“You own a security firm. You obviously believe in it. I just… I wanted her to live a normal life. That’s what Cassandra wanted.” I glance around this majestic home, taking in Jack’s version of normal.
The low hum of a phone vibrating intrudes. Jack’s eyes widen as he lifts a cell phone out of his pocket. Redness and puffy circles hint at his lack of sleep. Jack holds the screen out for an inquisitive Ryan to see.
“It’s work. I’ve got to take this. I’ll be in the office. It’s on the other end of the house.”
He steps away, leaving Ryan and me at the entrance to Sophia’s bedroom. After taking photos of her desktop, I hand Sophia’s electronics to Ryan.
“Your staff knows not to do anything that will destroy the history, right?”
“Yes.” His permafrown remains rooted in place.
I’m not here to make friends. Jack asked me to help, and that’s what I will do to the best of my ability. I focus on her desk, starting with the file drawer. I search for magazine articles, jotted notes in the margins of books, teacher feedback on assignments, anything that might provide insight into her state of mind.
A warmth spans my back, from the base of my neck down my spine. I suck in my breath and brave a glance upward, up the trousers to the broad, expansive chest of the oversized wolf man. Those ice-blue eyes watch. Scrutinize. But he doesn’t offer a critique. My throat tightens. As he steps over my calves, his leg brushes my ass. A fission of energy climbs my spine. The file folder I’m holding bends as my fingers curl.
His phone vibrates. He checks it. “I have to head into town. I’ll courier the electronics to my team. I should be back within two hours.”
The click of shoes on marble diminishes, and I breathe more easily. I zero in on a red scrawled A- and a scribble from a teacher that reads, “Nicely done. Interesting tie-in to extramarital affairs.” It’s a term paper onThe Scarlet Letter. Sophia texted me about this book. She’d been shocked how they treated women. I continue searching through a sea of stellar grades. With every new folder, I give myself a moment with Sophia’s smiles pinned to her bulletin board.
As a teenager, she wears her hair longer. But when younger, her hair barely reached her shoulders, and I remember struggling with those curls.
“It doesn’t matter how it looks,” Sophia told me, perched between my legs on the bed. “I like how it feels.”
“Ah, might you fancy a head scratch?”
“A what?” She’d giggled and grinned, and the metal on her braces gleamed. She’d gotten them at the youthful age of ten, or at least, that was what I deemed young.
She closed her eyes and eventually spread out on the bed, her head in my lap, as my nails scratched her scalp. The noises she made had me laughing.
“You sound like a purring kitten.”
“Just keep doing it, please.”
Cassie returned from her dinner with a friend to find her daughter passed out with my thigh as her pillow. She’d lifted her up and carried her away like a princess, settling her into bed with a stuffed bunny and a silk blankie. Yes, she had braces, but she clung to the things she loved.
CHAPTER6
25 Hours Missing
Ryan
The woman sitting behind the reception desk peers up at me over the rim of her spectacles.
“I’m here to see Indigo Wolfgang.”
She pauses, glances down at her desk, then swallows. “You know, visiting hours are almost over.” The clock on the wall supports her statement. “You would only have ten minutes.”
“I didn’t expect to be in the area. Can I see her?”
“She’s probably already on her way to be seated for dinner. If we call for her now, we risk getting her off schedule.”
The clock behind the woman’s head tells me we are now down to eight minutes.
“Can I see Dr. Ortega?”
“Let me see if she’s in. She may have left for the day.”
“She texted me. Said she’d like to speak to me.”