AllFreeNovel
Share Us
He didn’t bother asking her what kind. The woman had tons of money at her disposal and could spend her days playing tennis, going to the spa and lunching with other pampered ladies. Instead she wiled away the hours studying gruesome videos and stalking her stepfather, a US senator.
“Here, here, here.”
He slammed on the brakes and jerked the steering wheel to the side to pull up at the curb. “Check that sign. Is it okay to park here?”
“I don’t even have to look. Street cleaning tomorrow. We’re good.”
She hadn’t been kidding that she knew the area. He followed her into the library, the large bag hitched over her shoulder with the laptop stashed inside. The musty smell of library books insinuated itself into his consciousness and infused him with a sense of calm. The public library had been one of his refuges, the library and the basketball court.
Claire tugged on the sleeve of his jacket. “This way.”
They walked through the stacks, and he trailed his fingers along the spines of the books as if reconnecting with old friends. He read all his books on an electronic device these days, but he missed the feel of a book in his hand.
They passed one glassed-in room where two teenagers hunched over a laptop, giggling.
“Not much work getting done there.”
Claire skipped over the next room and then yanked open the door of the following one. “There’s free Wi-Fi, too.”
“Not that we need it. We’re going to be watching the videos from the thumb drives, not posting them on the internet.”
“Shane’s execution was posted on the internet.”
“Still?” Sympathy washed over him as he pulled out a chair for her.
She sank into it with a sigh. “I’m not sure. I haven’t searched for it lately.”
“Lately?”
Leaning forward, she plugged the laptop into the socket. “I wanted to know where it was so I could keep Ethan away from those websites, block them from our computers.”
“Makes sense, but he’s a little young.”
“I know. That was years ago—when I was obsessed.”
He searched her face for any sign of irony, but he saw only concentration as she shoved the first thumb drive into the USB port on the side of the laptop.
She double-clicked on the device and then dragged the lone file to the desktop. “I can bring up the videos side by side. The similarities are more apparent that way.”
She pulled out the drive and inserted the second one. She repeated the drag-and-drop action.
As she opened the first video, he held his breath. Before she clicked Play, she double-clicked on the other video.
“Are you ready?”
His heart pounded in his chest and he didn’t know why. He’d seen the Shane Chadwick video before, and he’d seen a lot worse. But if he saw nothing in the videos, no likeness between the terrorist who murdered Shane and the man meeting with Correll, he’d have to leave. He’d have to leave Claire Chadwick to her delusions and fantasies.
He didn’t want to leave her.
“Mike? Are you ready?”
He scooted his chair closer to the table. “I’m ready. Let’s see what you’ve got here.”
She played the first video for a few minutes, stopped it and then played the second. Back and forth she went, freezing the action, pointing out the tilt of the man’s head, a hand gesture, the slope of his shoulders, the shape of his face.
She brought up several frames where she’d zoomed in on his eyes, where it looked like the pupil was bleeding into the iris.
It was as if she’d prepared and delivered this presentation many times before. She probably had—in her head.
At the end of the show, she placed her hands on either side of the laptop and drew back her shoulders. “What do you think?”
Had she cast a spell on him with her violet eyes? Had his desire to stay with her, to protect her, colored his perception?
He drew in a deep breath. “I think you’re onto something.”
She closed her eyes and slumped in her seat. “Thank God. You do see it, don’t you?”
“I do. Both men definitely have the same condition with their right eye.”
She grabbed his arm. “I’m not crazy, am I? I’m not imagining this?”
