Page 72 of The Italian Reckoning
I’m powerless to prevent my chance at a breakthrough walking right out of the station.
Dinner bubbles on the stove,Iris relaxes on the table with her fluffy tail in the middle of my empty dinner plate, and my mind races with the events of the day. Rocky being here last night has left an odd sense of restlessness in my chest. Seeing him again at the station reignited my craving for him, but with what happened to Mary, I’m not sure when or if I will ever see him again.
The details of her attempted kidnapping are so vague, there’s no way for me to tell whether there’s any connection to Kara or Belle. In this city, someone is trying to snatch someone else off the streets nearly every day, so it’s wishful thinking on my part.
Extremely wishful.
As I bring my soup to a boil and lower the heat, my phone lights up with an incoming call. Ever since the killer has been calling me, the sound of my ringtone makes me feel sick so I keep my phone on silent. But the screen lighting up still gives me the same pull of nausea that makes my gut ache. Swallowing, I pick up the phone and press answer below the withheld number.
“Hello?”
“Sarah!” Rocky’s warm tones fill my ear and a rush of warmth pulls through my chest.
“Rocky.”
“Sorry to call this late. I wanted to reach you and explain what happened earlier.”
“Mary, is she alright?”
“Not even a little.” Rocky’s voice is tight and his words rushed. “It’s a bit hellish here right now, but I’ve spoken to Mary and I’m pretty sure the guy who tried to take her is the guy we’re looking for.”
I turn the stove off, completely abandoning my soup, and sink into the chair pressed up against my table. Iris chirrups and rolls over to meet me, exposing her belly to my wandering hand.
“Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be. I don’t have enough time to tell you everything so I’m going to come and pick you up so we can talk properly. But I couldn’t sit on this one thing.”
“What thing?”
“Mary saw his face, Sarah. She looked him right in the eyes.”
My heart stalls briefly in my chest, followed by a flash of tightness and hot chills down my spine. “Shesawhim?”
“Yes. She got a real good look—shit. I’ve got to go. Wait for me, I’ll come to you.”
“Okay.”
The line falls silent and I sit there staring at Iris but barely seeing her.
Mary saw him.
She saw her attacker and if he really is The Painter, then we will finally have a target. Excitement wells up inside me like an inflating balloon. Ruffling Iris’s fur, I press a firm kiss to the top of her head and rush into the study where every detail I’ve collected is displayed.
Soon, I will have a picture and I’ll catch that bastard for the final time.
But… wait.
What if I don’t recognize him? What if Mary provides a detailed picture and it’s still not enough to trigger my buried memories? Will I always be stuck in darkness, unable to recall the face that tormented me for six days?
But then, what if I do remember? What if seeing his face unlocks more than I can handle and I end up drowning under memories I don’t know I’ve suppressed?
The back and forth in my mind is enough to make me dizzy so I pace around the room, replaying every detail in my mind about what I overheard from Mary. He snatched her but got into an accident and she escaped. She’s the luckiest out of all of us.
Should I call Brant? This could be huge. I could finally shove this entire case in his face and prove that I was right all along, that this was all connected to The Painter and he’ll forever be known as the police captain too dumb to listen to his detectives.
Then again… that would make things worse. As soon as he learned that I was still investigating everything, he’d accuse me of compromising evidence and influencing witnesses. I can’t tell him. Not yet.
He’s been against me from the start and frustratingly correct in his reasoning. A lot of the evidence is shaky at best, and my calls from the killer paint me as more of an accessory than a victim. I can’t have any contact with Mary if her description leads to an arrest. After all, there’s still a chance that there’s no connection and I’m creating a link out of thin air.
