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him. “And if I wanted in there?”
    Dax didn’t even flinch. “Too late my friend. You snooze, you lose. You should’ve said something when I asked you for her number. You knew I was gonna call her.”
    TJ threw his head back and laughed, then shook his head at Dax. “You’re crazy. Asking out a woman you don’t even know.”
    Dax got serious. “I’d changed my mind since we talked that night. I knew it was crazy to ask her out. Seriously. I was just gonna call her up and make sure she was okay, but then she opened her mouth. She was rambling on and on about nail polish and being so…real…that I couldn’t resist. You know how it is, most women try to act serious and proper around us when they think they’re in trouble, then flirt and bat their eyes when they think that will work in their favor. Mackenzie was just so fucking cute .”
    “Yeah, I remember that from when I pulled her over. But you can’t ask a woman out because she says cute shit, Dax.”
    “I’m not explaining it right, but seriously, TJ, admit it. There was something about her that even you noticed.”
    TJ nodded. “Okay, I’ll give you that. But I definitely want a report tomorrow.”
    “You know I don’t do that shit.”
    “I didn’t mean a blow-by-blow, but give me somethin’!”
    Dax finally grinned at his friend. “All right, I’ll let you know how it goes.”
    TJ shook his head and slapped his friend on the back as they walked out of the diner after finishing lunch. “I hope it works out for you, Dax. Lord knows with the shit you deal with on a daily basis, you deserve it.”
    “Thanks, man, you’ll find a woman for you too. I know it.”
    TJ shrugged his shoulders. “If it happens, it happens. I’m not worried.”
    Dax climbed into his government-issued vehicle and pulled out of the crowded parking lot. He had one hell of a meeting to get through this afternoon before he could even think more about his date tonight. The Lone Star Reaper, as the press had dubbed him, had struck again.
    A sixth body had been found recently and the Rangers still had no reliable leads. They’d called in the FBI, and the lead agent, who happened to be Cruz Livingston, had called a meeting to discuss the particulars of the case. Dax pulled into the parking lot of the San Antonio Police Department, where the meeting was going to take place. Dax was glad Cruz was on the case. It’d be nice to have an officer he knew, trusted, and respected helping him try to figure out what was going on and hopefully they’d close down the case before the fucker killed another innocent woman.
    Dax strode into the building and told the receptionist he was there for a meeting with Lieutenant Quint Axton and Agent Livingston. Dax was shown into a room where Cruz and Quint were already waiting.
    “Dax.” Quint nodded at him as he entered. “Thanks for coming down. This shit has gotten way out of control.”
    Dax nodded in agreement. “Cruz and I have had a few conversations already, and we’re glad to bring you into the fold. What do you have on the newest case?”
    Quint settled back into his seat and shuffled the file filled with pictures and reports in front of him. Finally he found the pictures he was looking for and, with a flick of his wrist, sent them across the table to Dax.
    “Same as the others. A call was received with the details on where to find her. Untraceable and short. Voice was unrecognizable because he used one of those voice-altering devices. She was found in a wooden box, buried about five feet underground at the edge of another rural graveyard. Guy’s smart, I’ll give him that. No one would question a coffin being buried in a cemetery, for Christ’s sake.”
    Dax looked down at the pictures he was holding. The first was of the disturbed ground at a cemetery. The next was after the ground had been dug up with a backhoe, the coffin visible. The third was of the coffin sitting on the ground next to the hole, its lid pried open. The