Brad’s shoulders moved up and down in a negligent shrug, as though he didn’t really care, and Cam believed it. “Fine then. If your cavemen are done, I’ll move on. In your original report, you talked about a phrase the man who abducted you used. Do you recall what he said to you?”

Laura’s eyes took on a haunted, vacant look. She seemed to go somewhere deep inside herself. “He liked to talk. He talked to me for hours. I don’t remember a lot of it, but I remembered that one phrase.

He told me that the only way to a woman’s heart was the path of torment. He said he knew of no other way so sure.” Cam had looked it up. The real Marquis de Sade had written it.

He’d had a lot to say, most of it garbage in Cam’s mind. The Marquis had believed that all moral principals were fancies, not anything concrete or real.

“That’s a bit specific,” Brad said. “Are you sure that’s what he said?”

Now Laura was the one staring through Brad. “Well, a girl rarely forgets what’s been said just before a man in a plague doctor’s mask whips her, cuts her, and shoves a knife through her gut multiple times.

I was tied down at the time, and he’d whipped me viciously. I hate to admit it, but he did have my attention.” Cam felt his gut twist. His brain tended to go to a black place when he thought about what had happened to her. When he read it on paper, it was bad enough. When he heard it coming out of her mouth in that dead monotone she employed whenever the subject came up, it was devastating. She’d been taken and brutalized. She’d been tortured for hours. He loved her. Guilt festered like a sore. He was responsible for her. She’d let him take pleasure in her body and solace in her heart. He owed her protection, and he’d failed.

He wasn’t going to fail her again.

“And did you recognize the words?” Brad asked. Why was he still talking? His voice grated on Cam’s every nerve.

“Not at the time,” Laura admitted. “Later on, I looked it up. It was right after I’d gotten to Bliss. I was in bad shape. I couldn’t get those damn words out of my head. I went into Stella’s and asked to borrow her computer. I told her I needed to look up something. It’s a quote from the Marquis de Sade.”

“Donatien Alphonse François, the real Marquis de Sade had a philosophy attached to his methods. He was imprisoned several times for abusing prostitutes. One was said to have been held for weeks of torture before she managed to escape out a second story window,” Edward murmured. He spoke academically, as if he wasn’t discussing the torture of a colleague. “He wrote a lot about sexual freedom.

Some of his philosophies are very interesting.”

“We don’t need a lecture, professor,” Brad grumbled. It seemed to Cam like the special agent didn’t enjoy having his spotlight taken away. And he was being rude. Back when Cam was in the unit, Edward hated to be called professor.

Edward’s eyes narrowed on the junior agent. “I have a point. I can see where someone of our own killer’s persuasions would be interested in the Marquis. That isn’t surprising. What is surprising is the fact that he adopted the philosophies the press put upon him. I’ve been thinking about this for a while. It doesn’t sit particularly well with me. I would have thought he would be in control of his press, so to speak. I actually think this validates my own profile. The Marquis de Sade is immature, socially awkward. He’s probably making up for a very bad childhood and intense feelings of inadequacy.”

“Or he’s controlled the press far better than we could have imagined. I can’t believe I didn’t think about this. I don’t believe the man is immature. He’s too smart, too in control. He would never follow someone else’s lead.” Joe leaned forward, a grave look on his face. “Who was the first reporter to name him?” Motherfucker. He remembered that first televised report well. It had been the report that made Jana Evans’s career. How long had she been talking to that son of a bitch? What clues had she hidden in her quest for a freaking local Emmy?

“We should get her in here.” Rafe’s voice was tight with fury.

“Jana would have told us if she was in contact. She wouldn’t let a killer roam free to get a story,” Laura said.

For the first time since the interview began, there was a hint of emotion in her voice. It was a slight shake that had Cam reaching for her hand despite the obvious reasons not to. Jana had been Laura’s friend, but she’d betrayed her in so many ways. How long had she used Laura to further her own career?

How had it felt to wake up after a nightmare and believe no one loved her? She’d felt betrayed by Cam and Rafe and her oldest friend.

For the first time, Cam really understood why she had walked away and what she had found here.

“You know reporters and their confidential sources,” Brad murmured, making notes in his file. “We’ll have to bring in Ms.

Evans and have a chat. It’s convenient that she showed up here in Bliss.”

“Yes, it is.” Cam cradled her hand in his, satisfied that she didn’t pull away.

