“I know.” She looked at the pictures again. “There’s something there. I can feel it. What I picked up from them was familiar. Almost like…”
Alex stood and went to her. “Almost like what?” he asked quietly.
“What words were used to describe them? Exactly, I mean.”
“I don’t know. Quiet. Introverted.” He thought back to the interviews he’d been a part of, and the case notes he’d studied meticulously. “I think the adjective we heard the most was ‘odd’. Why do you ask?”
“Odd,” Eden repeated the word with a hushed voice. Turning to face him, she crossed her arms at her waist, as though to protect herself. “They sound like me.”
Scowling, he gave her a pointed look. “You arenotodd.”
She snorted. “What would you call it?”
“Intelligent. Compassionate. Beautiful and gifted.” He brushed some hair from her eyes. “You’re a lot of things, Eden. But odd is not one of them.”
Heat started to replace the sadness behind her golden eyes, but it vanished when she glanced over his shoulder at the evidence on the table.
“Do you have anything of his?”
“Whose?” he asked, knowing damn well who she meant. From the look she was giving him, she knew it, too.
“The killer’s.”
“No.” He shook his head. It was the first lie he’d ever told her.
Her face fell. “That’s too bad. I was hoping maybe I could get a read on who this guy is.”
“Hey.” He took a chance she was too worn down to detect the lie and rested his hands on her shoulders. Ignoring the magnetic pull he felt each time they touched, Alex focused on his concern for her and said, “Why don’t we take a break?” She may not have felt anything malicious or evil, but he could tell the experience had drained her.
“Okay.”
Surprised by her quick agreement—and relieved as hell she hadn’t seen through his deception--he went a stretch further and reached for her hand. Linking his fingers with hers, Alex whispered, “This okay?” He was relieved to see a ghost of a smile.
“Yeah.” She nodded, “It’s okay.”
As they exited the room, Eden glanced back over her shoulder at the photos again.
“We need to find him, Alex.”
He gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I know.”
Chapter Five
Eden looked across the small, round table. She still couldn’t believe she was on an honest-to-goodness date with Alex Bennett.
After taking a walk earlier to clear their heads, they’d returned to the Twenty-Third to go back over the evidence one last time before calling it a day. Though she’d hoped to pick up something new, the visions and colors she’d gotten were simply more of the same.
From what Eden could gather, each of the victims had experienced intermittent moments of happiness and joy. But by and large, all of the women had purposely isolated themselves as much as possible.
All except for Chloe Howard. She was an anomaly. One Eden didn’t understand.
“Eden?”
Alex’s voice broke through her thoughts. When her eyes flew back to his, she realized he’d been saying something to her.
“Yes?”
He reached across the table, covering her tightened fist with his hand. He’d been touching her a lot today.
