From Darkness (Hearts & Arrows Book 3)(62)

The question was, what could he do about it?

Josie had information he didn’t. Not all the facts on the wall were fully legible, and some weren’t visible in the photos he’d taken, covered up by other articles or photos. Not to mention, all the details and connections that only existed in her mind. If she’d been shadowing Rhodes at the level he figured she’d been, she’d know his routine, his habits. She’d know Rhodes, maybe better than anyone.

With all that knowledge, there was no way for Jon to walk away. He had to convince her to let him help and wondered if he could win her over by discovering something she hadn’t seen. Hence the wall-staring through the course of the day.

But he knew it was a long shot.

There was no way Josie had missed anything.

The more he learned, the deeper his concerns rooted. Rhodes was dangerous, and Josie was in deep with no one to watch her back.

Jon’s door opened, and Tori walked in with a sandwich and a beer.

“Hey. Brought you a snack.” She wiggled the plate at him.

His stomach gurgled. He hadn’t realized he was hungry. “Thanks. I’m starvin’.” He leaned forward and put all four chair legs back on the ground as he reached for the offered bottle and plate.

“I figured. You’ve barely left your room.” Tori made her way around his bedroom, flicking on lights. When she clicked on the lamp next to his bed, it lit up the wall, and she sucked in a breath when she saw it. “Holy,” she whispered.

“Yep,” Jon said around a mouthful of sandwich.

“I mean, seriously,” she said as her eyes roamed the wall. “She must have been working on this nonstop since Anne died.”

“If I know her, that’s exactly what she’s been doing.”

Tori stared at the wall in stunned silence while he inhaled the sandwich and took a long pull of the beer. He laid the plate on the ground between his bare feet and rested his elbows on his knees, holding the bottle loose in his hands.

“Have you made any sense of it?” Tori asked after a minute.

Jon nodded. “It wasn’t hard. Josie’s meticulous.” He paused with his eyes on Rhodes’s photo in the center. “I think he did it.”

“Jesus. And you said she’s following him?” Tori turned to look at him.

“She is. She’s been staking out his place and who knows what else. I wouldn’t doubt for a second that she’s been in there at least a handful of times.”

“Why would she do that? If he did all this,” she said, motioning to the wall, which was punctuated by photographs of dead girls, “how the hell is she so sure that he wouldn’t do the same to her?”

“Because she thinks she can outsmart him. She’s got a strong invincibility streak.”

“Damn the two of you.” Tori shook her head. “Don’t you have any sense of self-preservation?”

“We do, and a strong one at that, but we also believe the rules don’t generally apply to us.”

“Idiots,” she said with another shake of her head as she ran her eyes over the wall again. “I say that with love.” She paused. “You’ve got to help her. She can’t be safe.”

“I know it. I’m trying to find something new, but it’s probably a lost cause. She’s been staring at this wall for half a year, and I didn’t even know it existed until thirty-six hours ago. There has to be some way to convince her to let me help, but it’s not gonna be easy. I’m about the last person in the world she wants to see.”

“Well, you broke into her house. I’d be pissed too.”

“I had a key. Nobody acknowledges the fact that I had a damn key.”

“Because that makes it okay.” Tori rolled her eyes. “What are you going to do if you can’t figure anything new out? What’s your plan B?”

“I don’t have one.”

“You need to go talk to her. Make her listen.”

Jon chuffed. “Nobody makes Josie do anything.”

“Can’t you just try to talk some sense into her?” Tori asked.

“Sure, until things get tough, and she walks away.”

“Sounds familiar,” Tori scoffed. “You definitely have a type.”

“More like a curse.”

“Ha, ha. There’s got to be some way to get her to let you help,” Tori said, almost to herself. She turned to him. “If you could at least get your foot in the door, you could push it open. You’re sneaky like that.”

“I have nothing to bargain with. She doesn’t need me—or doesn’t think she does at least. Why should she tell me anything?”

“You need an angle.”

He rubbed the back of his neck. “I mean, maybe if I just got her to share information so I could look into it on my own…maybe she would agree to that? Maybe. If I had more information, I could make a little more sense of everything.”

“If nothing else, it might get you back on speaking terms.”

He nodded, relieved at having a plan. “All right. I’ll go to her place tomorrow and see if I can convince her.”

“Good boy.” Tori reached for his plate and gave him a wink as she left.

Jon sat in his room, his eyes on that wall, wondering if there was any way he had a chance and hoping to God he did. Because he couldn’t stand by anymore.