She tried her best to muster a smile. “I’m okay, really. It was just a shock. I’ll be fine.”
Griffin grunted something undecipherable, and I turned to Bell. “Where’s everyone else?”
“Kenna, Crosby, and Ford went to hang out with Will, Ava, and Mia. Caelyn didn’t want them to be alone.”
Understandable, given what was happening on this thirty-mile island. I wouldn’t want anyone I cared about alone either. Caelyn’s gaze drifted to Brody. “Are you doing okay?”
I wanted to throw my arms around my petite friend at the concern and kindness I heard in her tone. A little of the tension left Brody’s grip at her words. “I’m okay. I’m just so damn sorry you had to see that.”
The sheriff’s department had erected more of those sheet walls to prevent onlookers from viewing the scene on the store’s front porch, but I couldn’t help but imagine the sight. A mixture of what I’d seen a few weeks ago and the worst my brain could conjure. I shivered, and Brody wrapped an arm around me.
“Me, too,” Griffin gritted out.
Caelyn gave a little tug on the hem of his shirt. “I’m okay. No need for a grumpy giant.”
He scowled down at her but soothed the expression with a gentle kiss. “I’m not grumpy.”
“Just very scowly,” she said with a small smile.
The interaction had me taking my first deep breath since Brody had told me what’d happened. Caelyn would be okay. The next few weeks would be hard, but the images in her mind would eventually soften and fade. She wouldn’t be traumatized forever.
“What have you guys heard?” Brody asked.
Griffin looked away from Caelyn, even though it seemed to be a battle. “Not a whole hell of a lot. Sam was brought in for questioning yesterday, but they didn’t make an arrest. No word on whether they’re doing that now or not.”
“It seems like a pretty ballsy move to kill someone the same day you were brought in for questioning,” Bell said, looking towards the store. “Do you really think he’d do that?”
I doubted any of us knew for sure. The only thing I was certain of was that Sam had a darkness to him. One so similar to Michael’s, I wanted to stay as far away from it as humanly possible.
Caelyn burrowed deeper into Griffin’s hold. “I wouldn’t have thought anyone on this island was capable of what I saw today.”
“Could be an outsider,” Griffin offered. “Tourists aren’t out of the norm, even this early in the season. It wouldn’t be hard for someone to slip in and out. And plenty of folks do long-term rentals for the spring and summer.”
God, I hoped Parker and his deputies caught whoever was doing this before months passed and who knew how many lives were lost. Just as the thought passed through my mind, Parker strode from behind the curtained wall and headed towards our group. He donned that impassive mask of professionalism, but Michael had taught me how to see what was just below the surface so I could try to predict when he might lash out. I could see hints of anger, frustration, and grief beneath Parker’s blank expression. I wasn’t a big hugger, but I had the sudden urge to wrap my arms around the man and tell him that everything would be okay.
He nodded to Brody and me as he approached. “Thanks for coming over. It saves me a trip.”
“Of course,” I answered.
“Is it the same?” Brody asked, not wasting a second.
Parker’s jaw tightened. “We matched it to another painting of yours. This one isn’t on your website, though.”
“The politician?”
Parker nodded. “That’s the one.”
“I got a lot of grief from the subject’s lawyers, and it wasn’t worth keeping it up on my site. It was a part of a public gallery showing, though. I’m sure there are plenty of photos of it if you searched.”
“I found it on the second search on my phone,” Parker said.
Brody’s hold on me tightened the barest degree. “Sometimes, I hate the internet.”
Parker swiped a hand through his hair as he looked out at the crowd. “Don’t disagree with you there. News of this is going to spread like wildfire.”
I couldn’t help the rush of panic that swept through me. Of course, this kind of thing would spread through a community quickly. But it would spread farther than that, too. Definitely state-wide coverage, possibly national. All it would take was me in the background of one photo for my hiding place to come crashing down.
I focused on the one touchstone I had at my disposal, the sound of the sea. I could just make it out over the din of conversation around us. The slow ebb and flow of the tide. Water lapping against the boats. I inhaled deeply, the scent of the salt air reminding me that I was safe.
Even if Michael did find out where I was, his fear of water would hopefully keep me safe. I held onto that knowledge with everything I had in me. My walls of water would protect me.
Brody’s lips brushed the shell of my ear. “Are you okay?”
I tipped my face up to his, taking in his strong jaw and his dark eyes, the beauty of him and the reassurance of his presence. I didn’t want to lose this. Him. And that meant I had to fight. But the enemy wasn’t my brother, it was me. The fear I’d let have free rein over my entire life, slowly eating away at my very existence. I’d already begun to battle it back. To reclaim pieces of who I had been so I could find out who I might want to be now. But I’d have to fight harder.
I pressed a kiss to the underside of Brody’s jaw. “Just thinking.”
He studied my face as if he could read every thought swirling in my head. “You’re safe here.”
“I know I am. I’m just trying to figure out a way to trust that.”
Brody brushed the hair back from my face. “It’s going to take time.”
“I know.” And in the interim, I’d simply have to live in the unknown and the uncomfortable. Know that the fear would try and battle me into submission, but that I would have to keep walking forward amidst it all.
My attention snapped back to the larger conversation at the letters, FBI. “What?” I asked.
Parker glanced in my direction. “I’ve got a consult with a profiler at the FBI. She’s looking over the files I sent. If there’s another serial murder, they may send a team. These cases are similar to the ones in New York, but there are differences, too. Printed copies of the paintings left behind to make sure we understood the connection. And the victims were both stabbed instead of strangled.”
I swallowed down the bile at his last words, trying to shove away the memories attempting to take hold. I knew all too well what these victims had gone through. God, I hoped Parker would find some clue that would lead him straight to the killer’s door and soon.
“Brody, she wants to talk to you,” Parker added.
Brody pulled me tighter against him as if sensing my thoughts. “I’ll do whatever I can to help. I’m going to have my tech people take down my website. I know it probably won’t help, but at least it’s something.”
Parker shook his head. “Don’t. Agent Anders said not to change anything about your behavior, publicly or privately. It might provoke the unsub.”
Brody’s jaw worked back and forth. “I feel like I’m being held hostage by this psycho.”