Page 8 of In Safe Hands
Chris had on his cop face. He hardly ever used his cop face with her, and Daisy’s chest felt tight. Beneath that mask, was he thinking about what a nut ball she was? She desperately hoped telling him this wouldn’t damage their friendship—any more than it already was, at least. It was just that there was a boot. Surely, Chris would understand the importance of that boot.
“Where’d he go?” he asked, finally ending the silence.
“I’m…um, not sure.” She made a face, not wanting to admit the less-than-brave truth. “He started looking up toward my window, and I was afraid he’d see me, so I kind of jumped back and…well, I tripped.”
“You tripped.” His face was blank, and she really wished he’d stop using that impassive tone of voice with her.
“I tripped,” she growled, narrowing her eyes. Their stare-off continued until Daisy knew she was going to lose—she always did—so she started talking again to distract him. “By the time I got back to the window, he was gone.”
Although he made that aggravating noncommittal sound again, his gaze was thoughtful. He focused on the mug in his hands as if his coffee were a crystal ball.
After waiting for what she felt was a more than sufficient amount of time for him to consider the situation, Daisy couldn’t stay quiet any longer. “So?”
“It was dark.”
It was a statement rather than a question, but she answered anyway. “Yes. The moon was bright when the clouds weren’t covering it, but the streetlights out there are pretty much useless unless someone’s standing directly under one.”
“You’re sure that he wasn’t in uniform?”
“Yes.” She closed her eyes to bring the memory of the scene into better focus before opening them again. “Yes. He was all in black—boots, pants, and coat with the hood up.”
“What’d he look like?” The intensity of his gaze flustered her, making her feel like she was the subject of an interrogation. It was just Chris’s way of asking questions, she told herself, trying to ignore her discomfort and focus on answering.
“I didn’t see his face, and the angle from upstairs makes it hard to judge, but I think he was fairly tall. Not skinny, but the coat made it hard to tell if he was muscular or just chunky. I took a video, but it’s really dark.” Pulling out her phone, she found the video and handed her cell to Chris.
As he watched it, frowning, he asked, “Did you get the squad number off the SUV?”
“No. Sorry.”
“Anything distinctive about the guy? The way he walked or held himself?” Chris held out her cell.
Accepting her phone, she closed her eyes for a moment again, but it didn’t help that time. “No. He was walking through snow and carrying something heavy and dead-body-like, so…oh!” The thought made her bounce, remaining coffee sloshing around in her mug. “The snow! There’ll be footprints!”
Draining his cup, he rinsed it out and left it in the sink. “I’ll check it out.”
Chris pulled on his outerwear and let himself out the interior door. After bolting it behind him, Daisy dashed for her bedroom window. She watched as he headed toward number 304. He took pictures of the tracks on both sides of the building with his phone before circling to the back yard.
Waiting impatiently for him to reappear, she wished she could just walk out of the house and join him. Merely catching a glimpse of the front door was enough to make her dizzy, though, so she doubted she’d be visiting the great outdoors anytime soon.
“Coward,” she muttered, letting her head tilt against the chilled glass. “No wonder he won’t even let you give him a hug. You’re a scaredy-freak.”
The glass reflected her unhappy expression. In high school—when she’d gone to high school—she’d been considered pretty enough. She’d been shy, though, and the attention her early developing body had attracted had made her more nervous than flattered. Her caramel-colored hair used to get blonde streaks from the sun, and her skin had tanned easily. Her mouth was full and wide, her teeth straight enough to never need braces, and dimples dented her cheeks when she smiled. She liked her eyes—greenish-gold with thick lashes.
Surely not all of that could have changed?
It was hard to look in a mirror and judge her own appearance, though. Daisy knew she was pale, and her hair was darker without help from the sun, but she didn’t think she was ugly. The fitness room kept her toned and muscular. However, without outside feedback—flirty, interested looks from guys or the honest critique of a female friend—she didn’t know if she’d be considered attractive. As much as she wanted him to, Chris never seemed to notice what she looked like at all.
Shaking herself out of her introspective funk, she saw Chris crossing the yard. Next door, Corbin was walking on the path that ran in front of his house. He’d almost reached the driveway where his Jeep was parked when he spotted the deputy. Although Chris wasn’t in uniform, Corbin must have recognized him, because the teen lowered his head and hurried back toward the front door.
“Ooh, you’ve done something bad, baby creeper,” Daisy said. “Get him, Chris!”
Chris was already striding toward Corbin, his long legs moving quickly through the snow. Before the boy could step onto the porch, the deputy was next to him. Daisy wished for binoculars once again, plus the ability to read lips, as Chris talked for several minutes. Corbin kept his head down, except for an occasional nod or head shake.
When Chris finally headed back to Daisy’s front door, she scrambled off the window seat and rushed down the stairs to let him inside. Slapping the button to unlock the exterior door, she unfastened the dead bolts and chains. In her excitement to hear what he’d discovered about the mystery deputy’s early morning visit—plus the smack-down he’d hopefully given Corbin—she jerked open the door without pausing to listen for the usual click of the latch.
As it swung wide, exposing the still-open exterior door, she felt as if all the blood drained from her body. A wide rectangle of sunlight outlined a startled-looking Chris. Her eyes fixed on that too-bright expanse over his shoulder, that yawning hole that allowed in all the dangers and horrors of the outside world. Her heart thudded in her ears, the beats so fast they started blending together. She couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything except stare at that terrible brightness.
Her vision blurred and tilted…right before the world went black.
