“Hey, everything’s going to be fine.” Her hair had fallen from the messy bun she’d worn earlier, and he ran his hand through her matted mane. Clumps of dirt and dried sweat mangled the long strands. Pressure built in his chest as he held her in his arms. Tonight had been tough for him, but he’d been through worse. It was part of the job. Processing it was part of his training. But Mickey hadn’t been prepared for what she’d found. For the first time, he was absolutely sure she had no part in any of this.
Her tears fell unhindered as she faced him. The usual fire in her eyes had been replaced with a hopelessness that split his heart in two. “How will it be fine with people like that in the world? I never thought this stuff happened here, it was somebody else’s problem. But being down in the basement and knowing what they made those poor girls do… I don’t want to live in a world where that’s okay.”
“Look at me,” he said as he cupped both of her cheeks in his palms. His thumbs moved over her cheeks, wiping away her tears. “What they’re doing is not okay. That’s why I do what I do. I stop them and I make things right. I’m sorry you had to go through this tonight, but now you know this shit happens. A lot more than you think.”
“How do you do it?”
The side of his mouth lifted. “I’m saving lives. I’m making a difference. And you can too.”
She laughed, but it bordered on a hysterical snort. “How?”
“Keep your eyes open. Look for things that don’t make sense, situations that leave you with a bad feeling. Especially while you’re working. You never know when you’ll be able to help.”
A shaking breath blew through her parted lips, warming his face. “Okay. Does it make me a horrible person if I just want to forget about it for tonight?”
He pulled away and dropped his hands from her face. “Not at all. Let me call my boss and fill him in on what we found. Then we’ll get you home.”
Mickey rested her elbow on her knee and then dropped her cheek to her hand. “I can get myself home. They need you here.”
“I’ve been working for twenty straight hours. I need some sleep.” He leaned forward and pressed his lips to the smooth skin on her forehead and then called his boss.
Graham bit back a sigh and waited for his boss to answer the phone.
“Did you find the girls?” Even at this late hour, fatigue didn’t lace through Harper’s gruff voice.
“No, but we did find tunnels leading from the house.”
“Did you find Bogart or Difico?”
Graham bit into his cheek. “No, sir.”
“Is this conversation of the utmost importance, or can it wait until morning?”
Graham wanted to argue that anything to do with this case was of the utmost importance, but he’d rather wait until morning to have this conversation. He needed a decent night’s sleep to regain his composure and put his thoughts in order. And he needed to get Mickey the hell out of here. “The morning’s fine.”
“Good. Come to my office first thing.”
The call disconnected before Graham could reply. He stood and extended a hand to Mickey. She curled her fingers around his and he helped her to her feet. The warmth of her hand heated his blood. He glanced at her as they crossed the yard and pride swelled inside him. She was a tough cookie. He’d been attracted to her from the beginning, but now she’d earned his respect and trust. That was one hell of a combination.
Mickey yanked on his hand, halting his progress toward his car. “Wait, I need my shoes.”
He dropped his gaze to her bare feet and winced. He’d forgotten she didn’t have any shoes on. Dirt stained the tops of them, but at least it hid the dried blood from where the rat had scratched her. “Were those your shoes I found in the yard?”
“At the corner of the house, in front of the shrubs? Probably. One got stuck in the mud, so I took the other one off and left it outside so it wouldn’t slow me down.”
A soft chuckle tickled his throat. She was one of a kind. “Hold on a second.” He dropped her hand and his body screamed in protest at the lack of her warmth. He walked toward the spotshe’d mentioned and his gaze scanned the long blades of grass until he found her heels.
He jogged back to her and handed her the shoes. “There you go. Now get in your car and follow me to my place. I’ll sleep on the couch and you can take the bed.”
“What? No, I want to go home.” Exhaustion made her words come out heavy.
He reached over and captured her hand again. “Listen to me. You just experienced something no one should ever have to. You shouldn’t be alone tonight.”
Her body sagged and a yawn tore from her mouth. She widened her eyes as they locked with his. “That’s really sweet, but I’ll be fine, really. I desperately want my own bed.”
She shifted her gaze to face their cars parked on the street and he studied her profile. Her shoulders drooped forward and her eyes closed, as if needing privacy to fight an internal battle. She’d been through enough tonight, she didn’t need him arguing with her. But dammit, her apartment wasn’t safe and who knew what terrors would come for her in the night. He couldn’t stand the thought of her dealing with it all alone.
“Mickey, I don’t want to scare you, but Connie’s still out there. We have her face and her name now, but who knows how long it will take to track her down. She might come after you again. You might have had your locks changed, but that doesn’t mean your apartment is safe.”
