Page 53 of In Her Eyes

The light bulb goes off in my head. “Oh my God, Lynn, you’re a genius!”

She flips her hair over her shoulder. “Duh, I know that. But what genius accomplishment are you talking about?”

“I’ve been looking at each of those cases as individual puzzles.” I look around and whisper to her, “But what if it’s just one giant puzzle? I know people go missing every day, and the police don’t automatically link them. Jake thinks they’re related, and I think they are related, but I’m not looking at the big picture.”

“Okay, stop for a second. You’re making me dizzy. And you lost me.” She looks over her shoulder. No one is paying attention to us. She lowers her voice to match mine. “You looked into two missing women, right?”

“Kind of? I found Alice’s necklace and checked her car. That was it for her. And the reading for Lena at Jake’s office. I didn’t find anything at Alice’s house. I need to look at all of them at the same time.”

“Whoa, hold your horses there.” Her hands come up high as if she’s trying to stop a runaway horse. “All of them? At the same time? No, no, no. That’s not a good idea. It would be too draining. You’d get sick and have headaches for days.”

I avert my eyes and pick at a non-existing chip on my nails. “I can do it. I can pace myself and not get burned out. It won’t be much different from when I go into a museum and curate artifacts. I work on several at the same time.” It’s not the same. Not at all. The violence of the images linked to this case takes a much bigger toll on me, but I’m not about to tell her that. She would mother-hen me, and I don’t need that right now. I push my hair away from my face. “This guy could already be preying on the next girl.”

Her voice softens. “But it is different. You know that. Looking into those missing women is affecting you differently. These . . . feelings and emotions never followed you before. Not to mention the ghost.” She visibly shivers.

I take in a big breath and release it. “I didn’t know what to expect and wasn’t prepared for it before. But I am now.”

Lynn raises a single eyebrow.

My hands come up together in an appeasing gesture. “Now I know what to expect, and I can protect myself by turning off my emotions.”

She twists to face me. “Can you? Can you really turn off your emotions?”

“I can dull them.” It’s a lie. It will be impossible to open myself to the images while closing myself on the emotions they bring. The two are the same.

Lynn stares at me for a long moment and sighs. “Okay, but promise me you’ll slow down if it gets to be too much.”

“I promise.” I’m not sure this is a promise I can keep. Time to change the focus from me to her.

“Whatever happened to the guy from the pub? What’s his name again?”

“Marcus. Nothing happened. I wasn’t going to leave with him, you know. We hung out outside the pub a bit, but as pretty as he was, the flirting was more fun than our conversation. I thought all bartenders were supposed to be skilled conversationalists. Not this dude. Got a weird vibe from him. He kept calling me alittle birdand looking around like he was worried someone was watching us. Then wanted me to follow him to his place. I noped out of there.”

“Why didn’t you say anything? I thought you spent the night with him.” Should I have picked up on something? I didn’t really get creepy vibes from the bartender. I rely so much on my intuition. What if I miss something?

“Nah, I went for a drive and hung out by the lake. There was a bonfire, and I spent some time there. When I got back, you were sleeping. I didn’t want to wake you, and then you were off with your detective the next day. Nothing happened. It wasn’t worth mentioning.”

This investigation is taking over my life. I can’t believe I didn’t ask Lynn about the bartender or that I missed her discomfort about him until now. “Please be careful, Lynn. With everything that’s happening, maybe it would be best if you didn’t see anyone while we’re in this town. And I’m sorry I’ve failed at my best friend’s duties since we got here. I suck.”

“You haven’t failed. You’re busy and doing something important. I’m sunning myself, window shopping, and drinking margaritas you’re paying for.” She grins.

I take our empty bottles and walk to the recycle bin a few feet away. Seagulls swoop above the pier. I shield my eyes and watch as they screech and fight for scraps of food someone is tossing in the water for them. When I turn back, Jake is there, walking toward me, his form standing out among the dozens of people milling about. Oh, sweet baby Jesus, he’s shirtless. Golden skin glistening under the sun. Hands on his hips. Chest heaving as he catches his breath. Muscles everywhere. A dusting of hair on his chest, abs for miles, and those indentations...the magical V. I want to run my tongue down them. Like always, his eyes are hidden behind sunglasses. Thank goodness. I don’t think I can handle all that’s on display and his eyes at the same time.

My face gets hot as images of last night replay in my mind. Us dancing, his hands on me, the kisses, the intensity. I stay frozen in place until he’s standing right in front of me. “H-hi.”

He takes a step closer. “You didn’t go running today?” He sounds disappointed.

“No, I woke up late.” Was he looking for me? It took me hours to fall asleep. Who knew being horny would turn me into an insomniac?

Behind him, Lynn tilts her head to check his ass and gives me two thumbs-up. I should get an Oscar for being able to keep a straight face right now.

He pushes the sunglasses to the top of his head, his gaze traveling over my body, intimate, hungry. And there it is. Those eyes are my undoing. My skin pebbles under his stare. He inches closer. “What are you doing today?” His voice is low, just for my ears.

I point behind him, and he turns. Lynn waves at him.

I resist the urge to fan my heated face. “We’re just talking about it. Watch the fireworks, I guess.”

“That doesn’t happen until nine tonight. You have a long wait until then.” There’s such an intensity to his gaze.

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