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“What is it?”I move toward her.
She heaves a long sigh and reaches into the side pouch of her bag, retrieving her phone.After tapping at it for a few seconds, she offers it to me.
I take it from her, not immediately sure what I’m looking at.Until I notice the scar along the jawline of the man in the sketch.
“Is this who I think it is?”I arch a brow.
“It’s not perfect, but I’ve determined it’s all but impossible to draw sinister eyes or a malevolent sneer, regardless of how hard I’ve tried.But that’s him.The man I’ve seen in my dreams.The same man I saw at the opera.”
“You drew this?”
She nods, and I return my attention to the sketch, focusing on as many details as possible — the dimple in his chin, the angle of his almond-shaped eyes, the width of his prominent nose.
But the defining characteristic is that scar, long and jagged, running the entire length of his right jawline from his ear and curving up, stopping at his upper lip.I wonder what happened to cause such a prominent scar.Whatever it is, I bet he deserved it.
“Do you… Do you think you can find him for me?”she asks timidly.
“I’ve tried.I pulled information on everyone in attendance at the opera that night, performers and staff included.Broke protocol and sat through hours of security footage in the hopes of uncovering something.”I lean toward her, lowering my voice.“No one had a scar.”
“He was there, Creed.I saw him.”She yanks her phone out of my hand, roughly shoving it back into her gym bag.“Callie did, too.”She crosses her arms in front of her chest.
I blink, taken aback by her assertion.Hayes told me the same thing.
But how is Esme aware of this?
“How do you—”
“Jameson Gates.”
I briefly close my eyes, unsure how I feel about her discussing this with Jameson Gates.And not because Hayes Barlow has accused him of being involved in the past, as absurd as the idea of someone as philanthropic as Jameson Gates being responsible for this is.
I don’t like her talking to him because I can’t do that.I can’t stop by her apartment or her office and have a conversation without people starting to talk.
Without raising suspicion.
Hell, if someone learned about our early morning workout sessions, it would raise eyebrows, considering our history.
“What did he say?”I manage to ask through a clenched jaw.
“He just wanted to make sure I was okay.Then assured me I wasn’t losing my mind.That Callie mentioned seeing a guy with a scar following her before she disappeared.”
I nod, her statement similar to what Hayes told me.
“He thinks he may have some sort of connection to Silas Archer,” she adds softly.
“Silas Archer?”
“You know Jameson and Callie had a thing, right?”
“I do.”
In the months following his death, I repeatedly read my brother’s report of the night Hayes Barlow accused Jameson Gates of murder, if for no other reason than it was the last incident report he ever filed on the job and I wanted to read my brother’s words.That included his notes about Jameson’s secret relationship with Callie.
“Archer and his father wanted the two of us to be together—”
“And saw Callie as a threat to that,” I say, filling in the blanks.
She shrugs.“It’s just a theory, but considering Callie claimed to have seen a man with a scar before she disappeared, the same man who could very well be responsible for Adam’s death, it’s possible he’s working for Archer.That he killed Callie.And is now going after anyone who could expose the truth.”
