steps to her apartment. Her heart was thundering in her chest. Lindy was alive.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“YOU DO REALIZE it couldn’t have possibly been Lindy,” Shep said reasonably after Charlie had finished telling him what had happened.
“I have her scarf to prove it,” she argued.
He’d bagged the scarf, hoping the lab would be able to get DNA from it. Now Charlie paced her small apartment, angry and upset—mostly at him. He’d never seen her this worked up.
“I was within inches of her face. I looked into those blue eyes. I was holding on to her. I have her scarf. Her favorite scarf, by the way.” She took a frustrated breath. “I was so close that I could almost feel her heart beating. She was...real. Solid. Flesh and blood.”
“I’ve never doubted that whoever you saw was a real person—just not Lindy.”
“It was her though,” Charlie cried. “They were wrong about who died behind the house that night. It couldn’t possibly have been her. I just saw her and she’s alive. Come on, Shep, I haven’t seen the autopsy photos, but I heard that she was brutalized,” she said. “Isn’t it possible—”
“That someone else was killed behind your house and Lindy just took off and has now come back? Charlie... I know what you think you saw—”
“I know what I saw. How do you explain it?” she demanded, hands on her hips.
She looked so damned cute that he almost laughed. But as stirred up as she was, he didn’t dare. “I can’t explain it yet.”
When she’d come in the apartment door, she’d rushed into his arms. She’d been trembling. He’d held her close and breathed in...perfume. Only Charlie didn’t wear perfume. But maybe her friend Tara did. Or maybe...
He could still smell the scent on his shirt. “Smell this,” he said, moving to her and holding out the collar of his shirt.
“Seriously?” she asked, as if it was some kind of trick.
“Just smell it.”
She did and stepped back abruptly, eyes wide. “That’s Lindy’s favorite perfume.”
“I had a feeling it was. You said she seemed to be waiting outside the restaurant for you. She must have followed you there. What do you know about Lindy’s extended family?”
“Nothing. Neither Kat or Lindy ever mentioned any relatives.”
“I was just thinking she might have had a cousin who looks enough like her to fool you when you had only got a few seconds to really study her.”
Charlie shook her head, getting more angry with him as if he was only trying to distract her. “The cousin would have to be a dead ringer for her.”
She stopped pacing to stare at him. He saw the change in her as if she’d suddenly shifted gears. “When I told you about Amanda confronting me outside the restaurant, you got a funny look on your face. Why were you in such a weird mood earlier?”
“Now look who’s changing the subject.” Shep chewed at his cheek for a moment, studying her. “Are we going to be honest with each other now?”
“I thought we were,” she said slowly.
“I saw you get a call after fighting with Daniel. A few minutes later you walked down the street and into a bar. Your boss followed you.”
“Wait, you spied on me?”
“When I called you, I was already at your office. I was excited about the news I had to give you. I saw you take a call and then Greg came out of the building and followed you right down to the bar.”
“You thought we were what? Hooking up?” she demanded.
“That’s definitely how it looked.”
Charlie shook her head. “I thought you knew me better than that.”
“So did I.”
She swore, eyes narrowed. Flames could have shot from those dark depths. “The call, for your information, was from Tara, my friend from work, asking me to come early to the shower because Amanda was headed there. She couldn’t bear spending any more time with her than possible. I was trying to decide if I had time to come back here for the gift I left here since I’d forgotten the shower completely or just go and save Tara. I stepped into the bar to get out of the snow and shoppers to think.”
“Things didn’t go well with Daniel.”
She glared at him. “You said you were there, so I don’t think I have to tell you how things went.”
He nodded sheepishly.
“That’s when I happened to see Greg headed in my direction. I stayed in the bar, waiting for him to pass. I had no idea he was following me.”
“Why did