Page 70
Story: Deep as the Dead
Alexa continued to eat her salad methodically. It was nearly eight p.m. She wasn’t sure how much longer the officers planned to work, but she was hoping they’d call it a day soon. She thought she had a fair amount of stamina, but the late hours they’d spent in recent days were starting to take atoll.
It was a sign of her exhaustion that she didn’t immediately react when the tablet next to her pinged. A moment later, the significance hit her, and she froze, her fork halfway to hermouth.
Dropping the silverware, Alexa hurriedly logged into her professional email account. Her stomach twisted when she saw the familiar combination of numbers and symbols where the sender’s name shouldbe.
She opened the message and clicked on the image gif in the body. Then gasped quietly as the picture took shape. A single black and white photo of a flat headstone already showing the wear of years. An angel was etched around the date, with the text belowit:
Olivia RoseManning
Infant daughter of Ethan and AlexaManning
* * *
Alexa wasaware of the sidelong glances Ethan was sending her way as he drove, but with Nyle in the back seat, he retained his silence. She channeled all her concentration toward locking down the emotion that was churning inside her until she was alone. Compartmentalizing her feelings. Her grief. Sealing them off so they couldn’t rise up to swallow herwhole.
She’d become an expert on all of that twenty yearsago.
Nyle kept up a running commentary all the way back to the hotel. It helped to focus on his words. Consider them with a fierce intensity that didn’t allow other thoughts to intrude. Certainly not dead babies. Not daughters who were fiercely loved even in the womb. Ones who never got to draw a breath outsideit.
She drew in a strangled breath. Released itshakily.
“You okay?” Ethanmurmured.
She nodded, beyond words. Like an injured animal, she needed solitude to tend to her wounds, to gather her defenses and mend them layer bylayer.
When Ethan pulled into the hotel parking lot, she gathered her briefcase which held her notes, laptop and tablet. “See you in the morning.” She had her door opened and was exiting before Ethan had the vehicle inpark.
“Well, she’s sure in…” She didn’t hear the rest of Nyle’s statement. With single-minded focus, she headed for her room. Forprivacy.
And once inside it, once she’d locked the door with a shaky hand and set her briefcase on the floor, she leaned heavily against the door. Then slid down it when her knees would no longer hold herupright.
Thatbastard.
The tears that she’d been willing back sprang forth in a helpless, involuntary flood. She was usually stronger, but the image had blindsided her. The UNSUB was looking for a reaction. She knew that. He was expecting to catch her off-guard, vulnerable. God help her, at the moment, she wasboth.
Minutes ticked by before she was able to stem the tears through sheer force of will. The grief couldn’t be controlled as easily. Her inner fortitude had been constructed brick by brick over the last two decades. It shielded her from reliving the paralyzing hurt. The brutal sense of loss that could still throb anew in moments when she least expectedit.
It was the callousness of the message that had her steeling her spine.I know you. That’s what the offender was telling her.You have no secrets from me. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and struggled to her feet. He was wrong, of course. He could learn a bit about her past, but she knew far more about him than he didher.
And she was going to use what she knew to bring himdown.
She jerked when there was a quiet knock on her door. Knew who it wouldbe.
“Alexa.” Ethan’s voice was quiet. “Are youokay?”
“I’m fine.” And she would be. She just needed another minute or two alone. When she channeled the regrets from a lifetime ago into anger, she’d be stronger.Invulnerable.
“Open thedoor.”
“Ethan.” She breathed his name out in frustration. In defeat. She couldn’t keep this latest communication from him even if she wanted to. It was part of the case. An intricately sticky piece of their past that now was entwined in the investigation. One that laid bare their shared regret that had lasted alifetime.
She undid the latch and opened the door. Ethan’s gaze swept her once, then returned to her face. His expression softened. “What’swrong?”
Alexa turned away from his concern. It would weaken her, return her to the quaking mass she’d been moments ago. She needed to maintain control, and that was tougher do facing the one man who’d know if she wasdissembling.
“There’s been another communication.” She crouched to retrieve her briefcase and carried it to the desk, using the precious moments to summon the resilience she’d brieflysurrendered.
