Cold Case Recruit. Jennifer Morey

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СКАЧАТЬ here to recruit you,” Kadin said.

      “Why me?” The man might be confident, but this took it to the extreme.

      Kadin wandered back into the dressing room, going to bookshelf filled with binders. “I believe you’d make a valuable addition to my team. I need you.”

      What he offered did seem exciting, and for the good. What better way to utilize his talent?

      But to go back to that...

      “Well, I don’t need you, Mr. Tandy. As you can see, I have a job. A good job. I make lots of money, I drive a nice car and I live in a nice house. Why would I leave all that and go back to dealing with crime scenes and victims’ families?”

      Kadin twisted to look at him. “You just made dinner plans with one of those family members.”

      He did, and that would always be his weakness.

      When Brycen had no comeback, a half smile curved up on Kadin’s calculating face, more of a cat-got-the-mouse grin. He’d just confirmed whatever had made him come here with this insane offer.

      Facing the binders again, he said, “Nothing satisfies you more than catching sadistic killers who hurt the innocent without remorse and ruin the lives of those who loved them.”

      Nothing like driving his point home.

      Brycen shook his head. “You don’t understand. I—”

      Kadin cut him off. “The ugliness wore you down. I get that. But the detective in you will never die. You wouldn’t have started this show otherwise. Detectives—good detectives—don’t give up. Some may have a breakdown and need to step away for a while, but they always come back to what they were born to do.”

      Every word rang true in Brycen’s heart. Sometimes he did miss the chase, the puzzle-solving and the satisfaction of sending violent criminals to prison. But he did not miss the horror...or the darkness that had begun to swallow him.

      “Look,” Brycen began, not feeling full conviction to stay his course and apprehensive over the temptation he faced, “I’m flattered you came all this way, but I’m not your man.”

      “You’re not the only one I’m seeking out.” Kadin slipped out a binder, cradling it as he opened to the first page.

      Brycen had kept all of his case files. He used them to create shows.

      “I’m recruiting others based on their suitability to specific cases,” Kadin went on, turning pages and seeming to read.

      Brycen wondered how much was a show, a way to appear nonchalant, so as not to alarm Brycen to the full extent of his determination to sway him. “What case do you have in mind for me?”

      “What made you decide to become a detective?” Kadin asked instead of answering.

      He would ask that question. Homing in his sharp weapon and taking aim at Brycen’s soul. Brycen walked to the bookshelf and lifted the latest murder mystery he was reading. “I loved reading when I was a kid.” He held up the book. “That doesn’t mean I was born to be a detective.” He dropped the book with a slap onto the desk. “Fiction is not the same as reality.”

      “We all learn that when we go to our first crime scene.” Kadin put the binder away and turned to face him fully, his eyes too certain for Brycen’s comfort. “But you were born for this, Brycen. You must know. You must feel it right here.” He pressed his fist to the center of his chest. “I felt it. I still do. Even though I lost my daughter to a killer, I do it because I was born to. And in a way, I honor her by helping others. How can you feel good about yourself if you aren’t helping those families who desperately need you? The Molly Lyndens of the world.”

      “Oh, now you’re going to try and guilt me.” Brycen nodded, thinking it might work.

      “Why did you leave southern Colorado?” Kadin asked abruptly, and then for emphasis, “For Alaska?”

      He had a feeling the man already had an explanation. No point in answering, he just let him go on.

      “You were inspired by the books you read. And you knew you could make a difference in a city where the crime rate is high. In a state that has many dangerous places to live. You had the ambition in your heart.”

      All true, for the most part. But that didn’t lessen the toll it had taken on him.

      “Do you know how many families whose loved ones are still missing? Whose killers still walk free?”

      He knew it when he worked homicide and he still did now. And it bothered him.

      “This show is a waste of your talent,” Kadin said. “Think of the families. Molly Lynden.”

      “I thought of nothing else when I worked in Anchorage and then the CPD.” That and solving the crimes, the mystery, the challenge to outsmart killers. The reward of feeling like a hero. As a young man, he’d felt satisfied most by that.

      “Yes, but...why did you leave Alaska?”

      The deliberate question put Brycen on edge. “People do horrific things when they have mountains and water separating them from law enforcement.” He had told everyone that was why he’d left. Although some might speculate, no one knew the real reason. Except this man, it would appear.

      “And you thought Chicago would be better?”

      Few could rattle Brycen, but Kadin did.

      He didn’t respond, moving away from the man who pushed all the right buttons. He’d done some thorough research. Brycen stopped at the racks of clothes, wishing he could put one of the outfits on and go back onstage. But that would be running, wouldn’t it? Was that what he’d been doing? Running? And not from Chicago or Alaska per se. From something in particular.

      “You know all about feeling responsible for that, don’t you?” Kadin pushed some more, following him across the room. “About feeling responsible for the life of someone loved by their family?”

      Brycen turned to face him. Had he meant something by that? He looked hard into the seasoned detective’s eyes and found only intelligence. Cutting intelligence.

      “Tell me...” Kadin subtly, but with powder-keg precision, said. “What’s the real reason you left Alaska?”

      A shock wave singed him. A man like Kadin could dig up what Brycen had buried. All he had to do was look.

      “You’re good,” Brycen said. “I’ll give you that.”

      “If you join my team, I’ll give you exclusive rights to the cases you’re authorized to use. As long as the families agree to you doing a story about their murdered loved ones, you can use them for your show.”

      Kadin was right. Brycen didn’t have an exhaustive list of shows. He could solicit other cases, but that wasn’t the premise of his show. Its popularity stemmed from the fact that all the cases were his. He had solved them all. The Alaska programs received the highest reviews. Some of the cases were in remote areas—and there were plenty in Alaska—in villages that didn’t have law enforcement. That made СКАЧАТЬ