Page 70 of Critical Doubt

"Let's just see. When we met at the funeral, you swung around like I was going to attack you, like you were about to snap my neck." She saw his profile harden. "You were hearing something then, right?"

"There was an annoying rumbling going on but it wasn't a full-blown attack. I think it was seeing James Lofgren and Colonel Vance in their uniforms that started the bells. They took me back in time."

"That's understandable. Did the bells get louder when you were on the patio speaking to Todd?"

"No. They actually went away when I started talking to Todd. Or maybe I was just distracted. The next attack came after I got out of the river. The rushing water suddenly seemed so loud, like it was going to overwhelm me."

"You were yelling when I showed up."

"I do that sometimes. I don't know what the trigger was then—probably just fear for Todd."

"And the next time the bells came was with the clock at Todd's house."

"Clocks always bother me, even ones that don't chime. If I hear any kind of a tick, it sounds like an explosion in my head. I don't know where you're going with this, Savannah. I told you, there's no pattern."

"I still think there are clues in the triggers. There have to be."

"Why? Sometimes people are just crazy. They hear voices in their head. I hear bells."

She frowned, knowing she was annoying him by stubbornly clinging to her theory, but she couldn't shake the feeling they were missing something. "Let's think about the last attack. It came because you didn't remember telling your team to abort the mission. That makes me think your subconscious is trying to tell you something."

"I don't know," he said wearily. "Can we stop talking about the bells?"

"All right." While she might agree to stop talking about them, she was not going to stop thinking about them.

"Did you snoop around Mason's office while he was with me?" Ryker asked, changing the subject.

"Yes. There was a lot of paperwork: test results, engineering diagrams, inventory, that kind of thing." As Ryker glanced in the rearview mirror, she realized she should probably be paying better attention to their surroundings, to the other cars on the road. "Is someone following us?"

"I haven't noticed anything."

For the next few minutes, she kept a close eye on the sideview mirror, but the flow of traffic seemed normal. Ryker changed lanes a few times. She didn't notice anyone following suit. As they got farther away from DC, she said, "So, how did you decide to live on the Chesapeake Bay?"

"We used to go there when I was a kid. My uncle had a house on the Maryland side. Every summer, we'd spend a few weeks there, and I always liked it."

"Does your uncle still live there?"

"No, he sold the house a while back."

"Too bad. I would have liked to meet someone from your family. You've already met my father and my cousin. It's not fair."

"Life isn't fair," he said lightly.

"Thanks. I'll make sure to embroider that on my pillow, so I don't forget."

He grinned. "There's no way you embroider."

"I've done some embroidery and I have other sewing skills as well. They're a little rusty now, but when I first started on the pageant circuit, my aunt didn't have a lot of money, so we had to sew our outfits. Eventually, our homemade wear didn't cut it, but a boutique in Ridgeview sponsored Josie and me for a few pageants and paid for our clothes. In exchange, I'd sometimes model for them on the weekends when we weren't competing."

"Was sewing your competition talent?"

"Definitely not. I was a singer. I was pretty good. Not recording label good, but I could hold a tune."

"I think you're being modest."

"Not really. And none of that stuff ever mattered to me. The only thing I liked about the pageant circuit was feeling like I belonged somewhere."

"You found your tribe."