Page 31

CHAPTER 31

J ake looked as if he had already showered, dressed, and been awake for hours when Raven headed to the kitchen the next morning.

She wasn’t sure how he did that, but she was impressed and wished she had the same skill.

Instead, she felt like a mess with her hair pulled back in a sloppy bun, still wearing her sweats from the night before. She’d replaced her sweatshirt with her favorite T-shirt—one she’d purchased while on a work trip to London last year.

Truthfully, she’d hoped she might avoid Jake a little longer. Last night, she’d sensed he wanted to talk about what had happened between them. She’d almost let him.

Then she’d changed her mind. Maybe the reaction had been out of fear. She wasn’t sure.

She’d panicked and feigned an excuse about going to bed.

“Morning,” Jake murmured, standing with a cup of coffee in his hands.

Just like last night, he seemed more aloof, though she had no idea why.

“Morning.” Then her gaze hit the kitchen table.

The ordnance from Emerald Isle sat on top.

“A deputy brought it by early this morning.” Jake followed her gaze. “I was awake, so I accepted the delivery.”

“That’s great news. I can’t wait to examine it more closely.”

“I thought you’d be happy to see that.”

She nodded at the coffee. “You make enough for me?”

“Of course. I’ve been called many things but not stupid.”

She let out a laugh, glad to see some of his humor had returned. He’d seemed so serious since they’d run into each other again. Back when they’d first met, they’d had great banter—something she’d loved.

Something she’d missed, if she were honest with herself.

She poured herself a cup, added the fixings, and then turned to the bomb. “Any other updates besides this one?”

“Not really.”

“What about the bomb at Blackout? Were you able to find any remains? I mean, I know that you personally weren’t able to, but . . .”

“They’ve uncovered a few things, and I’m having Atlas look at it. I’ll probably try to swing by later today so I can see it also.”

“Smart thinking.” She sat down by the bomb and leaned closer to examine the paint and metal. “Just looking at it with the naked eye, this looks a lot like the one Eleanor found. But I could only see one side of the device in the photo.”

“So the same person left it, just as we suspected.” Jake shifted toward her, still leaning against the wall with his cup of coffee in hand. “Apparently, this person has decided to make a hobby out of recreating bomb relics and leaving them on shores where people could think they washed up.”

“Sounds like a sick hobby, doesn’t it?” She raised her eyebrows and stole a glance at him.

He gave her a knowing look. “I agree.”

She squinted as she studied the device more closely. Something new caught her eye, something she hadn’t seen in the photo or in the remnant she’d found.

Jake stepped closer. “What is it?”

She grabbed a pen and pointed to an etching close to the tailfin on the ordnance. “Check this out.”

Jake leaned toward it for a better look. “What is that?”

“It almost looks like some kind of insignia.”

His eyes widened. “Do you think the person who left this was bold enough to mark their work with an insignia?”

She shrugged. “That’s what it seems like to me.”

“You ever seen that design before?”

“I sure haven’t.”

He grabbed his phone and took a photo of it. “Then we need to see what we can find.”

Finding that insignia gave Jake and Raven a fresh lead in their investigation.

Jake didn’t recognize the symbol either. The mark looked like a square with a circle of Ss fanning out in the center.

Maybe they could trace this. Even as the thought raced through his head, he knew the person—or people—behind this were probably too smart to leave something that would be traceable.

So why had someone left something so traceable? Especially on the bomb in Emerald Isle, which hadn’t had explosives inside?

Maybe these people wanted to send a message.

Or maybe they wanted to be found. They wanted credit for their work.

There were so many details Jake needed to make sense of.

He mentally ran through what had happened so far.

Eleanor had found the first explosive. It had detonated inside her house, killing her.

Then someone had planted another bomb in the rubble of Eleanor’s home, which had also exploded.

While investigating that scene, someone had been watching from the brush and had run after being spotted.

Shortly after, Jake had found the phone in the sea oats with a message on it : You’re too late.

That night, someone had tried to break into Raven’s house.

Another ordnance had been found in Emerald Isle along with a message: Boom. The countdown is on.

Someone had also followed him and Raven onto the ferry and jumped into the water, not to be found—not that Jake had heard, at least.

Then there was the picture from Syria found at the first crime scene. And the picture of Raven found in the vehicle of the guy on the ferry.

Finally, there had been the pressure-sensitive bomb at the Blackout headquarters.

Jake was having a hard time making sense of how all this fit together.

Maybe if the picture from Syria and the picture of Raven hadn’t been found, things would make more sense.

Because he didn’t believe someone was doing this only to target Raven. After all, they couldn’t have known she’d step on that pressure sensitive bomb at the Blackout headquarters.

While someone might have been able to guess that Raven would be called in to help with this, that hadn’t been a guarantee either.

Jake’s temples began to throb. The pieces just weren’t falling into place, and he didn’t like it.

If he wanted to keep her safe, then he needed answers—and answers still seemed far away.

For now, he’d run this symbol past a few colleagues and see what popped up.