Page 13 of Secret
He was lucky he hadn't lost his leg. It was only the amazing medical team that saved him from losing it. He was grateful, but that day had changed his life. Changed everything about who he was and what he thought he was going to do with his life.
Refusing to get pulled back by the memories, he turned for the shower, making sure the water was hot before stepping in and letting the water wash away his stress. No matter how he tried to quiet his mind, he couldn't. He was always thinking about his cases, trying to work through the evidence, find something he missed.
As he rinsed the shampoo from his hair, he heard his phone beep from the bedroom. He'd put in enough days, and whoever was texting him knew to call if it was important. He ignored it, letting the water run down his body as he closed his eyes, wondering if it was all worth it. The long hours, the caseloads, the victims, they all weighed on him.
It never bothered him much before, but now, with so many more cases involving children popping up, it was digging into him a little deeper, pushing his stress level higher. He thought about the two girls who were missing, fearing the worst. He'd seen what could happen to them, knew all too well what sick men wanted young girls for. Hell, since the 'Castrator' had started working in the area, he had files upon files of horror staring him in the face. It was one thing to know it went on, it was another to see it. It made his blood run cold thinking about how many were in his area, let alone across the country, or worse, the world.
Turning the water off with more force than he meant to, he reached for a towel, drying off his face and hair before rubbing it across the rest of his body. He stepped out of the shower, staying naked as he made it to his bed.
Casper jumped up, finding her spot on her side of the bed, curling up against her pillow.
Noam sighed. The fact he shared his bed with his dog spoke volumes. He missed sleeping next to someone, having someone to wake up beside. He hadn't done that in years.
He reached over, running his fingers through Casper's hair. "For better or worse, huh?" He smiled as she watched him. "I guess I could do worse." He gave her a final scratch behind the ears before getting back up and pulling on a pair of sweats. "Dinner in bed?" He glanced at Casper.
She lifted her head but didn't follow him out of the room. He smiled. She knew him well. He'd be back beside her in no time. He really was predictable and pathetic when it came to his downtime. He grabbed the leftover pizza and a beer and headed back to the bedroom. He set the pizza box on the nightstand and twisted open his beer. It was after one in the morning, and he had to be up at six, but he was too worked up to sleep. After a long pull of his beer, he reached for the remote and flipped on the TV across from him. He found the recorded MMA fight and settled back, pulling the sheet over his body as he eased back against the pillows.
"Here." He pulled a chunk off his slice of pizza and gave it to Casper. She ate it quickly before settling back down beside him. As the fight started, he remembered his phone and reached over to see who'd text him.
With a sigh, he read the words, closing his eyes at the news from one of his partners.
Body found, young female, no ID made yet, but the description doesn't appear to be one of your cases. Will update when I have more information.
Noam closed his eyes as he dropped his phone to his lap. This was the third dead child in the last four months. Luckily, he hadn't worked any of those cases, but it really didn't matter, a child's death hit everyone at the force hard. It was the ultimate failure in protecting the innocent. His biggest fear was having to make that phone call to a child's parents and tell them their son or daughter wasn't going to be coming home.
Blowing out a long breath, he glanced over at Casper, pressing his hand to her stomach and scratching. She comforted him without even knowing she was doing it. He smiled at her before looking back at the TV. He wasn't going to let the news get to him. There was nothing he could do about it now, but tomorrow, he would throw himself into work and do everything he could so that one of his cases didn't end the way someone else's had tonight.
