Page 91 of Hold Your Breath
It was like Brent was invisible, so easily dismissed. The way she looked at that guy, on the other hand, as if he was the center of her whole world, made Brent feel unhinged.
He started to pace. That guy needed to go. Oncehewas gone, she’d refocus on Brent. He’d become her sun, the person she couldn’t live without. He stopped pacing so he could listen. That feeling was still there, the one that told Brent he wasn’t alone. That person was always there, watching him and trailing him, judging his every movement.
The wind gusted through the trees, making the branches squeak and sway.
“Stop!” Brent hissed in an almost silent exhale. He wasn’t sure if he was talking to the wind or his stalker…or maybe his own brain.
* * *
Lou stepped back, eyeing the snow person. “Wow. I’ve never seen a snowman that…uh, symmetrical.”
Callum just gave a satisfied nod. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“Our extremely symmetrical snowman is missing limbs,” she said over her shoulder as she tromped through the snow, heading toward the woods. “I’m going on an arm hunt.” He started after her, and she shook her head. “I’ll be right over there. Why don’t you fix his face while I grab a couple of sticks?”
“Fix his face?” Cal scowled, peering at the snowman. “What’s wrong with his face?”
Struggling to hide a grin, Lou said, “I’m not exactly sure. It just seems…goofy, somehow. Maybe his eyes are uneven?” She bounded toward the woods before she started laughing. When she reached the first line of trees, she looked back to see Callum with his frowning face close to the snowman’s perfectly aligned features. Lou had to cover her mouth with her gloved hand to hold back the laugh that wanted to escape.
She turned her attention to the ground, but snow had covered most of the fallen branches. When she peered deeper into the woods, she could just make out a fallen pine tree, propped against a boulder. Lou made her way to the needleless skeleton and snapped off two small branches that would work as snowman arms. After a short hesitation, she broke off another four so Callum could choose the best two from a selection.
As she pivoted away from the dead tree, a small sound caught her attention. She stopped, listening. The noise didn’t repeat. In fact, Lou’s stillness made her realize how quiet everything was. There were no animal noises or branches creaking in the wind or rustling pine needles. It was just…silent.
A shiver shot up her spine, and she forced her feet to move quickly toward Cal’s yard.Nothing’s out there, she told herself firmly. It was just the whole Brent thing making her paranoid. Despite her stern mental reassurances, she increased her speed until she was almost running. Just before she passed the final line of trees, she stopped again.
“What is it?” Cal called across the yard, starting to make his way toward her.
“Nothing,” she said, walking toward him and holding out the branches.
He took them from her, but his serious expression didn’t change. “Why’d you stop back there?”
“It was just my imagination.” Hooking her hand in the crook of his elbow, she urged him back toward the snowman. “I thought I caught a whiff of Smelly Jim.”
“Huh.” Turning his head, he raked the trees with his gaze.
The sound of a vehicle engine approaching caught both of their attentions.
“Expecting someone?” Lou asked.
Shaking his head, he dropped the arm sticks next to the snowman and walked around the side of the house. After gathering a handful of snow, she hurried to catch up with him. When they rounded the corner to the front of his house, Lou saw a sheriff’s squad car parked on the street. Chris left it running and climbed out of the driver’s side. As he rounded the hood, lifting his hand in greeting, Lou threw the snowball, hitting him square in the chest.
Stopping abruptly, Chris eyed the remains of the snowball plastered to his coat before looking at Lou. “Assaulting an officer is a crime,” he said.
She raised her hands. “It was completely unpremeditated, with no malicious intent.”
He rolled his eyes. “Tell that to the jury.”
“Chris.” Callum stepped closer to Lou, draping a possessive arm over her shoulders. Although she lifted her eyebrows, she let it stay.
“Hey, Cal.” The deputy looked amused as he eyed them. “Do you two have a minute? This won’t take long.”
“Sure,” Lou answered. “C’mon in.”
They went in through the front, all of them staying close to the door. Although she felt more comfortable in Callum’s house now than she had the first time she’d been there, the expanse of immaculate floors was still intimidating, especially when she was wearing snow-covered boots.
“Thank you for the tip—about the murder victim’s first name,” Chris said as soon as Callum closed the door behind them. “That proved to be really helpful. I was able to ID him.”
“Really?” Lou bounced on the toes of her boots. “That’s great! Who is he? Do you know what happened to him? Do you have some new leads now about who the killer is?”
