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Running his hand down my arm to my hand, mine disappears in his. “Let’s see what we can find on the surveillance cameras around town. I haven’t had much luck, but maybe you’ll recognize the car if you see it.”
He leads me over to the sofa. He makes quick work of accessing the system.
“Alright, so you saw the car here, outside the house the morning of the fire, right?” he asks.
I nod. “Yeah, and then again when it passed the café as I walked up to the door.”
Remembering the moment sends chills down my spine. Sensing my anxiety, Jack places his hand on my knee. I place mine over his, appreciating his concern. I give him a reassuring nod before he starts clicking back to that day and time.
“There aren’t cameras this far out from town. Well, there weren’t back then, but there will be soon. I’m having cameras installed this week. We won’t be vulnerable again.”
He speaks with such conviction. The last sentence resonates with me. “We”won’t be. The idea of there being anusmakes my heart leap. A smile spreads across my face.
He looks over at me, raising an eyebrow. “You want to tell me what that smile is about?”
Rolling my lips together, I hide my smile. This is such a serious situation, but I somehow continue to escape reality by fantasizing about Jack. I shake my head, gesturing with the “zipped lips” motion.
“Hmm,” he responds before turning the laptop toward me and clicking play. “See if you recognize any of these vehicles.”
The video starts, and I watching intently, determined to catch the asshat who started the fire. This is the camera across from the café. There isn’t a lot of traffic through town that early in the morning.
A car slowly passes through the frame. I don’t recognize it, but Jack does and says as much. In a town this small, he knows almost everyoneandtheir vehicles.
A few minutes pass before a sedan comes through the frame quickly. “Wait, wait, go back,” I say quickly. Jack does as I ask, backing the footage up and slowing it down this time. “That’s the car.” I’m one hundred percent certain.
“Okay,” he says, backing up the footage again.
This time, he taps a key on the laptop as the car crosses the frame. Minimizing that screen, he pulls up a file. It contains screengrabs from the video. Jack zooms in and manipulates the images.
“I’m trying to see if I can get a clear image of the tag number,” he explains.
I’m in awe as I watch him work. He’s laser focused on each image. Each click precise. Each manipulation bringing the image a little clearer.
“Damn,” he says under his breath.
“What’s wrong?” I lean forward to get a closer look at the image.
“It’s not clear enough to get all the numbers on the tag. I can see the first three, but that’s it.”
“Oh,” I say defeated, leaning against the back on the sofa.
He turns toward me. “Well, don’t give up on me that easily.” He laughs. “I’ve got a few more tricks up my sleeve. I’ve done this a time or two.”
My hand slips under his bicep as I lean toward him, and I pull him to me. I hold onto him while resting my head against his arm. I breathe in his woodsy scent, finding comfort in it. He watches me but says nothing.
“I know you’ll find him. I trust you,” I say, speaking directly into his arm.
Jack sets the laptop on the coffee table with his free hand. He pulls his arm from my grasp to wrap it around me and pull me closer. Once I’m within reach, he wraps me up with both of his strong arms.
His lips settle on top of my head as he speaks. “I’m glad you know you can trust me. Considering what you’ve been through, I wouldn’t blame you if you didn’t.” A few moments pass with us sitting like this together before he speaks again. “I haven’t had much luck when it comes to women in my past. But something about you… Everything about you feels right.”
His words are genuine, but there’s a hint of pain in them. Pulling away, I face him so I can see his eyes. I search them for answers, but he offers none.
Leaning down, he kisses me gently on the lips. It lacks the urgency from the night before the fire, but it’s just as intense. I pull away. While I don’t want to end our connection, I realize we have to keep our eye on the goal in front of us. Which is catching the asshole that set the fire, not focusing on each other.
Both breathless, we look into each other’s eyes for a moment. Slowly, we pull away. The silence seems to swallow us, but it’s comfortable.
“Let’s get back to it, huh?” Jack asks.
