Free Confess (The Blue Line Series Book 1) by Reagan Phillips

thirteen years ago when thirteen young girls went missing and ended up mutilated from scalp to toe.”
    Anger, red hot and liquefied, pulsed through Mitch’s body at the casual mention of Sadie’s murder. He bit the inside of his cheek until he tasted the tang of blood. Then he bit even harder to hide the pain. “I wouldn’t know anything about that, Sir.”
    Andrews rocked forward. “Then what the hell are you doing in Rebel, Detective? Why’d they send a snot-nosed rook like you?”
    Frustration ate at his insides, but Mitch managed to keep his temper under control. “We can shoot the shit all day long. Hell, we can even step outside and see who can piss the straightest line, but the fact remains. A young woman is dead, and the murder happened on your watch. You can help me investigate and put the bastard away before anyone else dies, or you can get in my way and have Nashville riding your back. You choose.”
    Chief Andrews stiffened in his chair, no doubt deciding how to take Mitch’s threat.
    “Deluna and Helms will see you have what you need while you’re here, but I’m warning you. A step, a fucking toe over the line, and I’ll haul your ass back to Nashville myself.”
    Good. Compliance. He’d bought into Mitch’s warning without argument.
    “Yeah.”
    “Anything else I can do for you?”
    Mitch pulled his phone from his back pocket and scrolled past the pictures he’d taken that morning at the crime scene to a shot of Stetson he’d snapped at the bar the night before. “Know this kid?”
    “Charlie’s nephew. Parents just split. He’s here for the summer while they take care of the divorce. He was in diapers when the first murders started.”
    Mitch weighed his answer. There was also the slightest chance the two murders weren’t from the same killer. People liked to copy. Take advantage of an already established kill pattern thinking it would cover their tracks.
    Small towns and accusations could get very tricky. “He doesn’t seem skilled enough to pull off this clean a murder, but I’m watching him.” And if he showed up at Charlie’s during one of Lacy’s shifts again, he’d make damn sure the kid knew just how closely he was watching.
    Besides, the recent murder happened around the time the kid arrived. Whoever killed her would have avoided the obvious scenario.
    “Good,” Andrews answered. “If you start accusing every teenager in town, I’ll have a mob of parents on my hands.” He sat his glasses back on the bridge of his nose. “These are good people, Detective. They’re scared, and they’re willing to believe whatever rumors surface about the murders. I’m not going to let you turn my town into tabloid fodder or create panic. Remember, Detective, you’re just as much an outsider here as that kid. Start a panic and eyes will be turning to you, if they haven’t already.”
    “I don’t plan to.” But he’d heed the warning just the same. Small towns had a way of creating their own truths. If anything, he’d hoped to stay as low profile as possible and as under the Nashville radar as Chief Andrews had managed to hide.
    “Anything else, ask Deluna or Helms. They’re young, but they’re good officers. Helms’s father and I went way back.” Some unwanted emotion flickered in the chief’s eyes before he blinked it away and went on. “Whatever you need. I don’t want Nashville breathing down my neck about not being compliant.”
    Andrews cleared his throat and tossed a glance to a silver frame on his desk. “If that is all. You may go.”
    Mitch grabbed the door handle, but stopped short of leaving when the chief loosened his tie and shook his head. “Something else you wanted to say, Sir?”
    “My boys were right about you.” Andrews stood and circled his desk, landing a hip on the corner. “You read between the lines. Some sadistic bastard has my town on lockdown and some still wet behind the ear detective thinks he can do a better job of catching the killer