“Me either, but that’s not what I meant. I mean this is nothing, not something you can buy in a store. It does what he wanted it to do.”
Matthew nodded as he caught on. “He had to have made it himself.”
“Right.” Rylla walked further across the room and stopped beside the large plastic box that Grace had told them about. “And this. I mean we know what he used it for, but it’s not something you can buy. Again, he must have made it.”
“Some of these things anyone could make.” He gestured to the large hole dug in the floor, it was filled with what looked like quicksand. “He could dig that, get quicksand—although not sure where you get it from, that’s something we should look into—but he has to have some sort of carpentry skills.”
“Maybe building in general.” Rylla had walked over to the far wall and ran her hand along it. “This basement is large, bigger than the house. We can check other houses in the street but I'm guessing its bigger than theirs. That doesn’t necessarily mean anything of course. There could be plenty of reasons why someone wanted a huge basement when they built this house, but what if that’s not the reason.”
“What if he built this himself.” It would make sense, there was the hidden door that led to this part of the basement, just like Grace had told them, and someone had to have put that in. Somehow, he couldn’t see Mable White needing a hidden room down here so there was a good chance it was Emmanuel. This space was large. It probably went close to the property lines. If he’d extended it himself then it would be a big job, hinting that he didn't just have carpentry skills but building knowledge. “Good thinking, Ry. We should take the sketch of Emmanuel and start hitting up some of the local builders, see if anyone knows him.”
“Hopefully, we can get a name for him, I'd bet anything it’s not Emmanuel.”
“Agreed.” Matthew took a look around the room as he and Rylla headed for the door, this place gave him the creeps. Every time he looked around it all he could see was Grace fighting for her life. “I hate being in here. I can't imagine how horrible it was for Grace and his other victims.”
Rylla shuddered and rubbed her hands over her arms even though it was warm and stuffy down here. “I can.”
Even though she didn't talk about it much, Matthew knew his partner still struggled to deal with nearly dying. Throwing herself into work and helping her nephew and niece heal from the loss of their mother could only do so much. If you didn't deal with trauma, it festered and grew into other problems. He didn't want that to happen with Rylla or Grace.
“Hey, I’m here if you need to talk,” he said, resting a hand on Rylla’s shoulder.
She smiled up at him. “I know you are. You're a good guy, Matt, and Grace is lucky to have you in her corner. Can I give you some advice?”
“Sure.”
“Don’t push her to talk until she’s ready. Everyone is ready to talk in their own time. It’s different if we need to ask her questions for the case, but when it comes to personal things just let her come to you when she’s ready.”
“Personal things?” he asked. He hadn't said anything to imply to anyone that he was after anything more with Grace than wanting to be her friend. Hadn't even allowed himself to think it.
Rylla grinned. “Don’t even bother trying to pretend that you aren’t developing feelings for her. I've seen the way you look at her. You care about her.”
“I'm just trying to be a friend.”
“Keep telling yourself that.”
As he looked after Rylla as she climbed the steps out of the basement, he realized he couldn’t keep pretending. He did care for Grace, but she had been through a horrible trauma, and he knew that men and relationships were the last thing on her mind. What she needed was a friend, not a boyfriend.
Maybe it was time he accepted he wanted more so he could set that aside and do the right thing by Grace. Friendship was all that could be between them. It was what she needed, and it was best for him too.
Friends.
He could do that.
* * * * *
3:38 P.M.
Grace shifted uncomfortably in her bed.
She wasn’t in pain anymore. Her wounds were healing nicely and most traces of infection nearly gone. She’d slept so much over the last few days that her body was pretty much caught up which meant she was bored.
Again.
This morning she’d had fun outside with Matthew. After she’d thanked him for being so thoughtful, they’d sat in the courtyard and eaten their pancakes before he’d taken her back to her room and gone to work. She knew he would be focusing on her case, but they didn't talk about it. For some reason thinking that all he saw her as was a case depressed her.
Did she want to be more?
There was no denying the fact that she was attracted to him. Even with everything she was dealing with there was a spark there, at least for her. Did he feel it too?