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“Yeah?” He blinked and looked at Taylor who was standing beside him, anxiously fiddling with the sleeves of her coat.
“What if I can't remember anything that will help them?”
He wrapped a reassuring arm around her shoulders. He may have had a lot of people walk out on him, but he wasn't turning his back on Taylor. He was here for her until her family arrived. Then he would do the right thing and step back. While he knew it would temporarily hurt her, long-term it was what was best for her. “You remember what you remember,” he told her. “There’s no pressure.”
“Of course, there’s pressure,” she scoffed. “How are they going to find him if I can't give them something to point them in the right direction?”
“It’s not your job to find him,” he reminded her. “You’re the victim, they’re the FBI agents. It’s their job to find him and arrest him.”
Taylor said nothing, and he thought she was going to disagree with him again. She was upset that she didn't know enough about the man she had spent nineteen months with to send Tom and Chloe right to his door.
Fin suspected that obsessing over how helpful she was or wasn't being was helping keep her emotions about what had happened to her at bay. That wasn't a strategy that she could employ indefinitely. Sooner or later those emotions were going to come barreling out.
“Are you and Special Agent Luckman a couple?” Taylor askedin a rush, her gaze fixed firmly on his chest.
“No,” he answered honestly. “Why do you ask?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. She looks at you funny. And the way you look at her. I thought that maybe you were together and just didn't want me to know.”
He sighed. He didn't want to have this conversation with her. One, because she was suffering and he knew she was more attached to him than was healthy. Two, because it wasn't any of her business. And three, because he didn't like thinking about his relationship with Chloe, let alone talking about it. “We used to be, but we broke up,” he told her.
“Oh,” she said in a small voice like she didn't believe him.
“Look at me, Taylor.” He waited until she reluctantly lifted her eyes to meet his. “Chloe and I broke up months ago, but she is a great agent, and there is no one I would trust more to solve your case.”
That was true.
Whatever his and Chloe’s problems, he knew how smart and detail-oriented she was. She was caring and kind and compassionate. And she loved her job. She would do anything and everything she could to solve a case. That made her a great agent, but it also meant that she was sometimes reckless. She wanted to catch the bad guys. He got that. And respected it. But sometimes she did things when she hadn’t thought through all the consequences. She was so busy focusing on the end game that she forgot to make sure she got there safely. Although they weren’t together anymore, he hoped that recklessness didn't end up hurting her.
A car pulled up in front of them, and Fin quickly guided Taylor to it.
It was time.
May as well get it over with as quickly as possible.
“How are you doing today, Taylor?” Tom asked as they gotinto the car.
“Fine, thank you,” Taylor mumbled.
Chloe frowned at Taylor. “Is she wearing my clothes?”
“Her parents are bringing her some clothes when they arrive tonight, but she needed something to wear for today. She couldn’t go in a hospital gown,” he said defensively.
Part of him had known that bringing some of the clothes Chloe had left behind at their place when she’d moved out was a bad idea. He’d debated it briefly but decided that it couldn’t be all that big of a deal since she’d left them behind anyway. And Taylor reallydidneed something to wear.
There was also the chance he’dwantedto upset her.
It was cruel, he knew it.
But he was hurting, and he wanted to lash out, no matter how childish it was.
Chloe said nothing, simply gave him an inscrutable stare and then turned back around in her seat to stare out the front window.
They lapsed into uncomfortable silence during the short drive to his house. They were going to see if Taylor could retrace the path she’d taken when she’d escaped. If she could lead them back to the house where she’d been held, then they could find the man who’d abducted her. The man who had already taken a new victim.
Fin really hoped this worked, but he knew Taylor was afraid she wouldn’t be able to remember which roads she’d run down. There was a genuine chance that she wouldn’t be able to. She’d been running for her life. She had been running on a partially healed broken leg and been in pain. She hadn’t been dressed for the cold night. She’d been in shock. Taking note of where she had been and where she was going had not been high on her priority list. All she’d wanted was to find safety.
She had found safety, but if they couldn’t find her abductor,then she might not remain safe.
