Free The Wreck by Marie Force

three.”
    “I believe him.”
    Brian laughed. “What the hell am I going
to do with a vacation?”
    “Oh, I don’t know, relax maybe? Read a
book? Get laid?”
    “Christ, Dad,” Brian huffed. “Is that
necessary?”
    “Absolutely necessary to your health and
well-being.”
    “All right, this conversation is over.
I’m calling my mother who would never dream of saying such a thing to me.”
    Laughing, Michael said, “You need to get
yourself a life outside of that office.”
    “I tried that—twice, in fact—and as you
well know, I discovered I’m a much better workaholic than I am a husband.”
    Michael grimaced. “I’m sorry. I was out
of line.”
    “Don’t go all serious on me, Dad. I like
you better when you’re busting my balls, even if it’s embarrassing.”
    A knock on the back door brought Michael
to his feet. “It’s open,” he called. To Brian, he said, “Congratulations again.
I couldn’t be more proud of you.”
    “Thanks, Dad.”
    “Give your mother a call.”
    “Will do.”
    “Talk to you soon.”
    He ended the call as his deputy chief,
Matt Collins, came into the kitchen still in uniform.
    “Sorry to interrupt,” Matt said. “I
brought those files you called about.”
    “No interruption. Thanks for the files.”
Michael added them to his pile on the table. “That was Brian. Did you hear he
won?”
    “It’s already on the radio. You must be
thrilled.”
    “I’m thrilled and relieved,”
Michael admitted. “Beer?”
    “Sure, I’m off duty.”
    Michael opened two bottles and handed one
to Matt. “Back in the swing after your vacation?”
    “Give me another day, and I will be.”
    “How’s everyone in Milwaukee?”
    “Good. My parents are enjoying the hell
out of retirement, and my sister’s kids are getting big. It was nice to be
home.”
    “Glad you had a good time.”
    “So big win for Brian, huh?”
    “Yeah. He sounded really happy just now.”
    “With good reason.” Matt followed Michael
to the living room. “That was quite a trial. He’ll be in hot demand after a win
like that.”
    “He gets recruited all the time, but he
loves what he’s doing in New York. Plus he works for a decent guy who gives him
a lot of leeway. He’s got a good thing going there.”
    “I’m glad to hear he’s happy and doing
well. He surely deserves it.”
    “You know it.” Michael took a drink from
his bottle. He had never forgotten the gentle care this man had shown his son
at the darkest moment of Brian’s young life. Matt Collins was much more than a
colleague to Michael. “Anything going on?”
    “Not here. Quiet shift.” Matt set his
bottle on the coffee table. “But we got word an hour ago there’s been another rape.
This time in Smithfield.”
    “Son of a bitch,” Michael hissed.
“Another kid?”
    “Sixteen.”
    “Same M.O.?”
    Matt nodded. “Tied her up and left her
stark naked in the woods. She was there all night.” His expression was grim
when he added, “He did some nasty shit to her. Another clean job, though. Not a
trace of DNA.”
    “Let me guess—a popular cheerleader
type?”
    “You got it.”
    Michael rubbed a weary hand over his
face. “One here, one in Smithfield, one in Cranston. Without the DNA, though,
all we have is the M.O. to tie them together.”
    “It’s got to be the same guy.”
    “We’ve got a serial sex offender on our
hands here. Tomorrow I’ll get with the other chiefs to form a task force.”
    “I’ll take the lead on behalf of
Granville, if you want,” Matt offered.
    “I’d appreciate that.”
    “I did some digging around on the
computer earlier. I put a few parameters into the unsolved statewide files and
got an interesting hit. Remember the young couple in Pawtucket that was
murdered about five years ago?”
    “Carjacking?”
    “That’s the one.”
    “What about it?”
    “Both were tied up and raped. No DNA. Not
a hair, not a fiber, nada.”
    “How old were the victims?”
    “She was nineteen, and he