WILD [JENLISA]

08

Three days after her attack in Golden Gate Park, Jennie was frustrated by the lack of progress they'd made on their murder victim. They knew her name was Yasmin Mandujano and that she had been single, but they had very little to go on as far as identifying her killer.

The body had been free of any significant hair or fibers. The lack of physical evidence collected at the scene suggested a killer who was careful, even meticulous. Definitely not an amateur. Despite the amount of blood present around the body, he hadn't left a trail. With the exception of poor, broken Yasmin, he didn't leave them a goddamn thing. As far as the police and the medical examiner's office were concerned, someone had stabbed Yasmin eighteen times with a knife, all but two of the wounds too superficial to have actually killed her, then vanished.

Unfortunately, Jennie couldn't shake her growing certainty that he had walked almost a mile away to punch her in the face and drag her into the trees. As much as she didn't want to subscribe to that theory, it had a certain logic. Yasmin's killer had restricted her breathing at some point, and he had obviously enjoyed using his knife to torment, not just kill. Just like her own attacker. Though Irene didn't say so, Jennie could see that she had reached a similar conclusion. Her attacker and the murderer were almost certainly the same person.

Jennie didn't know how to process that information. It brought her no closer to identifying the man, and it certainly left her worried about the implications. What kind of killer would attack two women in a public place within an hour, leaving a total bloody mess at the first scene, then manage to escape undetected? If he was the meticulous serial killer he appeared to be, Jennie would have expected him to stop at one kill. If it had been a spree, she wouldn't have expected him to stop at all. Something wasn't right about the situation, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Nothing about what had happened made sense, least of all how a wolf had appeared in Golden Gate Park at exactly the right moment to save her.

Jenniemade a note in the victim's chart, then flipped it shut. They couldn't discover anything more on her body or at the scene, it seemed, so they now needed to give Ms. Mandujano's family the comfort of a proper burial. Jennie needed to simply try to reassure herself that even if the murderer had attacked her, she was safe now. And chances were, he wouldn't risk coming back to finish what he'd started.

At least she hoped not.

"Hey."

Having let her guard down in the safety of the lab, Jennie startled at Kai's voice just behind her. She swiveled in her chair and pushed back with her feet, putting some distance between them. Kai winced sympathetically.

"Don't." Jennie was tired of the apologies, tired of feeling scared. Everyone had been tiptoeing around her, though she had given them several reasons to think it was necessary. She was jumpy, irritable, and, most of all, frighteningly out of control of her emotions. And she burned to regain that control with every cell in her body. "I'm fine. Just drifted away for a moment."

He nodded. "I have that report on the Williams case for you to review, when you have a chance." He offered her a folder, which she took with an admirably steady hand.

"Thank you." As much as Jennie hated to admit it, she didn't want to be at work. While poring over the details of other people's deaths usually removed her from her own problems, it now reminded her of her own mortality. If not for a random twist of fate, she would be as dead as Yasmin Mandujano. "I'll get this back to you tomorrow morning."

Kai reclined in his chair, watching curiously as she stood and put on her jacket. "Taking off early today?"

Jennie tried to act nonchalant. "Yeah, I have a few errands to run."

"Not a problem. I'll hold down the fort." He hesitated, then touched her hand before she could move away. "You need anything from me, Dr. Kim?"

Though their relationship was strictly professional, Jennie also considered Kai as a friend. He wasn't the kind of guy to express his emotions easily, but Jennie could see his concern. Acknowledging that she also wasn't very good at letting others in, Jennie forced herself to drop her mask ever so slightly.