”
    “Nope, but just like you said, he fits the profile the
    department shrink drew up for us, and he does hate gays.
    We may have verified that. Some people at his brother’s
    church say he’s made derogatory remarks, but we can’t tie
    him directly to any of the victims. The church tie is too
    indirect. No real BDSM link. The focus of this killer is not on
    all gays in general, but on a specific segment of that
    population. BDSM includes women too, of course, but no
    women have been victims. The only definite links we have so
    far are men into BDSM connected to the University.”
    “Who have a lover,” Chad added.
    “Yeah, that too.”
    “This Jeremy worked off and on at the church. That
    ties him close enough to two of the victims for me. Start
    digging. There’s got to be some connection between him and
    the other victims. I don’t suppose there are any open
    warrants on him here so we could pick him up?”
    “No and the chief doesn’t want to alert him to our
    interest yet, not until we can get more to hang him with.”
    “Has he ordered any surveillance on him?”
    “Not yet. He says the DA would have a fit with no more
    than we’ve got, no real probable cause.”
    “Shit. He won’t give you the go ahead for anything,
    phone records, financial statements, nothing?”
    “Too circumstantial. A judge won’t clear us for any of
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    that until we can come up with more.”
    “These killings have all the earmarks of a hate crime.
    The story I got is the guy hates his father because he
    deserted his family to live as an openly gay man. Even the
    timing with his father’s death ties in as a trigger that set him
    off. What the hell more do they want before they untie our
    hands?” Chad demanded, his voice rising in anger.
    “Evidence. The guy looks good for it with his record
    even though it’s all minor crap and what Morrison told you
    about him, but none of it’s concrete. We need to flesh it out
    some more before we move.” He cleared his throat and
    asked, “How did your first day as a pet go?”
    “I failed my paper training,” he retorted bitterly,
    flushing with embarrassment and damned glad he was on
    the phone, not face to face for Philips to see it. “And they’re
    called submissives, dumbass. But