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Chapter31

Avalon

Lynn envelopsme in a bear hug. Her fierce loyalty and strength slip into me as if by osmosis. I never underestimate the power of a hug. Lynn has been one of the few constants in my life. A sense of calm eases the weight off my chest. She lets go and walks me to the car with her hands on my shoulders as she would one of her students. I haven’t said anything to her, yet she can read me well enough.

My gaze locks with Jake’s as we drive away, then I close my eyes and rest my head against the seat. I release the emotions and cut the cords that still connect me to Victoria. Peace for her. But for her family, anguish at losing their last shred of hope that Victoria was alive and sorrow at her passing.

Lynn’s gaze searches my face, her keen eyes looking for answers without having to ask the questions.

“I’ll tell you everything later, okay? I need to process what happened first.”

Lynn squeezes my forearm. No words are needed right now. She starts the engine, and we drive away from this place. If only I could leave the images in my head behind too.

All I want to do is take a hot shower and wash away this day. There’s a part of me that wishes I never walked into that antique store and found the necklace. A part of me wants to give in to anger and blame Lynn and Grandma for the role they played, so I can distance myself from all of it. But I can’t and won’t blame either of them. There’s no blame to be placed on anyone but the evil asshole preying on these women.

This whole mess is heartbreaking. Even knowing I’m doing something good, knowing I’m helping the victims and the families, and hopefully also helping to catch the bastard who’s doing this—God knows how many more he has hurt. I find it hard to believe that it’s only the four Jake told me about. And in a small town like this, I would expect people to be more alarmed. But missing is not dead, and without proof of foul play, there’s always the possibility that people just left. All of it will change now. There’s a body. And once the experts do an autopsy and figure out what happened, they will definitely know she was murdered.

I close my eyes to the blur of green speeding by outside my window and start a counting meditation. Counting down from ten to one and then reverting from one to ten. Again and again, until the whirl of thoughts in my head gives way to the numbers, and I can block everything else.

I jolt awake when Lynn parks the car outside our building.

“Did I fall asleep?”

“You did.”

I twist my head from side to side and squeeze the back of my neck. An ache has settled deep into my muscles, more from tension than falling asleep in the car. “Thanks for picking me up.”

Lynn pats my knee and gets out. I follow her, and we share the elevator with three other people. I’m grateful for their presence, so I can’t say anything. Not that Lynn would pressure me, but I’m still processing everything that happened.

When I get out of the shower, Lynn is waiting in the kitchen. “I figured you’d need some food, so I ordered from that little Mexican place down the road. Got you a sweet potato quesadilla.”

My stomach grumbles as the rich scent reaches me. “Thank you. I didn’t even know I was hungry until now.”

“Dig in! Then you can take a nap.”

We eat and talk with Lynn telling me all about her morning and learning to kayak at the lake.

“Kayak? I never knew you had an interest in kayaking.”

Her smile gives me the answer before she speaks. “I wasn’t until I saw the instructor.”

“Of course. My boy-crazy best friend. Why else would you do anything remotely in the neighborhood of sports?”

She grabs her phone. “Did you know kayaking requires a lot of core strength?”

“I do now.”

She grins. “I took pictures of his abs.”

I nearly choke on my food. “You did what?”

Her grin grows bigger. “What? I asked.”

I stop eating. “You asked to take pictures of the instructor's abs?”

“Well, not the abs. I asked if I could take a picture of the kayak. I can’t help if he was standing beside it and shirtless, can I?”

She shows me the picture. “Those are some exceptional abs.”