PRIMAL INSTINCT by JANIE CROUGH

stupid.”
    Conner and Seth looked at each other. They knew what Adrienne was saying was true. It was obvious from the mocking tone of the notes Simon had sent with the locks of hair.
    Conner grimaced. If Adrienne knew this, it meant she had somehow accessed the files. That was more information than he wanted available to her.
    “Go on,” Seth encouraged.
    “He’s alternating between gleeful and whiny—like a young child. He likes to be in control, to terrify the women and prove he has power over them. He takes absolute delight in sending you the locks of hair.”
    Conner stayed still, but Seth sat back and whistled through his teeth. He obviously believed this was coming from Adrienne’s “visions” rather than her accessing information while they were gone.
    “No offense,” Conner interrupted, “but you’re not telling us anything that is not already in a file here. A file that perhaps got shown to you while we were gone.”
    That seemed better than accusing her of breaking into a desk.
    “Agent Perigo.”
    Uh-oh, they were back to last names.
    “Why would I do that? There’s no point to it.”
    “I don’t know, Ms. Jeffries. You tell me.”
    Conner felt Seth nudge him under the table. “Ignore him, Adrienne. Continue, please,” Seth entreated.
    “He keeps a separate lock of hair for himself. A trophy.”
    That was new. Of course, conveniently, there was no way to know if it was accurate.
    “He places all the women at the locations where they are found, but he doesn’t kill them there.”
    They knew this too—no blood had ever been found at any of the crime scenes.
    “He kills them all at the same place—some sort of cellar or large empty room. It has a basement that’s almost hidden. It’s unusual. But there are no windows, and it has a ceiling with high dark rafters.”
    Conner now sat up straighter in his chair and saw Seth do the same out of the corner of his eye. This was something that they had never heard. It could potentially break open the case.
    If they were willing to believe her.
    “Can you remember anything else about the place?” Seth asked Adrienne.
    She shook her head. “No, I’m sorry. I can only see this room. For some reason I can’t see when he comes in or out of it, which would give us more to go on.”
    “Can you usually see stuff like that?” Conner asked.
    Adrienne rubbed her forehead. “Usually. I’m sorry.”
    “What else can you tell us?”
    Adrienne reached out to gather the five files of the dead women, where Conner and Seth had returned all the pictures. The files were blank on the front except for each woman’s first name. Adrienne took the files and laid them out on the table.
    “I know this was the order they were killed in,” Adrienne told them without looking up from the files. Then she took a pen and proceeded to write the last name of the women on each of their files. “I know their names, also.”
    This was too much for Conner. Whatever she was doing, he was done playing her game. He stood up and grabbed the files from the table.
    “You know what? I think that’s just about enough.” Conner was livid. “I don’t know exactly what you’re playing at here, but I don’t have time for it. You obviously didn’t stay in this room while we were gone today. I don’t know which agent helped you or if you just broke into a desk. But I am done with this.”
    Adrienne stood with her hands leaning on the table, obviously upset. “Can I remind you, Agent Perigo, that you came to me and asked for my help? Oh, scratch that, I mean blackmailed me into helping. What possible reason could I have for making this stuff up?”
    Conner mirrored Adrienne’s stance on the table. “I have no idea, and I don’t care anymore. Maybe you just want attention. Maybe you need to feel important. But the only way you could possibly know these things is if you got your hands on the case file or talked to someone else who did.”
    Adrienne slammed her small fist down on