“I can’t,” I whisper.
He turns to face me fully and steps into my space so his blue eyes are the only thing I can see. “I was just going to take you closer to the other officers, but we can go back inside right now if that’s what you need. I can find out what’s going on here later.”
Shame tightens my throat. “I…”
“I wasn’t thinking,” he interrupts.
“It’s fine. I just can’t go over there. I don’t want to see that.” I don’t need any more nightmares.
“Please believe me when I say I wasn’t going to get you near enough to see. I just need to keep you in sight to make sure you’re safe.”
“Okay,” I agree, feeling a sense of relief, which in turn makes me feel guilty for experiencing any kind of reprieve in this situation. “You can go.” I release his fingers in an effort to get out of this moment. I feel like I am only seconds away from havinga panic attack. Boone exhales through his nose, but he doesn’t move.
“The staties are mobilizing,” Hawks warns as if the window of time is closing for him to ID John.
“Go, I’m fine.” I put my hand on Boone’s chest and give him a tiny push for motivation.
“I’ll be quick.” He bends his knees so we’re almost nose to nose, and in a tense voice, he says, “Do not move from this spot, Harlyn.”
If the situation wasn’t so dire, I would salute him, but that’s just my nerves trying desperately to lighten the heaviness on my soul. “Okay,” I agree, meeting his eyes.
“I will be right back,” Boone cautions as if I might leave the second he turns around. He doesn’t know me well enough yet to realize it would take a natural disaster to get me to move.
“Ready?” Hawks asks Boone impatiently.
I see the slight change in his features, the tightening around his eyes and mouth before he rises to his full height and turns.
“You’re just a witness for the time being…” Hawks says as they walk away, but his softly spoken words die off too quickly for me to hear much else. My eyes, however, don’t leave Boone’s back until he disappears behind an ambulance. Suddenly feeling very exposed, I finally get the courage to glance around. Several gazes leap away from me when I do, making it very clear they were staring at us. I try not to feel self-conscious. I know it’s not really me they are interested in, but what I could know or how I’m linked to whatever is going on. Hopefully, they will know this has nothing to do with me soon enough.
CHAPTER 18
Boone
My steps are hurried as I approach the small beige building. We get several sidelong glances from the local officers and EMTs, but Hawks dissuades them with a minute shake of his head. Their stares are easy to ignore. I’m used to local PD’s less than inviting welcome, but this time it isn’t because they know I’m from another agency.
“Blood’s already tacky,” Hawks says as he pauses several feet from the entrance. The door, made of dark wood or something that looks close enough to it, is ajar, allowing me to see the pool of liquid on the floor. I crouch to get a look at the foot tread print clearly visible in the mess.
“That’s Brown. He was the first on the scene. He was checking for signs of life.”
I nod, unfortunate but also necessary. “Who alerted?” I scan the rest of the floor I can see from this area, noting the amount of blood and chaotic scene. I wonder if John got himself in troublewith the wrong man. There seems to be a lot of rage in this room, and I haven’t even seen it all yet.
“A male resident, coming home from an overnight shift. Micca is keeping tabs on him. I’d put money on him not having anything to do with this, but we’re keeping an open mind.” Hawks is speaking to me like I’m on the case, not that I mind, otherwise I wouldn’t be within a hundred yards of this scene, and it feels way too close to Harlyn to ignore.
“What time?”
“A few minutes before seven. His shift ended at six, but he stopped at BP for fuel and started chatting with Carrie. Poor bastard got out of the car when the gate didn’t lift, and he didn’t see anyone inside. He walked around this side, and bam. He said the door was already open. Witness said he didn’t touch it or anything else.”
I lean forward and look at the underside of the inside knob. “There’s a blood smear on the knob.” I stand. “Doubt you’ll get a usable print, but I would still try like hell.”
“I’ll make sure Joey gets on that. He came up from Detroit a few months ago, and he has the most experience with homicides.”
“Any idea on what kind of weapon was used?”
“Maybe, but we haven’t recovered anything outside the scene. I have a few of my people out doing a ground search nearby just in case, but I don’t have many people to put on a search team. I’m sure the state police will expand when they take over if an additional search is needed.”
“You aren’t going to keep this?” I glance at Hawks. He doesn’t seem like the kind of man who would easily give up a case.
“I don’t have the budget or the knowledge to handle this. They do.”
