AllFreeNovel
Share Us
????
At his words“You’re the only one who survived,”Raina had dropped into the nearest chair and fallen silent. And she’d been that way for the past—he glanced at the clock—fifteen minutes. He didn’t mind letting her think, but the silence was getting to him. “Did you hear me?”
“I heard you.”
She finally got up, grabbed her water bottle from the counter, and took a long drink. “Is this your way of processing?” he finally asked.
“Yeah.” She took a deep breath. “Yes. Sorry.” She turned and looked him in the eye. “So what you’re saying is that I escaped a serial killer.”
He shrugged and sighed, studying her and trying to read what was going on behind her eyes. “I can’t say that for sure, of course, but all the evidence seems to indicate that you escaped a worse fate. Whether the guy fits the definition of serial killer is yet to be determined.” But it sure looked like it to him.
She leaned against the counter. “I want to know the details of the cases. Can you tell me about them?”
“I’ll have to find that out. Why?”
“Because I want to compare them to mine. I know you or Holt can do that, but I want to do it myself.”
The look on her face brought a frown to his. “Tell me what you’re thinking.”
She rubbed her eyes. “I may see something the investigators missed. Something that only I would know that could possibly connect them.”
Vince nodded. He’d been thinking the same. “All right. I’ll talk to Holt since he was one of the federal agents brought in. One of the murders was on his turf.”
When she pressed her palms to her eyes for the third time, he sighed. “You’re wiped. Why don’t you get some rest? I’ve got the couch.”
“You can’t sleep on that. And what am I saying? You can’t sleep here at all. You have a home and a job. I can’t expect you to be my personal bodyguard.”
“You’re not expecting me to do that. I’m offering. Just like I offered to try and find Kevin.”
“Right.”
“Go to bed, Raina. Sleep well, knowing that I’m going to be wide awake and watching out for you.”
She sighed. “You know what? I’m not even going to argue.”
He raised a brow. “Do you have a fever?”
“Ha-ha. You’re cute.”
And just like that, his heart tumbled a little harder in her direction. He cleared his throat. “Well, thank you for not arguing.”
“But you can’t function on no sleep. The alarm is on. No one is in the garage or the attic—yes, I know you checked—and we’ll hear if someone tries to get in. So, you have to promise to sleep.”
“I’ll rest.”
She crossed her arms. “That’s as good as I’m going to get, isn’t it?”
“Probably.”
She nodded. “All right. Make yourself at home. Everythingyou need, including a couple of pillows, is in the closet of the guest bedroom. Feel free to use the bed. It’s clean.”
“I’d feel better on the couch.” If he positioned himself a certain way, he could see right into the kitchen and the front door as well.
“Suit yourself. Night.”
“Night.”
She paused, then walked over to kiss his cheek. “Thank you, Vince.”
