Page 102 of Faith
“Why? What will it do?”
“Zeke, please,” she cried.
He sighed, running a hand over his head. His eyes closed, holding back everything from her. If he was hesitating, it was bad.
How bad?
“The body was the only woman you identified.”
“Joyce.”
Zeke nodded.
“What happened to her?” Nina whispered. Joyce was always nasty, but that didn’t mean she deserved to die. She was the woman tasked with taking care of the girls Gwendolyn kept in her house. She was the one who brought in the doctor when someone needed medical care and delivered the scraps Gwendolyn gave everyone for food. Joyce took care of them, in a way.
“Her body was at Olcott Beach, where we went right after you came back.”
“Oh my God.”
Zeke stopped talking.
“There’s more. Tell me.”
He sighed. “She was dressed in the same thing you were wearing the night I picked you up.”
Nina closed her eyes. “She never dressed like that. She wore plain clothes.”
Zeke didn’t move from his spot near the door.
“What else?” Nina asked.
“She had a coffee cup from the shop where you and Frannie met Robert, and she had been assaulted.”
“No one deserves that,” Nina breathed. “I didn’t like her, but I didn’t want her to die like that.”
Zeke didn’t say anything, and he didn’t reach for her.
Nina needed to feel his strength and comfort. She needed to know she was safe, and that he was there for her. “Can I… Will you let me hug you?”
Zeke swore and crossed the room to where Nina stood. He wrapped his arms tightly around her and held her body against his from shoulders to knees.
Nina sighed, feeling better with him close. It wasn’t okay for her to take advantage of him like she was, but she needed him. “I hate her.”
“We all do, angel. We’ll find her and stop her.”
Nina pulled back, needing a minute before she admitted the truth.
“We won’t give up until she’s in custody, Nina. I promise you that. There are so many people looking for her. The drawings have been all over the news and people are calling in all the time. It’s only a matter of time.”
“I think I know where she is.”
Zeke stopped, frozen in time, like his brain ceased and the rest of him had to catch up. “What do you mean you know where she is?”
“Well, I don’t know for sure, but there was this house. It was where I first lived when I was with her. We haven’t been back in years, and I thought it was sold, but I don’t know.”
“You didn’t tell the FBI about it?”
Nina shook her head. “No. I didn’t think about it. It had been so long, and Gwendolyn took me to all her houses, so I don’t think… I don’t know.”
