“Daniel will probably be glad to not have kitty-duty anymore.” Sighing in pleasure, she snuggled then, her head on his shoulder and her fingertips splayed over his heart. Not bothering to stifle her yawn, she murmured, “I’ll start tomorrow.”
Hours later, Sean woke with a start, his limbs jerking. Glancing to the side to make sure he had not woken Harper, he eased away from her. Sitting up in bed, he rubbed his temples, wondering what had jolted him from his sleep.
Closing his eyes, a flash of the arson board from his office with the glowing, star-shaped location pins hit his mind, and he knew why it seemed familiar.
Constellation! The pattern created a fucking constellation.
30
Sean hurried into headquarters the next morning, hating how he had had to rush out on Harper. She had wanted to fix him breakfast, and he was as excited as she to plan when she would start moving in, but his mind was firmly on the case and wanted to see the map again. Not wanting to divulge any information about the case until he knew more of what he was talking about, he simply told her that he had woken with an idea he needed to pursue.
In typical Harper fashion, she had smiled, offered him a hug, and sent him on his way with a travel mug of coffee and a hastily prepared breakfast biscuit to take with him. He gave her a key to his house, knowing it was a monumental occasion, and yet barely able to hold back from rushing out the door.
Harper had laughed, kissed him goodbye, and promised to be there that evening.
While his mind was firmly settled on the case, it did not escape his attention that she was perfect for him. No jealousy over the time his career would take from them. No pouts when his attention was diverted from her to a case.
Parking in the parking garage, he hurried in, glad to see Jonas falling into step with him.
“Got your message this morning,” Jonas said. “I can’t wait to see what you’re talking about. A constellation? I can’t even begin to imagine that.”
Going through security at the same time, Sean looked over his shoulder. “Maybe I’m crazy. Maybe today it won’t look anything like I remembered. In fact, even if it does, I don’t know what that means. But if it is, then that’s got to be some kind of message.” Continuing down the hall past security to the elevators, he sighed. “Or maybe this is just one big total mind fuck.”
Jonas clapped him on the shoulder as they entered the elevator. “Sean, we haven’t had a break in a while on these cases. Anything… even a clue we can’t interpret right now is better than nothing.”
Getting off on their floor, they stalked down the hall. The night cleaners had been through and the lights were already on in the room as well as the window blinds open. Beth and Terrence were not there yet, but Sean was not surprised since he and Jonas were early.
“We’re going to need to make the room as dark as we can,” Sean said. “Damn, if I had realized this last night, I could’ve taken a picture or drawing.”
“Don’t beat yourself up, man. We can make this work now.” Jonas walked over to the window at the end of the room and pulled the blinds. It did not plunge the room into darkness but knocked out the direct sunlight.
Flipping off the light switch, Sean felt his anticipation ratchet up, not realizing he was holding his breath. The star pushpins were faint but definitely as he remembered. He pulled out his phone, walking toward the board when the light suddenly came back on. Jerking around, he saw Captain James standing by the light switch, his brow knit in confusion.
Beth was just walking down the hall and stopped behind their Captain. “Is everything all right?”
“I don’t know,” Todd replied. “I’m trying to figure out why Sean and Jonas are standing in the dark.”
“I’m sorry, Sir,” Sean said. “I need you to turn the lights back off, please.” Glad that Todd trusted him enough to not question what he was doing, the lights flipped off again and he turned back to look at the board. Pulling out his phone, he had only snapped one picture when he heard Terrence stepping into the room.
“What the hell is everyone doing in the dark?” Terrance asked.
Frustrated, Sean could not help but shake his head as