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“What were you saying about earlier, about taking her through an exercise?” Brett asked.
“Yes. We have the footage, and we’ll get your statement, but there are more details we think you might remember if I take you through this exercise. It’s to help open your other senses. An undertone of a smell you might not remember initially, or the fabric of his shirt. Stuff like that.”
My mind was going back there at just her mention of it. “He’s white.”
Nikki nodded. “We assumed, but that’s good to have confirmed.”
All sorts of details flooded me now, things I’d picked up, but didn’t want to remember. I didn’t want to go back because somehow, I had a feeling that while she meant to take me back to that gas station, she’d end up taking me back to a bedroom, where I’d crawled under a bed.
I really didn’t want to go back there, but I sighed. “When do you want to do it?”
37
BRETT
“You’re going to need police escort when you go to practice tomorrow.”
“Fuck that,” I growled at Travis.
Detective Dickhead and I were now at my place, out at the guest house Callie usually used to study. We’d left the hospital once Billie was released. They’d checked her over, and because Billie wanted to do this while everything was still fresh—or most likely to get it over with—she’d insisted the two law-enforcement stiffs come to my place with us. Billie was now lying down inside, working with Nikki, while Travis and I were on the porch. There were a couple other officers waiting in the entryway so I could walk them through my place and show them the security system and upgrades I’d had done since meeting Billie.
Travis tried a different tactic. “Howard said you’re getting a dog?”
“I’m still waiting on the dog. What the fuck does that have to do with a police escort?”
Dickhead bit back something before rolling his eyes. “You’re in this now. He knows you’re with her. He could try for you to get to her. You know she’d give herself up in a heartbeat if it meant keeping you safe.”
“Again. How does that translate to me getting a police escort?” Fuck. I could hear my old high school buddies cracking up over this—me being followed by police for my safety. I’d been on the other side of something like this back then, the one doing my brother’s dirty work—until he took it too far one time.
“You want to go to your job tomorrow, you’ll be doing it with a police escort,” Travis confirmed. “Otherwise you won’t be going.”
I was almost ready to throw down on this, but Billie made a sound from inside, something between a cry and a whimper. It was loud enough to penetrate the glass, and my attitude died instantly.
Travis turned to watch her too. “Do it for her.”
I growled. “Goddammit. What if I got my own security?”
“That would work, but I got a call on the way over here. We’ve already reached out to the Kings, and they agreed to let police shadow you if that means you can make all your practices. They also approved having extra police around the stadium through the week.”
My growl just got louder and deeper. Frustration pulsed through me. “Should’ve slammed the fucker better. Knocked him unconscious.”
Travis bit out a laugh. “For what it’s worth, the slam was impressive. You were worried about Billie. That’s the only reason you didn’t get a better hold of him. Also, don’t be surprised if that gets leaked. It was epic.”
I tossed him a dark look. He needed to shut up.
Sobering, his eyes cooled. “I’m just saying, if you want to be there for her and also there for your team, you need to expect some extra police around, at least until we catch him.”
“Or until he fucks up.”
“That too.”
Billie made another sound, and every inch of me wanted to burst through the door and go to her, either stop the exercise or just hold her.
I wanted her to feel safe and only safe, nothing else—no fear, no worry, no more ghosts, because whether she knew it or not, I could see them. She was one of the most haunted people I knew.
“She’s safe in there, and Nikki knows what she’s doing,” Travis said. “If there’s something Billie can remember that will help us find him faster, she’ll get it.”
“She’s a profiler. This is what they do?”
