Vindicate (Recovered Innocence #1)(52)

So where do we go from here?

I’m dying to know what sex feels like and most especially what sex with Leo would feel like. The small taste I’ve gotten has left me wanting more. A lot more. Leo still seems like the perfect candidate to help me accomplish my goal. He’s leaving at the end of the summer to go back to school. He’s incredibly skilled and if how he’s looking at me right now is any indication, he’s also very willing. The way my body reacts to that look makes it obvious that I find him incredibly attractive.

So. There’s all that and half the summer left to go. Maybe if we agree to keep it just about the physical this could work. I should be able to convince him. He always seemed like the type of guy who appreciates no-strings-attached sex. I’ll lay down the ground rules and he can either accept them or not. Either way, I’ll know where we stand with each other and it will all be very much under control.

But first I need to find out who the officer was who answered Cassandra’s call. He or she might know something about the man who I now suspect not only harassed Cassandra, but also may have killed her.

I fill Leo in on my chat with Dylan over burritos at Taco Mia—which is just dinner, not a date.

Leo wipes his mouth. “This should’ve come up during the investigation and trial. You don’t have anything in your files about a police report?”

“No. Nothing. Can you check with your friend at the DA’s office and see if they ever came across one?”

“Sure.” He points to the half burrito on my plate. “You going to finish that?”

“You can have it.”

He scoops it up and takes a big bite. The movements of his mouth mesmerize me as he chews. Suddenly I’m thinking of other things that mouth is skilled at. I shift in my seat and redirect my gaze, which snags on a familiar face ordering at the counter.

“Isn’t that one of the cops who showed up when my apartment got broken into? I wonder if they got any leads that would help find out who broke in.”

Leo glances around until he spots the officer. “Looks like him. Must be his beat. That reminds me.” He turns back toward me. “I was followed to Zelda’s house. The guy didn’t even try to hide it. Black Mustang with heavily tinted windows and no license plates. He took off before I could get any kind of description.”

“We must be onto something to stir up all of this attention. Do you think he knew you were going to see Zelda?”

“No idea, but he wanted me to see him. He wanted me to know he was onto us.” He leans across the table. “I think he’s worried, and if he’s worried it’s because we’re onto something. We just have to figure out what.”

A shudder runs through me. I never thought for a moment my investigating would bring the killer out of the shadows. He was always this faceless, nameless unknown, the answer to all of my prayers, and the key to get Beau out of prison. We must be close to a break if he’s willing to take these kinds of risks.

Leo puts a hand on my arm. “It’s going to be okay. We’re going to figure this out.”

I’m not as certain as he is. I know what that bastard did to Cassandra. I see it when I close my eyes at night. I nod anyway.

“There’s something else I need to tell you,” he says. “Zelda’s gone. I have a lead on where she might be living, but she was hard to find when she had a home. Now that she’s in the wind it’s going to be even harder to locate her. But don’t worry. I found her once. I can find her again.”

“I feel like we’re further away from solving this than ever. The more we discover, the more there is to be discovered.”

“My dad’s meeting with Damien LeFeaux tomorrow. With any luck we’ll catch a break there.”

“I hope so.” I can’t remember a time in the past five and a half years when I ever felt more overwhelmed with the task of freeing my brother. “I think I’ll go see Beau tomorrow. It’s been too long since I’ve seen him.”

“That’s a good idea. I’ll go with you.”

“About our earlier conversation…”

“Yeah?”

“I have a proposition for you.”

He puts his folded arms on the table and leans in. “What kind of proposition?”

“I was thinking since you’ll be going back to L.A. in the fall that we should keep things casual between us. Nothing to keep us from going our separate ways when you leave.”

“No strings.”

“Right. We seem to have a lot of chemistry between us. I was thinking we could keep things going the way they are. You know, just fun.”

“Cora. Are you saying you want to have uncommitted sex with me?”

“Yes.”

“So in this non-commitment would we get to go out with other people?”

“Well, no. While we’re, you know, we’re not doing it with anyone else.”

“Not even with that Dylan guy who was all over you?”

“He was not all over me. Besides, Dylan’s like a brother to me and I’m nothing more than Beau’s little sister to him.”

“Let me get this straight. You want to have committed non-commitment sex with me until the end of the summer.”

“Right.”

“I can’t do it.”