Page 26 of Girl Long Gone

“Gabriel and I said we’d get together another time. Why don’t I set up another dinner and pick his brain? I can ask him about his life since high school. Try to get him to open up a little. Maybe a name or two will slip in the conversation, or if we’re really lucky, he’ll tell me something that could lead us to Monica.”

“You can’t be serious.”

Evelyn pushed to her feet and fisted her hands on her hips. “And why’s that?”

How in the hell could she go from a nervous bird twittering around the room to a woman with a steel spine and fire in her eyes so damn fast? She’d done the same thing at the police station. Transformed from a panicked mess to a strong survivor ready to make a stand. She fascinated him, and he’d do whatever it took to peel away her layers and figure out what made her tick. But first, he needed to talk her out of her harebrained idea.

“Because it’s not safe. I’m going out of my damn mind worrying about Monica. Instead of staying focused on the facts and following a trail I know has to lead to Gabriel, I keep picturing a million different things that sonofabitch could do to her. If something happened to you because of me...” He clenched his jaw. She’d become too damn important to him over the last few days. He couldn’t risk her safety—not now, not ever.

A soft touch on his hand had him opening his eyes. He stared into her soft brown eyes, so clear and big behind the black frames she wore again today. “Nothing would happen. I’d be careful. And you’d be close.”

Connor laced his fingers between hers, and she widened her eyes. “He’s a murderer, Evelyn. I can’t let you get that close.”

Her gaze locked on his. “We know he’s dangerous, but we don’t know he’s killer.”

Shit. He had to tell her the whole truth now. “When someone broke into my house the other night, they left a severed hand in my bathroom. I thought it was my sister’s, but it belonged to a woman named Hayley Teller. Her body was found last night.”

Evelyn swayed, and the pallor of her skin lightened a few shades. He wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close against him. Her body fit so damn perfectly against his. She buried her face in his chest and ragged breaths tore through her.

Connor lowered his mouth to her ear. “It’s okay. You’re safe. I won’t let him hurt you.”

“Everything keeps getting worse. Now someone is dead? This is why I need to help. I need to do something. If Gabriel will take another dinner meeting with me, I can get some answers. I can make sure he’s caught. I can’t let another woman get hurt because I refuse to stand up for what’s right. I couldn’t live with myself if I let that happen again.”

Connor raised a brow. “Again?”

Evelyn tensed and waved a hand in the air. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t stand back and continue to be useless.”

Connor cradled Evelyn’s jawline in his hand and grazed the pad of his thumb against her delicate skin. “You are anything but useless. You are amazing and mean too damn much for me to do anything that would put you in danger.”

She swiped her pretty pink lips with her tongue.

Connor stared at her mouth—lips so full and inviting. He needed just one little taste. Leaning down, he pressed his lips to hers. She melted against him and looped her arms around his neck. The rapid hammer of her heart pounded against his chest. He increased the pressure of his mouth then pulled away, sucking in a shuddering breath. He didn’t want to push too hard, too fast.

A shy grin lingered on Evelyn’s mouth. “That was nice, but your kiss won’t make me forget what we were discussing. I want to do more to help. Let me have dinner with Gabriel. We’ll take precautions. You can still keep me safe.”

“We can’t risk it.” Keeping one arm around her, he pulled out his phone with his free hand and brought up Ben’s number. He shot off a text and then pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “You’re right, though. Everything we know about Gabriel has to do with Brooklyn—where he lives, where he works, hell, even where he asked you to have dinner. His townhouse is only a few blocks away from the apartment he grew up in. I’m convinced the only reason Hayley was found in Manhattan was because Gabriel wanted my friend Mark on the case to mess with me. Brooklyn is his comfort zone, and chances are he won’t venture out of the that zone for something so important to him. We need to zero in on these places. Dig below the surface and find out where he likes to spend his time.”

“But you already went to his home.”

“A guy like that has enough money for more than one house. Chances are they all won’t be under the same name.” He shoved his phone back in his pocket and returned his other arm around Evelyn.

She relaxed against him. “I can’t just sit here and wait for Gabriel to strike again.”

He tried to keep his impatience from showing. He liked this side of Evelyn. The side that melted against him and held his hand. He didn’t want to scare her or force back the timid woman who cowered away from him. “You’re good with computers, right?”

“Yeah, I build websites.”

“How are you with research?”

“Excellent, why?”

“I have Ben digging into some things, but there’s a ton to wade through and only two of us. Mark is starting to believe me, but he needs to focus on what he finds along Hayley Teller’s trail.” He brought his hands up to her shoulders and cupped his palms against her warm sweatshirt. “Help by looking into Gabriel’s past. Try to find anything related to him that strikes the wrong chord and gives off bad vibes.”

“I can do that. Lacey can help. She’s on every social media site.”

“Perfect. But what we’re looking for might go back further than what Lacey could find on those sites. Can you dig up information from before every little thing was posted on social media?” He studied the gleam in her eyes and hoped like hell it meant she was on board with his plan and not still considering meeting Gabriel again.

Her eyebrows dipped, causing her glasses to slide down the bridge of her nose, and she pressed her lips together in an are-you-kidding-me smirk of disapproval. “Yeah. I can do that.”