The Red Light Girls (Unsolved Mysteries Book 2) by Kim Knight (most romantic novels TXT) 📗

down on small time drug dealers around the city. Now free of briefings and meetings, she opened the door to her office and entered.

She was exhausted, but also pissed off. It had happened again last night, and the media were going crazy. Another female body showed up in the last twenty-four hours, the death toll around the city was climbing.

I knew media would go to town with this latest case. She shrugged out of her blazer, then hung it behind her door.

Last night after her and Gibson shut down Ali’s operation, she and a team of uniformed officers scooped out the woodland area where Suzy Chan’s body had been found. It was late evening. They had sealed off the Bos and declared it officially closed until further notice.

Janssen and her team had returned early this morning. After a few hours, she left her officers at Amsterdamse Bos with strict instructions to search the woodland area during the day, and for them to carry out some door-to-door questioning. Once that was done, she headed back to base. It was time to look more closely at the situation the city was in.

The drugs, the deaths, and the disappearances of women—mainly working girls.

Janssen headed over to the kettle in the corner of her office, flicked the switch, and then plucked an herbal tea bag from the plastic container.

A knock on the door jolted her.

“Yeah,” she called out over her shoulder. Preparing her favourite cup for consumption, she added sweetener.

The door opened, smacking the wall.

Gibson poked his head around the frame. “All the paperwork’s done on the arrests last night—even for Ali.”

“Great. No need to interview him further?” Janssen watched the numbers climb on the kettle, and they moved too slow for her taste at the moment.

“Nope. The guy was about to supply me with coke and dud pills.” He entered, crossed the room, and slumped down onto Janssen’s sofa. “Got everything we need on his ass. Plus, there’s the surveillance.” A satisfied smile split his lips.

Janssen smiled at a job well done, then turned to face her partner. He sat with one knee crossed over the other. Her eyes roamed over his crisp white shirt, smart black trousers, and the shine on his beige shoes.

He’s like a damn chameleon, she laughed to herself.

Over the years, she’d gotten used to the way Logan Gibson could blend in well in any environment. She recalled how different he looked last night, compared to now, in order to go undercover and make an arrest.

“What?” Gibson asked. “Why’d you look at me like that for?”

“Nothing, nothing at all,” Janssen said with a laugh. “You did good, partner.”

“Thanks. You too, especially with the work you did on the background surveillance.”

“Hmm, we’ve got to push for deportation. He’s too much of risk to remain here.”

Janssen leaned on the counter and waited for the kettle to boil. She folded her arms over her chest and glanced out the window.

The deaths of the girls were heavy on her mind. She was already convinced it had to be a man.

It always is in these cases. Her mind roamed back and forth over the last six months, scrubbing bits of information.

The horrific attacks on the women sat heavy on her heart. She didn’t like the idea of women at risk in the city she had pledged to serve and protect. For the most part, men disgusted her. Well, she could work with them and be friends, of course, but she had never found them attractive in anyway. The thought of a man’s hands on her body, or the idea that a man would have the cheek to take advantage of a woman, set a fire alight within her.

“You, okay?” Gibson asked. “You look like you’ve got the world on your shoulders.” He paused a moment. “It’s the girls, huh?”

Janssen’s gaze flashed back to meet Gibson’s across the room.

A blank look spread over her expression. She shrugged, then ran a hand through her short-cropped, blonde hair, then bit her lip.

“Uh-huh, yeah.” She shook her head to try and clear the flooding thoughts. “Yeah sorry I was just…”

The kettle clicked to signal it had boiled. She turned around, back to him, then poured water into her cup. The liquid turned to a blood-red colour, and the aroma of raspberry and pomegranate, rose with the steam.

A montage flash of mutilated female bodies assaulted her inner eye.

She set the kettle down and clasped her lids shut tight, pushing away the images of the mutilated bodies the forensic team had shown her.

“It’s okay to feel something,” Gibson said to her back. “We all have cases like that. You know, the ones that stick with us, especially when they’re unsolved, or we have little to go on.”

Janssen remained mute but nodded in agreement.

He’s right, she tossed his words around, mulling over the reality. After five years together, he has proven he knows me, time after time, just as well as I know him.

“Yeah, I hear ya, Logan.” Janssen sighed. “You wanna drink or something?”

“Nah, I’m good, thanks. You can keep your witch’s brew.” He chuckled.

Janssen’s shoulders bounced up and down, and she chuckled with her back turned. It was the first time she had laughed genuinely in a while.

“Hey, watch your mouth. I’ll turn you into a frog.”

Once her tea was brewed, Janssen turned to her desk with her steaming mug. She placed it down, then closed the blinds, and switched on the desk lamp.

The evening was starting to draw in.

“So, what do we know so far about the situation with the girls?” Gibson asked.

Janssen kicked off her loafers and threw her feet up on her desk with her tea in hand. “Well, not that much. The first case of a missing girl fitting the MO was about a year ago. Following that one, there were a few other, then they stopped for a time.”

“Right.” Gibson agreed and leaned forward. “We need to see if there’s any link between the previous cases and the most recent ones. Our suspect could