Fear For Me (For Me #2)(83)

“All signs are that Jenny was his first victim.” Anthony’s hold was strong and what she desperately needed then. “According to Cadence’s search, her disappearance dated back the longest. When we discover why Jenny was the trigger, then we understand our killer.”

“Sometimes you can’t understand crazy.” Paul was adamant as he stood near the autopsy table. “All you can do is put a bullet in the killer’s head and stop him before he can hurt anyone else.”

Lauren felt very cold. “He knew her, didn’t he?” That much rage…the loss of control…

“I think he did,” Anthony said. “I think he knew her very, very well.”

“People thought she ran away with a boyfriend. That was the story that circulated.” She rubbed her chilled arms. “Maybe she didn’t run away with him—”

“Maybe he killed her?” Anthony finished.

Lauren nodded. She was splintering apart on the inside. “The cops…they talked to all her friends. They said she wasn’t seeing anyone. She was always home. I didn’t think there was a guy.”

“He could have been her secret,” Paul murmured.

A secret that had killed her.





*


“I need to go back to my house,” Lauren said, her voice soft in the confines of the SUV.

Frowning, Anthony glanced over at her. She’d been too quiet after they’d talked to the ME. Too quiet. Too pale. Keeping too much in.

There were no more tears from her. Just a brittle mask.

“I didn’t think you wanted to go back there.” She’d told him that before, several times.

“There’s something I have to get. Please, take me there.”

If that was what she wanted, he’d do it. He’d take her anywhere.

He turned the SUV around, pushed the accelerator down, and cut across the dark road. Rain was falling lightly, beating against the windshield, and the wipers swiped across the glass.

They didn’t speak again, not until they were pulling into the drive that led to her house. The headlights cut across the area, and Anthony saw the yellow line of police tape still blocking her door.

He shut off the engine and turned toward her. “Tell me what you need. I’ll go inside and get it.” There was no need for Lauren to walk into that house. Her mattress had been taken away. An evidence trail would still mark her bedroom. After finding her sister’s remains, he didn’t want her dealing with that, too.

“I should go in,” she whispered, her gaze on the house lit by the headlights. “I should—”

“Fuck what you should do,” Anthony snarled. “Just let me do this for you, okay? You don’t have to face down any more ghosts. You don’t have to do a damn thing but stay here and let me take care of this for you.”

She turned her head toward him. He couldn’t see her clearly in the dark so he reached out and trailed his fingers across her cheek, trying to feel her emotions.

Her cheek was wet with a teardrop. The brittle mask wasn’t holding.

“In my closet. In the bottom of my closet, there’s an old jewelry box. My cross is in there. The cross just like Jenny’s. It’s stupid, I know, but I want it. I have to have it.”

He brought his mouth to hers. Kissed her lightly. “It’s not stupid.” She was breaking his heart.

“It’s all I have left of my family. Everyone’s gone.” Her breath blew lightly over him as she gave a ragged sigh. “I knew she was dead, I told myself, for years…” Her head shook. “But when we found her body, it was real. It was finally real. Jenny won’t ever come home again. I’m alone. They’re all gone, and I’m—”

He curled his hand around her chin and forced her to stare into his eyes. “I will never let you be alone.”

“Your life isn’t here. Your job takes you all across the country, and we’re—I don’t even know what we are.”

He kissed her once more. Harder. Deeper. “I’ll tell you what we are. We’re just f*cking starting, got me? You’re not alone, I won’t let you be alone. You have me.” You always had me. Even when he’d been gone. Miles away. She’d been in his head.

In the shell that passed for his heart.

There would be no more miles between them. No more pain for her. Everything was changing for him.

He reached for his weapon. Handed it to her and curled her fingers around it.

“What are you doing? Why are you giving me this?”

“The last time I left you outside alone, a f*cking killer took you from me.”

Not happening again.

“You keep the doors locked. You keep that gun loaded. I’ll go into the house, I’ll get your cross, and I’ll be right back.” He just needed to get the house keys from her. He’d be in and out in a flash and—

“I’m going in with you.”

“Dammit, why?”

“Because I won’t hide from my own life, no matter how horrible it is.” She handed the gun back to him. “I can’t hide from it. I can’t. I can’t let what’s happened break me.”

“You don’t have to see what’s inside—” He stopped because those were the same words he’d given to her when they’d been back in the swamp.