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“And you smile for me like you smile for no one else. That makes a man feel powerful. And when I’m with you, I smile like I never have before. It’s a sense of equality, a partnership even. It’s rare to find someone who matches you step for step, and you do. I love that about you. I love you.”
She kisses me before I can ramble on, assuring her in every possible way there’s nothing that could change the way I feel. Just when I decide I have time to prove it a little more thoroughly, there’s a loud knock at the door.
“Logan! We have a break!” Donny shouts.
“He has horrible timing,” Lana says on a sigh.
“They always do. One day, I’ll just throw away the phone and hide from them.”
“When we disappear to Greece,” she says, her smile not touching her eyes.
I feel like there’s more wrong than she’s telling me. I can see it in the way her gaze grows increasingly distant. I’ll fix that. Just as soon as I figure out what’s causing it.
“Yes,” I tell her, smirking and pretending as though I don’t notice the hint of sadness in her eyes.
I get dressed quickly and meet Donny outside. Then I walk back in just as Lana stands, the sheet strapped around her, and I pull her to me, kissing her long and hard.
She moans against my lips, and Donny loudly clears his throat.
“I’ll be back soon,” I tell her, then walk out, ignoring the laugh Donny lets go as I step out.
“Gotta say, never thought you’d fall so hard,” he quips. “Company men like you usually end up a ride-and-die bachelor type.”
“Things change,” I tell him as I take the driver’s seat. “Where’re we going?”
“Craig called and said a guy came up to him and told him we needed to speak to Diana Barnes. He wouldn’t say anything else, but Johnson is on a rampage. Says we’re inciting terror by posting those flyers, and demanded we tear them all down. Elise and Lisa are putting up more, while the deputies are tearing them down.”
“Unreal,” I say on long breath. “He’s not even trying to be discreet about this.”
“Just makes me wonder what we’re going to find.”
“The cryptic messages the unsub is leaving us to terrorize the town isn’t helping matters. They’re all sure a spirit has risen, but no one will speak a name aloud,” I point out.
“The Evans kids? Or Evans himself? They
definitely aren’t speaking about it,” Donny says in his own unique way of agreeing.
“It’s what he wants. He wants to incite terror. He wants them huddled in a corner. The question is why? We know they were raped, but the hospital couldn’t give us anything more than that. The kids were too scared to speak.” I’m mostly just speaking aloud, hoping that hearing the words will offer something more than just knowing them.
“The whole town is too scared to speak,” Donny says, watching as people read the message on the street and walk away, their steps hurrying like they’re going to carry home a piece of devil if they dawdle too long.
Donny gestures to the road we need to turn on, and stops me when we’re in front of a small, white house. It even has a fucking white picket fence.
“Cross your fingers this one doesn’t slam the door on our faces too,” Donny says as he climbs out.
I hop out as well, straightening my tie, and we walk up the cracked sidewalk to the house. The blinds by the front window crack open, and all I get is a glimpse of an eye before they seal shut again.
Donny raises his hand to knock, but the woman opens the door, staring at us like she’s been expecting us all day.
“You the FBI?”
“Yes, ma’am. We’re here to—”
“I know what you’re here for. You work for that Johnson guy?”
My lips twitch. “We have different agendas. Mine includes getting the truth about what happened here ten years ago. We may be able to save lives if we know more.”
Her lips tense. “Ain’t a life you can save that needs saving,” she says bitterly. “This whole town needs to burn. Only reason I’m still here is because I knew this day would eventually come. One day, someone would want to hear them babies’ story, and finally give them justice.”
