“You’re not fighting me,” he whispers, trailing his nose along the column of my neck.
I swallow hard. I should be. I should stop this from going further, but feeling the heat of his chest against my back is loosening every muscle I have. I should cancel my massage appointment and just lie like this for an hour.
“Too tired.”
“Have you talked to anyone about it?” he asks gently, his thumb trailing along my lowest rib.
“It’s not something I fully understand yet. Until then, there’s not much point.”
“Princess,” he whispers. “You of all people know that’s not how it works.”
“Why is your boss so interested in this case?” I deflect.
He sighs, moving back an inch. It’s minuscule, yet enough for me to feel his retreat. My chest stings a little at how easy it was for him to back off.
“I honestly don’t know. My only thought is that his superiors are up his ass about the public perception of the military. Especially given what happened last year withThe Posercase.”
My body stiffens, and I feel his head lift, as if he’s trying to see my facial expressions. I keep my eyes closed. Even though it’s dark and he won’t be able to see the blood rush from my face, I don’t want to draw attention to it. Thomas Vale was a photographer who lured victims by doing a shoot with them so I’m confused as to why the military were involved.
“That case had nothing to do with the military.”
“One of the earlier suspects in the case was a soldier. He wasn’t ruled out for a few months. The media gave him and his family hell the entire time. It didn’t matter that he had countless alibis; they swarmed on him like flies on shit.”
“Adam Taylor.” I remember. The police and I had ruled him out relatively quickly in the investigation. It was quite clear he hadn’t done anything untoward.
“You know him?” He sounds surprised.
“I interviewed him,” I say, trying to sound asindifferent as possible, knowing it will only lead to more questions.
“You workedThe Posercase?”
“Yes.” My shoulders curl inward, and I push the side of my face into the pillow a little more.
“I had no idea you worked that case. How the hell did I not know that?” he mutters.
“You were a little preoccupied at the time. I think her name was Natalia, and she was a ballerina or something.” I knew exactly who Natalia was, and she was, in fact, the Prima Ballerina for the Pacific Northwest Ballet. She was perfect in every way except that she ate like a bird, picking at her food as if she despised the very sight of it. She also wouldn’t drink, which didn’t make three months' worth of dinner parties particularly fun, as in solidarity, Jonesy wouldn’t drink either. A tame three months with no bickering, how dull. Eventually, she moved on, and Jonesy had a new girl lined up within a month, and all was right with the world again.
“Missing that one of your best friends is working the most prolific serial killer cases seems unlikely. Was I being drugged?” He laughs. Not quite. I did purposely ask our friends not to bring it up. When I started having recurring dreams, my sleep cycle went out the window, and Alfie and Lottie respected my wishes as much as possible. They didn’t want to make things worse, I suppose. And Caleb just went along with it because Lottie told him to.
“It wasn’t a big deal,” I lie.
“So you met him then?”
“Met who?” I grit out, my teeth clenched, even though I know damn well who he’s asking about.
“Thomas Vale, of course.”
“Yes, I interviewed him.”
“Holy shit. I can’t believe I didn’t know this.” He lifts himself onto his elbow, his large hand rolling me over so I’m on my back and he can see my face.
“What was he like?” he asks, his eyes wide and curious. He has an almost gleeful smirk, which I see on so many others when they find out I worked the case.
I deadpan, “Polite.”
He scoffs, rolling his eyes. “That’s seriously all you’re telling me? That he waspolite. He was the most prolific serial killer in the Pacific Northwest indecades. He murdered more than twenty women, hunted them, stalked them, tortured them—”
“I am well aware of what he did, Jacob. Having interviewed him for more than fifty hours, I heard a lot. So if we could please just go to sleep, that would be great.”
