Free Her Anchor by Viva Fox Page A

life.  She’d always be wondering if they were actually good.  If he was looking at other women, if he wanted someone else.  Friends, babysitters, teachers, trainers, coworkers-they’d all be potential threats.  She didn’t think that she could live like that. 
    “Ok.”  Steve reached out.  He took her hand.  “Laura-.” 
    “Don’t.”  She murmured.  “I can’t right now.  We’ll talk later.” 
    “Ok.”  Steve leaned in and kissed her on her cheek.  “I’ll see you around.” 
    They walked down to the lobby together.  Laura wondered if there was a way they could overcome these issues.  She loved him so much.  Last night had proven that.  She wanted nothing but to be with him.  Maybe after they went back to Philadelphia she’d suggest therapy. 
    ******
    Laura spent the day pouring over case files.  One huge thing that had come out of last night was Steve’s information about the other murders in the area.  There was no clear connection between the case that she was currently working and these.  Aside from a few small add ups. 
    Lana Miller, the woman found dead in North Park, had been a jogger like Sandra Wilks.  The other two-Melanie Taylor from Moraine and Emily Watson from Clearwater-had been hikers.  That made Laura believe that someone was killing at random.  They were taking advantage of women alone in isolated areas.  The only thing she could definitely connect was that he knew their routines and was following them. 
    But why suddenly use a rope for Taylor?  Why had he taken that kind of time?  There was no mention in Taylor or Miller’s files of the two being found with their shirts pulled up.  That seemed to be the only trademark that their man used. 
    And why suddenly latch into the troll in Clearwater?  An experienced killer wouldn’t want to expose himself like that-unless he’d suddenly decided to start playing with the authorities.  Maybe it had been too good an opportunity to pass up.  Plus, Watson was the only body that he had attempted to hide.  If it was the same killer, he was getting away from water.  Yes, a creek ran through Clearwater, but he’d left Watson a good mile from it.  And there was none near Wilks. 
    At the end of the day though, there was nothing.  No clear connection, no evidence, nothing.  Laura felt like she was still at square one. 
    The one thing she did notice was that Jones had worked every case.  Yet he’d been more interested in sleeping with her than in getting into detail of the past cases.  She wondered why. 
    Laura decided to take the case information back to the hotel with her.  She thought she might work better in a place where she could switch into yoga pants and nap if she wanted to work all night.  She hadn’t been spread out longer than fifteen minutes when there was a knock on the door.  Expecting Steve, she opened it to find Tom instead.  He smiled at her. 
    “Thought that you might want some dinner.” 
    “I….  I’m not really hungry.”  She motioned over her shoulder at the desk.  “I just spread out paperwork.” 
    “Paperwork that I can probably give you a better explanation of rather than reading it.  Come on.  No sex this time, just dinner.”  He winked at her.  Laura didn’t really like it, but she did want case information.  So she went along. 
    “Ok.” 
    They took his car to an Outback which was about five miles up the highway.  Once the waitress had brought their drinks, Tom started talking. 
    “Do I think there’s a connection between the cases?  Probably.  But I don’t have any clear evidence of it.” 
    “Well yes, that’s what I gathered from reviewing the case files.”  Laura stirred her iced tea.  “I don’t know.  It just seems so random to not be connected.” 
    Their food came.  Tom kept attempting to switch the topic.   He brought up Steve a few times.  Laura was hesitant to breach it. 
    “I just don’t know,” she finally