“Any chance you recognize anyone else?” I handed her the photos, and she read my tone well and kept the photos out of sight.
“Umm, how did you get these, Spencer? You know how much trouble you could get in?”
“I do,” I answered honestly, “but it’s a risk I’m willing to take.”
She seemed to be okay with that and flipped through the first two, shaking her head, but stopped at the last. “I want to say she looks familiar.” She tapped on Krysta’s photo. “Yes, her mohawk with the shaved sides really stuck out to me.”
“Why?” I wanted to know everything.
“Because she was such a badass.” She laughed lightly. “She came in to file a report about someone breaking into her car. She chased the guy two blocks before he slipped away from her.”
“Really?” I felt something inside me click, like I was on to something.
“Yeah.” She nodded.
“When?”
She looked around before she slid her keyboard over and started to tap on the keys. I watched her type in Krysta’s name.
“She filed a report on June ninth.”
“What about Elizabeth?” I waited for her to check while I flipped the back of Krysta’s photo over and scribbled down the date.
“July fourteenth.” She lowered her voice when Benny came down the stairs.
I did the same to Elizabeth’s photo and thanked her with the promise of a drink sometime.
“What are you doing?” Benny eyed the back of the photo, and his brows pinched together.
“Just gathering some information G asked me for,” I lied, and I didn’t feel badly about it. I was on to something.
“Well, I’m on my way to lunch. Would you like to join me?”
“Sure, when and where?”
His face lit up like he had just won a prize. “Let’s do Luke’s by the lake, say, fifteen.”
“I’ll be there.”
“Great.”
I turned to Meredith and said with a tired smile, “Thanks for not outing me.”
She smiled. “I saw nothing, but I did hear Luke’s has great tiramisu.”
I smiled and tapped the file on the counter. “One order coming up. Thanks, girl.”
“Careful,” she whispered, “that new detective is coming up behind you.”
Blake hovered the way he did when he felt protective of me. I didn’t think he even realized he was doing it. I slowly slipped the photos into my bag before he caught me.
“I thought you were writing.”
“Nope. Needed a break.”
He studied my face, his eyes searching for the key to unlock my thoughts. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah. It’s all a little strange, but I’m here, so…”
He nodded and reached out to brush the hair off my face. He stopped himself quickly when he realized where we were, then stood back and cleared his throat.
“Have you thought any more about Will?”
I sighed heavily. I wished he’d let this topic go. “Like I said, Blake, I’m not interested.”
“You might learn something more if you—”
“I have a lunch date,” I blurted out of frustration. “I can’t have this conversation right now.”
“I just wish you’d hear me out.”
I hung my head as I gathered my sanity. “And I just wish you’d let it go.” I pushed off the counter and raced toward the sidewalk.
Chapter Thirty
Jonah
The squeegee screamed at me for moisture as it tugged down the dusty glass. Once at the bottom, I shook it free of dirt and continued to watch Spencer as she hurried away.
Blake went back to join the new CCU woman he brought in yesterday. I wasn’t sure why, but my guess would be they’d found something on the murders.
Dig all you want. You won’t find any thread that would lead you to me.
My new selection fit my MO perfectly other than her hair type, with her sexy-long legs and her heels. I nearly blew my load in my pants. I went back to work and let myself fall into a memory.
Maybe she knew, maybe she didn’t, but I thought Tiffany had grown comfortable with me around.
“No, stupid, she thinks you are smart enough to stay the fuck away,” I scolded myself. Either way, after some hair dye, glasses, and the fact that I’d lost weight, I felt I looked different enough to walk right by her unnoticed.
This time, she decided to go to a totally different lunch spot, and I followed three cars back. My rental smelled like the last user, who must have been a chain smoker. I lowered the windows and let the warm summer air be my deodorizer. She parked and disappeared through the little blue door that read Toast.
I couldn’t see shit from the parking lot, so I decided to go in. It was a risk, as the place looked small, but it was one risk I was willing to take.
Removing my sunglasses, I scanned the people. There she was. She actually faced me, and the people with her had their backs to me.
I slipped into the booth and asked the waitress for a cup of coffee.
My eyes narrowed in on the wedding band that wrapped around her skinny finger.
What the hell? It had only been a few weeks. Did I mean nothing to you? Was it all a lie? Or were you married all along, and I didn’t know? It would explain so much as to why she only stayed with me part time and would go on some many trips.
The coffee was terrible, but I sipped it for something to focus on while I tried to calm my blood pressure. My tongue pressed into the grooves of my teeth when I saw his hand reach out and take hers. She smiled warmly and laughed when he said something to her.
Red. All I saw was red. My body boiled, and sweat broke out under my clothes. How could I have loved such a cold, heartless bitch? How did I not see I was nothing to her when I thought she was everything?
I stood, fixed my shirt, and began to approach their table. I wanted to see the man she was with. As I walked toward them, his napkin slipped, and as he turned to grab it, I froze.
What the hell? How can this be?
Chapter Thirty-One
Blake
“So,” Bri smirked at me from across the table, “are we going to pretend I don’t see what is right in front of us, or can we just skip the crap and jump right in?”
I rolled my eyes and reached for the rest of my sandwich.
“Okay.” She brushed her fingers free of crumbs then leaned back and picked up her phone. “That Benny guy sure has an eye for Spencer.”
“Nice try.” I laughed but knew that wasn’t the end of the topic. “What about you?”
“What about me?”
“No, no, no, Bri, you’re not the only one who gets to pry.”
“I dated a few guys here and there, but we all know our hours are far from normal, and we have to keep a lot at the office.”
“Easier to date within,” I added to show I understood.
“Exactly.” She paused. “You and I would’ve been great. I’m sorry I blew it.”
I was happy to hear that she saw how much kissing someone else hurt me. We were young and reckless, and we got past it, but as friends. “Yeah, well, too much history now. Think of the kids.”