“What time is it?” she asked, yawning.
“It’s six.”
She shifted upright. “Is it?” She pulled her hair off her face and stared around at the dimness of the room. “Why are you waking me up?”
“I found two more cases.”
“Jesus,” she said. “When?”
“In the last ten years.”
“And where are they?”
“Saskatchewan.”
“Why the hell would this killer be doing this in one province at a time?”
“I don’t know,” Rodney replied, “but I did find one correlation.”
“What’s that?”
He took a deep breath and said, “You won’t like it.”
“Maybe not,” she agreed, “but, if it gives me a break in this case, I’ll deal with it.”
“The thing is, this kid that you think may be innocent,… he spent time in multiple prisons.”
“Yeah, that’s pretty common.”
“Well, he spent time in Alberta,” and, his voice deepening, he added, “and he spent time in Saskatchewan.”
She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Please, God, tell me that he was actually in prison during these killings.”
“He was, from a cursory check. I’ll go deeper.”
“I’ll be in the office in twenty.” She quickly slammed down her phone. It took her eighteen minutes to get to the office. And she was the first one there. She looked around, wondering where the hell Rodney was. But she saw no sign of him, so she put on coffee and headed to her desk. He wasn’t in the bullpen and hadn’t been here yet, from the looks of things. Groaning, she grabbed her phone and called him. “Where the hell are you?”
“I’m at home,” he stated, “and, if you wouldn’t have hung up on me, I could have told you that.”
“Well, you could have texted me at least.”
“Or you could have asked,” he noted in exasperation.
“Well, I’m at the office at my desk,” she explained. “Nobody’s here, so maybe my brain can actually connect with something with no interruptions. Send me what you have.”
“Already did,” he stated. “I’ll be in in a bit. I didn’t get much sleep last night, so I’m not moving the fastest.”
“Who the hell sleeps anymore?” she muttered.
“You sounded pretty well asleep when I called,” he noted.
“And I was. Thanks for reminding me that you woke me up, and now you’re not even here.”
He laughed. “Didn’t say I was coming in either,” he teased. “You’re the one who assumed that.”
“Yeah, whatever,” she snapped. “At least I have a whole pot of coffee to myself.”
“Yeah, how about food though?”