Everything he learned pointed more and more to Laura being right. There was a leak in the unit, and that leak just might be the killer. He studied Brad, Joe, and Edward carefully. Maybe he needed to really rethink everything he knew about them. Maybe it was time to trust Laura’s instincts. Cam wondered how far Nate Wright would let him in. Would Nate allow him to use one of the computers to run checks on his former colleagues?

“I would also like to talk to Mr. Wolf Meyer,” Edward said, staring down at his notes. “I ran a check on everyone in this town, and I don’t like what I’ve discovered. This whole town is full of misfits and riffraff. But Wolf Meyer interests me. He lived on a base close to DC right up to a few months ago. He took a trip back to DC at a time that places him in the area when the last victim was killed.” Laura’s blue eyes rolled. “It’s not Wolf, you idiot. He’s a SEAL.” Edward laughed, condescension dripping from his mouth. “Yes, because a military man would never kill anyone. He fits your profile, dear. I would think you would be thrilled I would consider him.”

“You’re an ass, Edward,” Laura stated. “If you’ve successfully profiled someone before, it was because it was so obvious a monkey could have done it. Wolf has a core of integrity. He practically glows with it.”

“I wouldn’t say that,” Cam grumbled. He really hated that guy.

Laura smiled up at him. “He doesn’t have your sunny disposition, babe.”

Why did everything inside him clench when she looked at him like that? Why did his whole fucking world seem okay because she was accepting him? Sunny disposition? He had to smile back. He was a taciturn son of a bitch most of the time. God, he wanted to kiss her.

He wanted to take her out of here.

Laura turned back to the agents. “Please, feel free to talk to Wolf.

I think you’ll find a conversation with him enlightening. I happen to know he spent an awful lot of time overseas doing things for our country you can’t even conceive of. Interview everyone in Bliss. I know you’re all damn good at wasting time.”

“Insults aren’t going to get you anywhere,” Brad said, his composure slipping a bit.

“She’s right.” Rafe’s hands slapped on the table. “We’re wasting time. She’s gone over everything. Why are we treating her like a criminal?”

Joe sighed and rubbed a spot between his eyes. “I know she’s not a criminal, but she is a bit of a hostile witness. She left town. I can’t be sure she won’t leave again.” He turned his eyes to Laura. “If I offer you protective custody, will you take it?”

“No,” Cam said before she could.

If anyone was going to protect her, it would be him and Rafe. If witness protection got involved, they might or might not accept the two of them coming along, and Cam didn’t trust anyone else.

“What he said,” Laura admitted with a weary sigh. “I firmly believe that de Sade is law enforcement. Given what you all now suspect about Jana, he might even be on this team.”

“That is ridiculous,” Edward spat. “No one in the BAU is a serial killer. It’s preposterous. The Bureau has systems in place to ensure someone like that would never get in. What do you have against men, Ms. Rosen? I have long suspected that you don’t like men.” Joe pointedly cleared his throat and stared between Rafe and Cam.

Cam didn’t miss the way Laura’s mouth turned up.

Edward shook his head. “I didn’t say she was a lesbian. She uses men. Probably a very great deal of them.”

“Says the misogynist,” Laura murmured.

Cam turned to Rafe, who seemed just as lost. Cam had known Edward was an unctuous little prick, but not that he particularly had it out for Laura. Though now that he remembered back, he could see all the slight ways the senior special agent had tried to cut out the only female on the team. He was always putting down her intellect even as he praised her wardrobe or the way she wore her hair. Edward had tried to make her seem less than the men.

Edward leaned forward. “You weren’t able to prove that claim, were you, Ms. Rosen? You tried to put a black mark on my record, but it didn’t work.”

“Well, I did leave before my meeting with human resources. I guess that was lucky for you,” Laura replied.

Cam leaned in. “What did he do to you?”

“I’ve heard nothing of this,” Rafe said, standing up. Cam wondered if he was going to move his chair again. “Why is Edward being allowed to question a witness with an outstanding complaint against him? He can’t exactly be unbiased.” Joe’s bark quieted the room. “Neither can you, Kincaid. There is nothing normal or routine about this fucking case. It involves a woman who used to be one of our own. Will you all sit down and shut up, or I swear this is going to be a very empty room in two minutes. I will dismiss you, Special Agent, if you can’t keep your shit together.” Rafe’s jaw clenched, but he visibly calmed and took his seat again.