Free Cold Hearted (Cold Justice Book 6) by Toni Anderson

forced Cassie to make the 911 call, and then he went through and stopped the music.”
    Why ?
    Darsh blocked everything out. Put himself in the zone. “We know the one roommate, Tanya, left for a party around eight and the other one, Alicia, wasn’t expected home until ten.” Had the UNSUB studied the girls’ schedule? Had he been watching the house? “During that two-hour time window, the UNSUB gets into the house, goes up the stairs. Attacks Cassie, ties her to the bed…” He shook his head. “I can’t believe he would risk raping Cassie until he knew Mandy wasn’t a threat.”
    “He didn’t have time to rape and kill them both in the fifteen minutes it took me to arrive after the 911 call,” Erin said.
    She was right.
    He checked the length of the song: two minutes forty-seven seconds. “And I have trouble believing he would call the cops until he was finished and ready to leave. So Mandy was probably the first victim, and the music disguised the attack on her, and also masked his preliminary assault on Cassie.” The one where the killer had incapacitated and threatened her enough to force her to make the call. “He made her record the message, presumably using his cell phone.” Darsh would bet his favorite rifle he’d recorded more than just that. “Then he called dispatch with Cassie’s phone and played her message back just prior to exiting the crime scene.”
    Erin splayed her fingers on the surface of the table. “So they were already dead when we got the call?”
    Darsh held her somber gaze. “I think so. The ME should be able to tell us more.”
    Some of the tension eased from her shoulders though her fingers clenched briefly. No matter how fast she’d driven, or whether or not she’d smashed down the door on arrival, she’d never had a chance of saving those young women.
    Darsh didn’t like the way he’d started to empathize with Erin on this. He was investigating her competence as an officer, not her emotional wellbeing. He couldn’t allow his feelings to compromise his effectiveness.
    “Maybe the ME can tell us which girl died first?” she said.
    “Knowing which girl died first might help us pin down the killer’s MO. Doesn’t bring us any closer to motive aside from personal gratification.”
    She took a sip of black coffee, and he found himself mirroring her actions. Damn. He put the cup back down. So did she.
    “It seems to me…” The rookie officer volunteered an opinion in the awkward silence.
    He waited while Cathy Bickham swallowed noisily.
    “Well, usually when someone reports a crime they go on the cops’ radar as either a witness or a possible suspect. By making Cassie report the crime herself, he took that out of the equation.”
    “Good point,” he said.
    “But why call it in at all? A few minutes later Alicia would arrive home from the library and find the bodies,” said Erin. “This seems like a deliberate taunt to law enforcement.”
    “Or he was punishing the girls by making them phone it in,” Darsh argued. “We all know what’s supposed to happen when you cry wolf.”
    “Everyone in town knew about those calls,” said Erin. “It was reported in the local paper.”
    She shrugged out of her suit jacket, revealing a tight and fitted white shirt. The fact his gaze wanted to linger on the faint outline of lacy straps in the middle of a murder investigation pissed him off.
    He’d always prided himself on his control. He wasn’t driven by impulse or desire. He was meticulous, dedicated, and hardworking. But more than that, he knew how damaging it could be when people selfishly went after what they wanted regardless of others. It wasn’t who he wanted to be. He forced his brain back to what was important—the job, the case.
    “My being a law enforcement officer never slowed Cassie down any.” Erin’s voice dropped lower. “She was smart and strong, a fighter. I think she would have fought him before he overpowered her, which is maybe why he hurt