A Flicker in the Dark(43)

“Chloe?” he asks.

“Mmm?”

“Is there anything you want to tell me?”

I’m quiet, my outstretched silence telling him all he needs to know.

“You can talk to me,” he says. “About anything. I’m your fiancé. That’s what I’m here for.”

“I know,” I say. And I believe him. After all, I’ve told Daniel all about my father, my past. But it’s one thing to recount memories with detachment, relaying them as simple facts that happened and nothing more. It’s another thing completely to relive them in his presence. To see the face of my dad in every darkened corner, to hear the words of my mother echoed in the voices of others. And it’s even worse because this has happened before—this feeling of déjà vu. I’ll never forget the look on Cooper’s face as he stared at me that day, years ago, as I tried to explain myself, explain my reasoning. The look of concern intermixed with genuine fear.

“I’m fine,” I say. “Really, I am. It’s just a lot all at once. Those girls disappearing, my dad’s anniversary coming up—”

My phone vibrates violently across my bedside table, the light from the screen partially illuminating our still-dark bedroom. I lean on my elbow and squint at the unknown number trying to reach me.

“Who’s that?”

“I’m not sure,” I say. “It shouldn’t be for work, this early on a Saturday morning.”

“Go ahead and answer it,” he says, rolling over. “You never know.”

I pick up my phone and let it vibrate in my hand before swiping the screen and lifting it to my ear. I clear my throat before answering.

“This is Doctor Davis.”

“Hi, Doctor Davis, this is Detective Michael Thomas. We met at your office on Monday regarding the disappearance of Lacey Deckler.”

“Yes,” I say, glancing in Daniel’s direction. He’s on his phone now, scrolling through emails. “I remember. How can I help you?”

“Lacey’s body was found early this morning in the alleyway behind your office. I’m sorry to have to tell you this over the phone.”

I gasp, my hand instinctively moving to my mouth. Daniel looks at me, lowers his phone. I shake my head silently as tears begin to well in my eyes.

“We need you to come down to the morgue this morning. Take a look at the body.”

“I, um…” I hesitate, unsure if I heard him correctly. “I’m sorry, Detective, I’ve only met Lacey once. Surely you’ll want her mother to come identify her instead? I barely know her—”

“She’s been identified,” he says. “But since she was found right outside your office, and the last place her mother saw her was dropping her off there, it’s safe to assume at this point that you were the last person to see her alive. We’d like you to take a look at her and tell us if anything seems different than it did when you saw her for your appointment. If anything looks out of place.”

I exhale, moving my hand from my mouth to my forehead. The room seems to be getting hotter, the rain outside louder.

“I really don’t know how much help I can be. We were together for one hour. I barely remember what she was wearing.”

“Everything helps,” he says. “Maybe the sight of her will jog your memory. The earlier you can get here, the better.”

I nod, agreeing, before hanging up the phone and sinking back into bed.

“Lacey’s dead,” I say, not as much to Daniel as admitting it to myself. “They found her outside my office. She was killed right outside my office. I was probably still upstairs.”

“I already know where you’re going with this,” he says, leaning against the headboard. His hand finds mine in the sheets, and our fingers intertwine. “There’s nothing you could have done, Chloe. Nothing. You would have had no way of knowing.”

I think back to my father, that shovel slouched over one arm. An inky outline making his way through our backyard, slowly. Like he had all the time in the world. Me, upstairs, curled up on my bench with that little reading light, peering through a window. Present for the entire thing, yet completely unaware of what I was witnessing.

I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I … I didn’t know …

Had Lacey told me something that could have saved her life? Had I seen someone that day that looked suspicious, someone lingering around the office, but failed to notice? Just like before?

Aaron’s words echo through my mind.

This person could very well know you. He could be watching you.

“I should go,” I say, releasing Daniel’s hand before swinging my legs out of bed. I feel exposed sliding out of the sheets, my nakedness no longer the powerful, intimate thing it was just minutes before. Now it reeks of vulnerability, of shame. I feel Daniel’s eyes watching me as I walk across the bedroom and into the bathroom, moving quickly in the dark before closing the door behind me.





CHAPTER NINETEEN




“Cause of death was strangulation.”

I’m hovering over Lacey’s body, the pallor of her face an icy blue. The coroner stands to my left, clutching a clipboard; to my right, Detective Thomas hovers too close. I don’t know what to say, so I say nothing, my eyes flickering over the girl that I had just barely known. The girl who had wandered into my office one week ago and told me about her problems. Her problems that she had trusted me to solve.