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Harrison gave a brief smile, but it faded quickly.
Because the answer ruled out very little. The tattoo was somewhere a brother could easily never have seen, somewhere Robyn might deliberately have hidden it from a father who disapproved. And that was assuming she’d even had it when she disappeared. Thirteen years left an entire stretch of her life unaccounted for. If Robyn had survived beyond that night, there could be scars Jake had never seen, tattoos he knew nothing about, injuries, changes—an entire history written across a body her family hadn’t seen since she was nineteen.
Jake’s expression changed as if he’d followed Harrison’s silence to the same conclusion and realised why he’d asked about it in the first place. “What’s the tattoo?”
Harrison fluttered his eyes closed. “Jake…”
“What is it?”
Harrison chewed on his lip. He shouldn’t tell him. He knew that. But Jake had just said Robyn drew constantly. If he recognised the design from one of her sketches, or remembered her talking about something similar, then perhaps the description could actually tell them something. And it wasn’t the most unique design in the world, so perhaps it could give Jake a reason to stop fearing the worst.
“A heart,” Harrison said finally. “Low on the hip. Stitched through the middle. Quite distinctive.” He then slipped a hand beneath the covers. “Here.”
He traced his fingertips along the line of Jake’s hipbone before stopping just inside it. Somewhere easily hidden beneath clothing. Somewhere a brother might never have seen, even if the tattoo had been there thirteen years ago. That was all Harrison had intended to demonstrate. Except the muscles beneath his fingers tightened.
A tiny contraction. A faint shiver.
And for one strange second, neither of them moved.
Only hours ago, touching Jake there had meant something entirely different. Harrison had learned exactly how responsive that body could be beneath his hands, and apparently some of that remained, even now. The awareness sent an entirely inappropriate flash of heat through him before the reason for the touch stamped it out.
He withdrew his hand.
Jake’s expression changed, and whatever had existed between them for that brief moment was gone.
“Jesus Christ…” Jake fell back against the pillows and scrubbed both hands through his hair, dragging the curls away from his face. “I could ask Gavin.”
Harrison lifted onto one elbow beside him. “Jake—”
“He’d know. If anyone would know whether she had a tattoo there, it’d be him.”
“And how are you planning to ask that?” Harrison kept his voice measured, but the warning underneath it sharpened. “There’s been thirteen years unaccounted for, Jake. And you want to ask Teddy’s father if your missing sister had a tattoo near her groin because of rumours attached to a current active investigation?”
“It’s not a rumour, though, is it?”
“No, and that’s exactly why you shouldn’t do it.”
Jake finally looked at him then, frustration flashing hot behind his eyes. “You’re asking me to just sit here.”
“I’m asking you not to throw petrol onto something we still don’t understand.” Harrison drifted closer, settling a hand on Jake’s chest before sliding upward to cup his jaw, forcing him to hold his gaze. “The second you ask those questions, people talk. Then the town talks. Then your mother hears from someone whose cousin knows a bloke at the station that the police think they’ve found Robyn Whitton in the river before we even know who that girl is. And if he says no, that doesn’t even rule her out, then you create panic when you needn’t have.”
Jake exhaled hard, nostrils flaring.
“And let’s not pretend this,”—Harrison gestured between them—“isn’t already a problem. Fuck, Jake, I spent half of yesterday tearing strips off my team because information got out when it shouldn’t have. Meanwhile, I’m here, in bed, telling you things I absolutely should not be discussing outside an incident room. And Jesus, this isn’t exactly the most sensual pillow talk for a morning after.”
Jake turned away.
“I’m not saying that to make you feel guilty.” Harrison tugged his face back to him. “I’m saying it because you need to understand the position this puts me in too. If anyone found out I was personally involved with the brother of a woman connected to a live enquiry while discussing case details…” He exhaled. “Best case scenario, I’m removed from the investigation. Worst case, it compromises the entire thing.”
Jake swallowed hard but didn’t look away.
“And despite that…” Harrison stroked his thumb slowly beneath Jake’s eye. “I came to you because the thought of you hearing any of this from someone else made me feel fucking sick.”
Jake seemed to fold in on himself at that, the fight draining from his face.
“If we need to ask questions about tattoos, we will.” Harrison leaned in and kissed him, soft and brief. “But please, Jake. Let us do the job before you put yourself in the middle of it.”
Jake looked away.
