I shifted around on the couch until I faced him. “We walked into a situation that no amount of training could have prepared us for. You got the perpetrator restrained and still tried to help me get the gun from Alex. Yes, it should have been secured when it hit the ground, but all things considered… we did the best we could. They don’t exactly cover ‘dealing with ghost possession’ in training. You grabbed it before anyone else got hurt, and that’s what matters.”
“If I’d been a second later—”
“But you weren’t,” I interrupted before he could go further down that road of self-loathing. “You did your job. Every single one of us has fucked up at some point in our careers. What happened at the farm is barely a blip on the radar compared to some of the shit that I’ve seen.” I grasped his forearm. “Will, I’m not mad at you and I know Alex isn’t, either. You showed up, you handled the situation, and you’ve kept Alex’s secret. You’ve gone so far above and beyond the call of duty that I don’t know if I’ll ever be able to repay you.”
Shock, confusion, and doubt roiled in his eyes before finally melting away into relief so profound it almost hurt to see. “You’re seriously not upset with me?”
“It never even crossed my mind to be mad. I just wish I’d known what was bothering you sooner, so you didn’t have to suffer.”
“Suffering in silence is kind of a Dodd family trait,” he said, and finally I saw a glimpse of the old Will peeking through. “Camille and I have mastered it over the years.”
“I get it, but we’re partners. You can talk to me about this shit, okay?”
“Okay,” he agreed. He still didn’t look entirely convinced, but the haunted look in his eyes eased. It would take time, but that was one thing we had.
“Good. Now, let’s eat before it gets cold.”
Will grabbed his slice with more gusto and we settled in to watch the game. It’d been awhile since Alex and I spent an evening apart and while I didn’t want it to become a habit, spending time with Will wasn’t a hardship. Slowly but surely, my life here in Lowery’s Crossing was coming together.
***
Will stayed until well after midnight, both of us just trying to relax and let go of some of the tension we’d been carrying since Rebecca went missing. Clearing the air about the McAvell incident had gone a long way toward easing Will’s mind, and when he left, I knew he’d be okay, at least for the night.
The smartest thing would be to go to bed, myself, and get some rest. We’d both be working tomorrow, searching for any leads and hoping Rebecca came home on her own. I’d already told Alex I might not come by that night and it’d been weeks since I slept in my own bed.
When it came to Alex, though, I didn’t want to do the smart thing. I wanted to sleep in his arms, even if only for a few hours.
I didn’t text him before I locked up and left my house. He might be awake, lost in a book, but it was more likely he was asleep and I didn’t want to disturb him.
The drive to Alex’s house was a short one and I parked in my usual spot, beside the little hatchback he rarely drove. Everything he needed lay within walking distance of his home, after all.
The house was quiet, lit only by the soft glow of the streetlights through the window. Louis, Alex’s fat old ginger cat, blinked one golden eye open when he heard me walk in, but otherwise didn’t move from his cozy perch on the back of the couch. He even deigned to let me scratch his head as I passed by, something he only did when he was well and truly comfortable. The two of us had a tentative truce, but he still made it a point to startle me at least once a week. For a cat his size, he could squeeze himself into some pretty small spaces if it meant he could scare me.
A whisper of sound caught my ear while I pet the cat and we both went still. His ears twitched toward the back of the house, where the bedroom was, but whatever he heard, it wasn’t odd enough for him to go investigate. Maybe Alex was still awake?
I didn’t call out, just made my way down the short hallway. Years of police training were hard to undo and after the incident with Nate Applebaum, I couldn’t help but worry.
The bedroom door opened before I could reach it and Alex stepped out, fully dressed and pulling his thickest hoodie on over his head. He went stock-still when he saw me, clearly surprised to see me standing there.
It didn’t take a genius to see the signs and realize what was happening. Even in the darkness, I could see that Alex had gone pale and his hands shook as he hurriedly tugged the hoodie down. His eyes kept darting to a spot just behind me, focusing on something in the empty space.
There was clearly a ghost standing just a few inches from me, and just as clearly, Alex had dressed to leave the house and help them. My phone sat in my pocket, with no missed calls or texts from him waiting for me, so he’d planned to go alone.
“Donovan…” His voice came out a cracked whisper, a plea, but I shook my head.
“Don’t. I’m going with you. It’s cold out, so grab your jacket.”
I went back into the living room to wait by the door, anger and anxiety roiling inside me. Were we about to find out what had happened to Rebecca Perez? As much as I wanted to find her, I didn’t want it to be like this. Who else could it be, though? This was a small town. Unusual deaths were pretty rare.
I had to focus on the mystery at hand or I knew I’d lose myself to my anger. Alex had promised, he’dpromised, that he’d never go out after a ghost alone again. He had me, Raina, Camille, and Will all saved as his emergency contacts for this very moment, but I knew just as surely as I knew my own name that he hadn’t called any of them, either. If I hadn’t missed him enough to come back tonight, would I have ever known about this?
“Donovan,” he whispered again, closer now, and I turned to see him standing behind me, wearing his thick winter coat. “I have to help her.”
“I know. Let’s go.”
“It’s late and you have to work in a few hours. You don’t have to come with me. I can handle it.”
He was testing me, even if he wasn’t aware of what he was doing. No matter how many times I’d vowed to come with him, this would be the first time I’d faced the reality of it. The only other time I’d seen him deal with a ghost had been at the McAvell farm, when he’d been kidnapped, and we’d been swept into the chaos.
