Page 39 of Pleasure & Prey: Vol. 2

“Did you hear me, Saylor?” The crack of Brenda’s voice drags me out of my thoughts, and I let go of my t-shirt that I’ve been twisting around my fingers.

“Sure,” I tell her easily, though the truth is I haven’t been hearing her. Not whatsoever. Because Jed’s voice is more prevalent, even as a remembered-whisper. “I’ll look into that.”

A knock on the door makes me look up in surprise, and stupidly, I again hope that it’s Jed. I hope he put a tracker in my car, or just used his super-serial killer powers to track me down. More than anything, I silently beg for it to be him.

“Hey, I gotta go.” My words cut hers off, and I can all but hear her hackles raise from my side of the call. “But umm, I’ll call Dad and set up another dinner. I’ll apologize to him for missing last week.” Because no way in hell will I ever apologize to her.

I don’t even let her get a word in. I barely hear her start by the time I’ve hung up the phone, my steps taking me across the small apartment to the door.

Please be Jed.

I suck in a breath, grabbing the handle with the fingers of my other hand crossed tightly enough to ache.

Please, please be Jed⁠—

I open the door quickly, still so hopeful that it hurts, only for the thought to stop dead and fizzle out in my skull.

Because it isn’t Jed standing at the door, waiting to take me back to his cabin or literally anywhere else.

It’s the same police officers from his cabin in the woods. Only now, they’re looking a lot less friendly, and a lot more wary as they stand at my door.

“Can we come in?” Officer Rayez asks, that false smile crossing her lips like it had back at Jed’s cabin. If this is her attempt to look friendly, then someone should really tell her how bad of a job she’s doing with it.

“Sure.” I know the disappointment in my voice is audible, but I don’t know what to do to change that. Hell, I don’t give a damn at this point. Let her see how disappointed I am to waste my day with these two instead of doing something productive.

Like finding a way to either move on, or send a bat-signal to Jed to let him know I fucked up.

“Thank you.” She nods at me and removes her black sunglasses, tucking them in her pocket as she steps inside. “You remember us from a few days ago, yes? At your boyfriend’s cabin?” She looks around the small, beige apartment as she speaks, her eyes squinting at the photos hung up on the walls in frames. “These yours?”

“I remember you,” I agree, smiling at Officer Brown, who I’d definitely rather have on my trivia team if it came down to it. If only because he looks like he’d be less likely to yell at me when I fucked something up during a competition.

Officer Rayez looks like someone who cracks the whip in all aspects of life. Not just her work. I follow her with my gaze, but I don’t stare her down as she moves from one photo to the next. Instead, I head to my kitchen table, grab a bottle of water from my poorly stocked fridge, and sit down hard in one of my chairs. I don’t offer them water. I don’t want them thinking they’re welcome here, or that I want them staying for any longer than what is strictly necessary, after all. “And, yeah. Those are mine. I’m a photographer.”

She glances at me when I say it, and my brows raise. If she has an issue with my job, she can walk herself right back out the door.

“You’re good,” is all she says, however, before seating herself at the table across from me. Officer Brown doesn’t say anything, but he goes to examine the photos on my walls with squinted eyes. “Makes me wonder how in the world you ever met that boy, since it seems to me you travel in two very different circles.”

Obviously, saying he kidnapped me a few days ago and somehow I’ve fallen in love with him is not an appropriate explanation. But I shrug my shoulders, still looking bored out of my mind as I consider my answer. “We met a few months ago,” I lie finally, hoping that Jed hasn’t already told her some lie that I’m not fucking up. “And started dating last month.”

“Do you stay at his place often?” If she has an opinion about my lie, she doesn’t say anything about it. But I shake my head, deciding to be truthful this time around.

“Nah. This was the first time. Definitely wasn’t expecting the cops to pay us a visit.” There’s no lie in that, and I figure that’s the safest option now. It’s always easier to remember the truth, if she decides to ask me the same questions again.

“We wouldn’t have, except we’d heard some rumors about him. And based on where he was seen a few days prior…I know you say you hadn’t heard anything, but you still have no knowledge of the murder at the Morgan Swamp Preserve last week?”

I just shake my head as she speaks, trying to look bored and oblivious. “I was there with Jed last week,” I have to say, because I know she’ll either find out or already has. “The Preserve needed me to take new photos for their marketing department.”

Officer Rayez nods, pulling out that stupid little pad of paper and flicking through it. “Yes, I’d confirmed that with the preserve this morning. But you say you went with Jed?”

“I met him there,” I tell her smoothly. “Then we went back to his cabin together. For a while he’s wanted to see me at work. He’s…” I smile at her, the first genuine reaction since she’d come in. “He’s really supportive of my work. It means a lot.” That, too, is as accurate as I can make it.

“I’m sure. He seems like a caring guy.” She flicks through a few pages, blinking down at her tiny handwriting. “Do you know the name ‘Tyson Miller?’”

My heart leaps, aiming for my ribs and an easy escape that it won’t find. But I shake my head at her, sitting back in my chair. “Should I?”

“That’s the man who was killed at the preserve. The same day you and Mr. Shaw were there,” Officer Rayez explains. “I just wonder if you saw anything at all. Maybe you ran into him, or his killer, and didn’t realize it? Was there anyone else at the preserve when you were working, Miss King?”

“Umm…” God, it’s hard to lie when the answer is banging against my skull. “There was a guy walking around. He ran into me at one point. He seemed to be in a hurry, I think? But I don’t know. I wasn’t really paying attention.” I give her a rueful, apologetic grin and press my hands against the table. “It’s unreal how much I get tunnel vision while I work, and I end up losing so much time. I’d meant to leave by the afternoon, but it was late when Jed finally dragged me back to the parking lot.”