Page 22 of Outlaw Ridge: Jesse
“Shit,” Jesse spat out. “Maybe Abilene was the copycat abductor after all.”
Lauren shook her head. “Then why did someone kill her? And what about the phone call she got before she died?”
“Don’t know the answers to those questions either,” Griff replied. “But that takes me to the second thing I needed to tell you.” The grim tone went up a couple of notches. “We found Abilene’s abandoned car near Outlaw Ridge.”
Lauren’s pulse spiked. “And?”
She heard Griff swallow hard. “Nicky Holden’s body was in the trunk.”
A sick wave of nausea rolled through her.
Jesse cursed under his breath. “She’s dead,” he muttered.
“Yeah,” Griff confirmed. “Murdered.”
Chapter Nine
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The smell of coffee filled Lauren’s kitchen, rich and strong, but it wasn’t doing diddly squat to clear Jesse’s head. Maybe because sleep had been damn near impossible last night.
He’d spent the night in her guestroom, doors down from her, too far and not far enough at the same time. Every time he closed his eyes, his mind had gone back to that kiss. The taste of her, the feel of her body against his, the way she’d melted into him for those few perfect seconds.
Now, in the soft morning light filtering through her kitchen window, he was wishing he’d…well, he was wishing they had already been lovers. That there was no “newness” of a relationship between them. Then, he could have spent the night in her bed.
Yeah, that was dick talking, and he knew his dick rarely reacted on logic. Still, he would have liked to be with her for the night. Maybe then, they both might have gotten some sleep. Because it was obvious to him that Lauren had had just as much of a restless time as he had.
The fatigue was in her eyes as she wrapped her hand around her coffee mug, taking slow but much needed sips. Even with the fatigue and the basic work clothes—dark pants and shirt—she still managed to look, well, like the hot brainy woman that she was.
“Thanks for staying,” she said.
Jesse lifted his own mug. “Yeah, well, after last night, I wasn’t about to leave you alone.”
She gave him a look over the rim of her cup. A look that sent heat sliding down his spine. She opened her mouth to say something, but before she spoke, his phone buzzed with a text. Since it wasn’t even seven AM yet, he figured this had to be news about the investigation.
Jesse exhaled, setting his mug down to check the message. From Griff. As soon as he read it, his blood ran cold.
“The ME sent over new info,” Jesse relayed to her. “Nicky had a fresh tattoo on her arm. Same as Abilene’s. Same as yours.”
Lauren groaned, set her coffee aside and dropped down onto the island stool next to him. “So, another victim. One who obviously didn’t get away. And we still don’t know how Nicky ties into any of this.”
He watched as Lauren closed her eyes, her expression drawn and pale. Jesse knew that look. She was trying to make sense of the chaos, searching for a connection that might not exist. Abilene had been obsessed with Lauren’s case. Nicky had been missing for days, and now she was dead in the trunk of Abilene’s car.
The past was closing in on Lauren, suffocating her.
Without thinking, Jesse reached over, threading his fingers through hers and giving her hand a reassuring squeeze.
“We’ll figure this out,” he said, his voice steady even as unease settled deep in his gut.
Lauren opened her eyes, meeting his gaze. “We better,” she murmured. “Before someone else ends up dead.”
True. And he sure as hell didn’t want that someone to be Lauren. So, Jesse tried to make the pieces fit.
“Abilene might have done a copycat crime and abducted Nicky,” he spelled out. “Why, we don’t know, but let’s assume she became so obsessed with the case that she wanted to play it out for herself.”
Even to his own ears that sounded like a weak motive, but perhaps digging deeper into Abilene’s background could fill in some blanks.
“Maybe Abilene was unstable,” Jesse tried again. “Maybe she even had some kind of grudge against Nicky and decided this was the way to punish her.”
