Page 27 of Distress Signal
Find who killed my sister.
Somehow keep my and Lainey’s business afloat in the face of all this uncertainty.
…Rekindle things with Finn?
His reappearance in my life seemed too good to be true, a bright spot in an otherwise black hellscape of loss.
I wasn’t sure I deserved it, and I’d learned the hard way once before that jumping into a relationship when grieving was a recipe for disaster.
Still, when he finally looked at me again, I couldn’t deny that the same current, the same magnetism that had drawn me to him before, was still there. I hadn’t misremembered the way my body awoke in his presence, like an instrument only he knew how to play.
“I…” I started. “I don’t know how long I’ll be around.”
“Sure, of course.”
Disappointment flashed across his eyes before he averted them, and I hated that I’d been the one to put it there.
“Johns?” Lane called, breaking the moment. A beat later, a deputy appeared at his side.
“Yeah, boss?”
I tuned them out as they discussed taking statements from the unfamiliar men, my attention focused wholly on Finn. Wanting to do something—anything—to erase the hurt I’d caused. Compelled to draw him back in when he was about to turn his back on me to follow his brothers.
Which wasinsane.
After all, was I not hurting? And over something far bigger than being unable to catch up with a one-night stand?
Ignoring all of that, I did something crazy, something that was maybe a little too reckless given my fragile emotional state.
“Finn?” I called.
“Yeah?”
“Will you come with me?”
“Anywhere,” he answered quickly.
I waited for him to change his mind, to realize exactlywhereI was asking him to come and back out.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he surprised me by extending his arm, reaching for me.
I didn’t pause to think about it before accepting his hand and lacing our fingers together, leading him to my doom.
eight
. . .
REAGAN
Once his brothers were gone,Finn squeezed my hand.
“Ready?”
“Fuck no,” I chuckled humorlessly. “But let’s get this over with.”
I didn’t know what to expect when we descended into the bowels of the building. We crossed through a short underground tunnel that connected what appeared to be file rooms and evidence holding to the subterranean morgue of this small county. I hadn’t expected there to be so much light, though. Wall sconces with high-wattage bulbs were placed frequently enough to give the space a warm glow and keep it from being creepy.
