Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,58
. . . the way it’s going . . . the way that perp called you. I don’t like it, Viki. Not one damn bit. There is nothing good happening here. I think you need to go back to Atlanta. Our work is done.”
She stiffened. “You don’t think I should be in the field.” She hadn’t thought so, either, not when Gabe had first given that order. Jeez, had it just been days ago? But things had changed. She had changed. And she didn’t want to let this case go. She couldn’t.
“I think you could be in danger. I think the perp gets fixated on women, and all signs are pointing to him being fixated on you.” He was so close, but still not touching her. “I hate the setup. I hate this fucking place. And I want you out of here.”
Her chin notched up. “I’m not leaving. Not until I see what’s been found here. Because if I can help catch this guy, I will do it.” If there were bodies buried near that cabin, then hell yes, she would stay. She could learn secrets from the dead. She’d learn those secrets and maybe they’d find evidence that would point to the killer’s identity.
She knew that Dace hadn’t been able to turn up anything usable on those traffic cameras near Vintage. Apparently, they’d gone on the fritz weeks ago, and the city hadn’t gotten around to footing the bill and getting them fixed. So there was no footage of the mystery man in the Jag who’d taken Melissa.
Taken her. Killed her.
She brushed by Wade. She’d wanted him close a moment before, but now—
He caught her arm. His grip was too tight. “I keep thinking . . . what if you had been in my arms?”
“Wade?” She strained to read his expression.
“What if you’d died while I held you and I didn’t even fucking realize it? Do you have any idea what that would do to me?”
Hesitant now, she shook her head.
“Sometimes, people are far more dangerous than we think.” His hold loosened on her, but Wade didn’t let her go. His fingers began to stroke the inside of her wrist. “Then something happens and a person . . . he just snaps.”
He was making her nervous. “You aren’t the type to snap.”
“Don’t be too sure. If that bastard came for you, if he tried to hurt you, believe me, there is nothing I wouldn’t do to keep you safe.”
He was warning her, and she didn’t know what to say in response. This was a Wade she hadn’t seen before. Dark and hard and with a stark, deadly determination that chilled her.
“Do you ever wonder,” he asked her softly, “why I turned in my badge?”
“B-Because Gabe asked you to join him at LOST. He wanted your help to get the organization off the ground—”
“No. I quit the force before LOST. There are some lines that, if you cross them once, they haunt you forever.”
What did you do? But she couldn’t get those words out. Because if she asked him about the darkness of his past, then wouldn’t she have to share her own secrets, too? And that wasn’t something she was ready to do. Not by a long shot.
So she didn’t say anything. They left that beach together. Not touching now, but bodies still close. Bodies tense. The waves crashed behind them, and the darkness hid so much.
His sins.
And hers.
THEY’D BEEN AT that scene all night long. Sunlight finally rose across the water, rising ever so slowly, a ball of red that turned the water to fire.
The cops had searched and searched. They’d even locked down the island at one point. Not letting anyone else on, not letting anyone else off.
Like that had done any good.
The cops had just shut off the main road, but boats kept coming and going.
And the killer . . . well, Victoria suspected he could be hiding in plain sight and they wouldn’t know.
She walked slowly down Driftwood Beach. The beach was a crime scene now, but she had access. Curious bystanders had gathered—bystanders held back by two police officers and a thin strand of yellow plastic tape. In the rising sun, the beach was even more of a stark, almost sad place.
She could see now that all of the trees there were white—they’d been bleached by the sea and the sun. Massive trees. With dead roots and no leaves. Crisscrossed all over that sandy stretch of beach.
A camera flashed and she blinked. The crime