“What? When? At the headquarters,” he answered his own question. “Before we called it a night. I knew you were too quiet in thecar.”
It was a sign of her exhaustion that she didn’t immediately react when the tablet next to her pinged. A moment later, the significance hit her, and she froze, her fork halfway to hermouth.
Dropping the silverware, Alexa hurriedly logged into her professional email account. Her stomach twisted when she saw the familiar combination of numbers and symbols where the sender’s name shouldbe.
She opened the message and clicked on the image gif in the body. Then gasped quietly as the picture took shape. A single black and white photo of a flat headstone already showing the wear of years. An angel was etched around the date, with the text belowit:
Olivia RoseManning
Infant daughter of Ethan and AlexaManning
* * *
Alexa wasaware of the sidelong glances Ethan was sending her way as he drove, but with Nyle in the back seat, he retained his silence. She channeled all her concentration toward locking down the emotion that was churning inside her until she was alone. Compartmentalizing her feelings. Her grief. Sealing them off so they couldn’t rise up to swallow herwhole.
She’d become an expert on all of that twenty yearsago.
Nyle kept up a running commentary all the way back to the hotel. It helped to focus on his words. Consider them with a fierce intensity that didn’t allow other thoughts to intrude. Certainly not dead babies. Not daughters who were fiercely loved even in the womb. Ones who never got to draw a breath outsideit.
She drew in a strangled breath. Released itshakily.
“You okay?” Ethanmurmured.
She nodded, beyond words. Like an injured animal, she needed solitude to tend to her wounds, to gather her defenses and mend them layer bylayer.
When Ethan pulled into the hotel parking lot, she gathered her briefcase which held her notes, laptop and tablet. “See you in the morning.” She had her door opened and was exiting before Ethan had the vehicle inpark.
“Well, she’s sure in…” She didn’t hear the rest of Nyle’s statement. With single-minded focus, she headed for her room. Forprivacy.
And once inside it, once she’d locked the door with a shaky hand and set her briefcase on the floor, she leaned heavily against the door. Then slid down it when her knees would no longer hold herupright.
Thatbastard.
The tears that she’d been willing back sprang forth in a helpless, involuntary flood. She was usually stronger, but the image had blindsided her. The UNSUB was looking for a reaction. She knew that. He was expecting to catch her off-guard, vulnerable. God help her, at the moment, she wasboth.
Minutes ticked by before she was able to stem the tears through sheer force of will. The grief couldn’t be controlled as easily. Her inner fortitude had been constructed brick by brick over the last two decades. It shielded her from reliving the paralyzing hurt. The brutal sense of loss that could still throb anew in moments when she least expectedit.
It was the callousness of the message that had her steeling her spine.I know you. That’s what the offender was telling her.You have no secrets from me. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand and struggled to her feet. He was wrong, of course. He could learn a bit about her past, but she knew far more about him than he didher.
And she was going to use what she knew to bring himdown.
She jerked when there was a quiet knock on her door. Knew who it wouldbe.
“Alexa.” Ethan’s voice was quiet. “Are youokay?”
“I’m fine.” And she would be. She just needed another minute or two alone. When she channeled the regrets from a lifetime ago into anger, she’d be stronger.Invulnerable.
“Open thedoor.”
“Ethan.” She breathed his name out in frustration. In defeat. She couldn’t keep this latest communication from him even if she wanted to. It was part of the case. An intricately sticky piece of their past that now was entwined in the investigation. One that laid bare their shared regret that had lasted alifetime.
She undid the latch and opened the door. Ethan’s gaze swept her once, then returned to her face. His expression softened. “What’swrong?”
Alexa turned away from his concern. It would weaken her, return her to the quaking mass she’d been moments ago. She needed to maintain control, and that was tougher do facing the one man who’d know if she wasdissembling.
“There’s been another communication.” She crouched to retrieve her briefcase and carried it to the desk, using the precious moments to summon the resilience she’d brieflysurrendered.
“What? When? At the headquarters,” he answered his own question. “Before we called it a night. I knew you were too quiet in thecar.”
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87