Race Against Time by Christy Barritt Page A

safe. It was. But still, her attacker had gotten in before and hardly left a trace of evidence. He could do it again.
    After he showered and changed, he started down the road to the station. He decided as he drove that he would send someone over to install a security system and cameras in Madison’s house. She wouldn’t like it. She’d insist on paying. But he would do it, anyway—and he wouldn’t accept a dime for it. After all, if he’d been a little friendlier with her when he’d moved in, then maybe he would have stopped by her house for coffee after his morning jog and deterred this lunatic from breaking in.
    Those were all what-ifs. His friendship with her may have meant nothing.
    Truth was none of it really mattered. His job was to solve this case, not to protect Madison. What was it about her that tugged at his heartstrings, anyway? He was usually so good at keeping his distance from the people he served. Some would say that made him a bad detective and others would say the opposite. He didn’t know what he’d say anymore. He only knew that there was something about Madison’s clear eyes, her flawless complexion and her shapely lips that did a number on his heart.
    Still he hated to leave the woman right now in what she had to consider the house of horrors.
    It would be like Brody having to live in the same apartment where Lindsey had…
    He shook his head. He didn’t want his thoughts to go there. He’d tried hard to put that behind him, even moved here to Virginia to get away from his old life.
    But would he ever be able to truly put it behind him?
    Yesterday had dredged up so many memories of Lindsey. There were so many similarities between the way he’d found Lindsey and the way he’d found Madison. The whole suicide scene brought back the remembrances. The only difference was that he’d shown up at Lindsey’s place in response to a police call. He’d thought the address sounded familiar. But then he’d walked into her house and found her dead. He was still reeling from seeing her lifeless body when he’d found the suicide note.
    I gave you my heart, and you walked away. Your arrogance has hurt too many people. You never consider other people’s feelings…
    He and Lindsey had met at one of Manhattan’s trendy clubs and dated for three months. Lindsey, a teacher by trade, had been a nice girl, except when she drank—which had happened all the time. Brody had thought if she got some help that the two of them might have a chance at a relationship. But Lindsey wouldn’t even acknowledge that she’d had a drinking problem. Brody had broken up with her, hoping that might be a wake-up call. Things hadn’t ended the way he’d hoped. Not at all.
    He shook the memories off. He needed to check with the other detective to see if he’d found out any new information about the other two suicides that had happened in York County since Brody had arrived. What if they weren’t suicides, either? What if there really was a serial killer loose here in York County?
    He strode over to Detective Blackston’s desk as soon as he got to work. The detective, long and lean—a former cross-country runner—glanced up from some files on his desk.
    “Find out anything yet?” Brody asked.
    “I met with Willie’s family this morning,” said Blackston. “Both his mom and dad said they still had trouble believing he would have committed suicide, even with all of the problems he was having emotionally at the time. But there’s also no evidence to indicate that it wasn’t suicide. I’m looking over the crime-scene photos now.”
    What Madison had told him about the egg timer remained stuck in his head. It had been an integral part of the crime. Had the other victims heard that egg timer also? None of the detectives would have thought anything strange to see an egg timer in someone’s home. That would be the next thing that Brody investigated. That might just be the evidence that tied all of the cases