Close to ten minutes later, a brisk set of knocks rang out. He turned off the television, and he crossed to open the door. In the soft glow of the porch light, she stood there. She looked hot and sweaty, and his brain instantly went to things he’d enjoy doing with her that would make those wisps of hair stick to her face and her skin to pinken with heat.
Elyxandre Hookstead. The woman got to him. He couldn’t help it. He couldn’t even put his finger on the moment he’d fallen for her, but somewhere, somehow, he had.
“Can I come in?” she asked.
“Walk right in anytime. No need to knock or call ahead.” He pushed open the screen door, allowing her to pass through. “I’d offer you a drink, but it looks like you’re still on duty. Soda? Water?”
She stopped behind the sofa that edged the path to the stairs and the back of the house. “Water would be great, thanks.”
He walked into the kitchen and grabbed a bottled water from the refrigerator. After handing it to her, he watched her crack the seal and down a large portion of it in several swallows. Now that he looked closer, she didn’t just look hot and sweaty—she looked done in. Even after a long day at school filled with events she attended, she’d never looked this defeated. She was covered in streaks of dirt, and there were several deep scratches on her right hand.
She interrupted his observations. “Are you home alone?”
“Ezra’s still at the study zoo. I won’t see him until tomorrow morning. Unless I should call and have him come home?”
“No. He’s fine where he is for now. We might need to ask those kids some questions, but that’s for tomorrow.”
One glance at her face, her teeth biting into her bottom lip as she sucked it inside her mouth, was disconcerting. “I take it the news isn’t good.”
“She’s still missing.”
He moved closer and began to unstrap her vest for her. “I still think you’re beautiful, but honestly, you look like death right now.” Vest off, he hung it over the back of a dining room chair. “Come sit down.” He led her to the couch. While she sat, he knelt in front of her and began to unlace her boots. Once they were off, he began rubbing her feet.
Moaning, she slid down further against the back of the sofa. “I feel like death, but that’s amazing. I don’t want to know how many miles I tromped through the nature preserve.”
Frowning, he continued the massage. “The one behind the school? Where the cross-country kids run?”
“Yep. They’re going to need a new place to run for the last few days of the season.”
“I’ll let the coach know in the morning.” He moved up next to her on the couch and tucked himself into the corner. One mighty pull put her between his legs, her back in front of him a few inches. He carefully removed the elastic from her ponytail—she hadn’t had time to braid it before leaving that morning. His fingers ran up the back of her neck, through her hair, along her scalp, and sifted through the strands. Each time he reached the top of her head, he rubbed the spot where the ponytail had sat in order to ease the tension there. “If you can’t tell me anything, I understand, but if there’s something I can do to help, let me know.”
“The police had you on their list to notify tomorrow morning, as well as ask some questions. I offered to talk with you and follow up on what little I was able to tell them since I helped withthe search and work with you at the school. I had to tell them you were with me last night, dealing with the break-in. The officers saw you there, and then they would have wanted to know where you were after that.”
“So we’ve been outed already.”
“Yep. Quint already knew because he and another patrol unit did drive-bys after the break-in. I don’t think it’s something that would become public knowledge, but it might eventually if she’s not found. It was just better to tell them before they asked you for an alibi.”
His hands stopped. “I’m a suspect.”
“No. They would have been looking to establish more of a timeline. Because of where she was last traced to, and because she disappeared while you were with me, best we can tell, they would have asked you for dance details.”
Hair and scalp tended to, he began working on her shoulders, waiting her out. She’d start talking when she was ready. He was glad she was taking the time to just relax for a few minutes.
“A 911 call came in from Kennedy’s cell phone at eleven thirty-two. We were able to trace the call to an area near the school, and eventually, I located the phone about one hundred feet inside the treeline of the nature preserve, but no Kennedy. The spot where I found her phone looks like maybe there was a struggle there, but I’m so damn tired, I can barely see straight.”
“Are we sure it was Kennedy’s phone? What am I saying? Of course, you’re sure. Fuck.”
He put his arms around her and pulled her against his chest, and she turned slightly so she was lying sideways on the couch, her cheek to his chest, and her arms snaked around him.
He kissed the top of her head. “I’m assuming you’ve been searching for her all day?”
“Yes.”
Resting his chin atop her head, they sat in silence.
A few minutes later, she began to fill him in on her day. “For the first few hours, I was the only one searching. A fire broke out on the River Walk about thirty minutes after her call came in. It pulled all of the first responders except for a skeleton shift at the station. The reason Quint called me was because he knew Kennedy went to my school. It took me almost three hours to narrow down the search for her phone to the nature preserve, since all we could do was find a general area from cell tower triangulation. It was pure luck I found the goddamn thing on the trail. By then, the fire had been put out, and everybody had been sent home to get some rest, so there was no one to file the report.”
She burrowed her forehead into his chest.
