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I nod slowly. I don’t know what else to say. I frown and sigh. “I don’t want to give you the wrong idea again, so maybe it’s best if I stay away from the restaurant and if we pass each other on the street, a friendly ‘hi’ will suffice,” I resign.
“No, beautiful,” he begs as he reaches forward. I step back again and wince at the name and wonder why he’s still using it when five seconds ago he looked at me with pure hatred. “I know now you can’t go out with me because of Aiden.” I could easily add that isn’t the only reason, especially now, but I keep that to myself. I look around at the joggers running past us. I catch the eyes of a few of them and flash a soft smile as they go by.
“Well, I need to go,” I say, pointing my thumb behind me in the direction I should be heading. “I’m sure I’ll see you around.” He nods his head and sits back on the bench. Is he going to watch me walk away? Well this is about the most uncomfortable goodbye I’ve ever had. I wave and then turn around. I don’t think I’ve ever tried this hard to not sway my hips. I know if I turn around, he’ll be watching me. To prove to myself that I’m right, I glance back after a few minutes. He’s still on the bench and his smile reaches his eyes when our gazes meet. Fuck!
“Addison,” CJ sighs. “We got another one.” I look up from my computer. My head tilts to the side.
“Another one?”
“Another family was murdered last night. I need you and Harper out there…” CJ pauses, “…unless you think you need to sit this one out.”
“The cereal killer?” CJ nods. We need to find this guy. The media gave him the name ‘cereal killer’ because he always leaves a bowl of uneaten cereal as his calling card. How stupid is that? It pisses me off even more that someone leaked that information. Can’t people keep their damn mouths shut? Now we have to worry about copycats.
“No, I can do it,” I reply, my voice flat.
Harper walks into my office, twirling the van keys around her finger. “Ready to go get this guy?”
“More than you know,” I say, putting on my vest and badge. My motivation for finding this guy has my body heating up in anger just thinking about it. Things like this didn’t bother me before, but knowing that he always rapes the wife before killing her has me feeling uneasy.
As we walk out to the elevators, Harper leans over and whispers, “Let me know if you need a breather.”
I stand tall and nod. I can do this. This is my job. I love my job.
Pulling up to the house, the media already occupies almost every piece of lawn space. The sound of a group of vehicles parking quickly grabs my attention. I look up and find two black SUVs, their doors swinging open. I stop and see who gets out. My head knows that Aiden doesn’t come back for at least another month, but my heart skips a beat hoping to see him hop out of the vehicle. Instead, my eyes land on Damon. He gives me a half smile and mouths, “Okay?”
I twist my lips, taking a deep breath in and out. I nod.
“You alright?” Harper quietly asks from behind me. I grab my kit from the back of the van and turn toward her.
“Yep. I don’t know what it’s going to be like when he gets back into town.” I sigh.
“If anyone can figure it out, it’s you,” she says, wrapping her arm through mine. “Now let’s go find some evidence to catch this asshole.”
As always, we push through the questions being thrown at us with determination. It’s not until a reporter yells something about me being capable of doing my job because of what I went through that I almost trip. I tighten my grasp around my field kit as heat crawls up my body. I can’t help it when my mouth opens to tell the jerk off, but I stop when a hand wraps around my arm.
“Ignore them,” Damon whispers. “You’ve been cleared to work. Don’t second-guess yourself because these assholes are trying to get a story.”
I clench my teeth together, and we continue walking into the house. Two detectives join us when we enter, as well as the FBI agents. We’re debriefed quickly. Family of four all shot, man, woman, two kids: a boy and a girl. They estimate the time of death at around midnight. All the bodies were found in the bedrooms. When they report the woman was raped, my spine stiffens. I already knew this would be the case, but it still gets to me.
Harper leans over and whispers, “You get the kids’ rooms, I’ll do the parents’ room.” I nod in agreement and quietly breathe a sigh of relief. God, I love her.
A few hours later, I’m in the last room to be analyzed. I take out my notepad and start taking notes. Looking around the room, my eyes land on the tiny, lifeless body on the bed. How someone can be so cruel to harm such innocent children always baffles me. I pull out my camera and take a few pictures. I walk around the room, looking at the drawings on the walls of clouds and sunshine, the name Lexi spelled across one wall, little girls’ princess dresses thrown all over the floor, the pictures on the dresser. One picture is the victim with another girl. Their smiles brighten the whole picture, but what catches my attention is the other girl. Her eyes match her hair, caramel-colored but outlined in green. I’ve never seen that coloring in eyes. They are beautiful. As I glance from picture to picture, my brows furrow. Why is that other girl in all the pictures, some by herself, some with the family? What’s missing is the daughter in all the pictures.
“Something’s not right,” I whisper. I turn and look around the room again, looking for an answer. I glance to the lifeless child and back to the pictures of the parents. She doesn’t resemble them, but there are a million reasons that could be. I look back at the other girl and chills run down my back. She looks identical to the mom.
I turn my head thinking I hear a noise, but it’s so faint that I could be imagining it. Focusing on the noise again, I hear it coming from the closet.
Oh, shit.
I walk to the closet, barely leaning my ear against the door, and hear soft sobs. I gasp. Oh, my! Knowing what I’m about to find, I slowly open the door. Crouched in the corner of the closet, a pair of huge, caramel-colored eyes look up to me. Tears fall down her face as she hugs her legs close to her chest. I try to look at her body to see if she’s hurt, but it’s hard when she’s curled up so tight.
I kneel down in the closet. “It’s okay. You’re safe now. My name is Addison, and I’m with the New York Police Department.”
She stares at me but doesn’t move an inch. “Are you Lexi?” She slowly nods her head. I exhale quickly. “Are you hurt?” She shakes her head. I close my eyes and drop my head.
I glance to the bedroom door, wondering how I should handle this. I can’t believe they missed that the little girl wasn’t the daughter. I need to let the detectives know that Lexi is still alive. They’re going to have a shit storm coming when the parents of the little girl find out. And it won’t take long. I also need to get her out of here without her seeing her friend.
As I start to stand up, Lexi lunges for me, grabbing me. Her arms wrap around my waist like a vise. I kneel back down and wrap my arms around her.
