“The woman killed after answering the online help-wanted ad five weeks ago was tricked into falling into an industrial hopper.” The details in the case file had been horrific, and he did not elaborate.

She couldn’t manage more than a whisper. “That case was also in the news. I saw it.”

“The specific details weren’t.” Some things were too gruesome even for the evening news.

He fell silent, waiting for her to accept it. Something she truly didn’t want to do. But finally, seeing the certainty in his stare, she knew she had to believe it, to swallow down the truth like bitter medicine and move on.

“A psychotic killer is trying to contact me.”

Lambert nodded. “I think so.”

Her head spinning, she sagged back in her chair. God, no wonder he had been so anxious to reach her. What if she’d gotten back online this morning-or if she’d checked the site one more time before going to sleep last night? In the state she’d been in, she would have given Darwin a piece of her mind.

Which could have angered him so much he might have wanted to rip the rest of her to pieces, too.

She shuddered. “Thank God I didn’t respond.”

For the first time since he’d arrived, the agent’s stare didn’t quite meet her own. He glanced down at his hands, folded together and dangling between his knees.

“Yes. Thank God.”

She hesitated; then understanding washed over her. She finally got the whole picture. What he’d come for, what he wanted from her, why he looked both excited and disturbed. Why he couldn’t meet her eye right now.

Excited because he had a lead in his case. Disturbed and unable to look her in the eye because… “Wait. You want there to be a response.”

He nodded.

Speaking in a voice that had suddenly lost most of its volume, she continued. “You want to use my Web site to strike up a conversation with a murderer?”

“No, Mrs. Dalton.” He didn’t offend her intelligence by even trying to soften it. “I want you to use your Web site to strike up a conversation with a murderer.”

InXile: R u still there?

InXile: My friend?

Wndygrl1: Im here. This is so sudden. Tonight?

InXile: Must be tonight. Sorry. Has to be nine o’clock.

Wndygrl1: That’s very late.

InXile: You get in trouble to stay out late?

Wndygrl1: lol! Just wondering if I dare.

InXile: Dare to come to me?

Wndygrl1: Dare to start this new life.

InXile: U know how I feel.

Wndygrl1: I didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Tho I have been thinking about it. I was just about to go shop for something pretty to wear.

InXile: I am sure you make anything pretty.

Wndygrl1: You say such nice things, Rafe. But this is so sudden. You made no mention of having to go away when we talked last night.

InXile: I know. Things go so quickly. I would love 2 give u all the time in the world to get ready. But my time runs out. If not tonight I don’t know when. Could be months.

Wndygrl1: Oh, dear… you will be gone that long?

InXile: Yes. My life is so different from yours. So much difficulties. I wish only to see you, to romance you, one time before I go, so you might wait for me to come back.

Wndygrl1: I’ll wait!!!!!!

InXile: My sweet. Can I convince you? A public meeting…?

Wndygrl1: We would meet in a public place?

InXile: I promise, I will take you somewhere with no walls, no doors, where you can be seen at any time.

Wndygrl1: That sounds safe.

InXile: And maybe tempting?

Wndygrl1: Yes.

InXile: Yes, I have tempted you?

Wndygrl1: I meant yes. I’ll come tonight.

“You know, Agent Lambert, if you’re going to use me as bait to catch a serial killer, you might as well call me Sam.”

Alec managed to keep his eyes on the road and not look over at his passenger, whose mood had vacillated from shock to horror to acceptance in the hour since he’d shown up at her door. They’d left her apartment, heading back to headquarters. Not his first choice, but she had given him no other options. “It’s Alec. And we’re not using you as bait.”

She blew out a disbelieving breath. “Oh, right. Uh, what should we call me? An appetizer? First course?”

He glanced over, gauging how serious she was. If she was having second thoughts, no way would he force her. “Nobody said you had to do this. Do you want me to turn around?”

She huffed a little and crossed her arms over her chest, running her hands up and down her arms to ward off the morning chill. He reached out and jacked up the slow-to-warm heater in the government-issue sedan. Focusing on the road and the city traffic, he ordered himself not to notice the way her soft sweater hugged her body with every move, or the visible puffs of air emerging from her full lips each time she exhaled.

In close confines, the sexual attraction he’d been telling himself did not exist had become an elephant sitting in the backseat. A whole herd of elephants. Because even when snappish and frightened, the woman was still attractive enough to make his heart skip a beat when he looked at her.

“Of course I’m doing it,” she finally said with a sigh, after he’d almost forgotten his own question. “But you’d better drive faster. I usually post by noon. Twelve thirty at the latest. Won’t your guy think it’s strange if I don’t?”

“Yes.” His foot pressed the gas pedal harder. “We want to stick as close to your normal routine as we possibly can.”

“I know.” Staring at the dashboard as if it held answers to some deep question, she added in a low voice, “Just how deep am I about to dive into the psychotic end of the gene pool, Alec?”

A frown tugged at his mouth at the hint of nervousness in her voice. “Deep. But not for long and not into shark-infested waters.”

“Yeah, right.” She turned in her seat to face him. “If I were a character in a book or on an episode of Criminal Minds, I’m sure I’d be feisty, brave, and raring to go. But to tell you the truth, I’m scared spitless.”

He dropped a hand on hers and squeezed. Her slender fingers were ice-cold. Rubbing them lightly, he shared the warmth of his skin, though he knew some of Sam’s coldness probably came from the fear that had her in its grip.

He liked her more for the admission. For the fear. It showed she had common sense, was intelligent enough to know what she was letting herself in for. But he didn’t want it overwhelming her. “Nothing’s going to happen to you, Sam. The unsub has no idea you’re working with us, or that we’re watching.”

“Unsub?”

“Unknown subject. He’d have no reason to target you at all.”

“Unless I piss him off.”

“You won’t,” he insisted. “All you have to do is act interested in what he has to say. We want him to keep coming back to your site. If he thinks you’re listening, he might do it, if only to try to prove he’s smarter than you. If we’re lucky, since he doesn’t know we’ve pegged him as our guy, he’ll post from work or from his house and then we’ll have him.”

It made sense; the plan was a good one. Still, Alec hated the thought of this woman exchanging even written words with a man who had killed so many.

“Thank you,” she murmured. It wasn’t until he felt her fingers tighten that he realized she was thanking him for warming her hand.

He pulled away, reaching for the controls to turn up the heat another notch. Though, honestly, he felt like opening a window and getting a solid faceful of cold air so he’d stop noticing things like the way she said his name. Not to mention how smooth her skin was or the way her hair smelled sweet, like something tropical, in the close confines of the car.

Wrapping both hands on the wheel, he shifted in his seat and put up a mental wall. A big one covered with Do Not Climb signs. No climbing on the witness, jackass.