Page 64 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)

The watery sunlight peeking in washed the pink halls a sad shade as Jake walked the short distance from his room to Dana’s. It was just after dawn. Go-bag in hand, he was freshly shaven, and in his usual uniform—suit, shirt, tie: all in varying shades of blue.

Jake felt more himself. Or at least the version he’d been before Dana.

He hadn’t wanted to go back to that version, but it was safe and right now, he needed two feet on solid ground.

He hadn’t bothered unpacking after their conversation last night.

More like lack there of, he thought bitterly.

Jake patted his jacket pocket; the papers inside felt heavy.

They should. There’s a lot of heavy shit in there .

Writing, rather than wrecking, had been a departure from Jake’s normal MO. But he’d managed to fight every instinct to march back to Dana’s room, knock the door down, and make her see reason last night.

Jake’s instincts may have kept him alive in the many high-stakes situations of his service and his time with the FBI, but they seemed to do the opposite with Dr. Dana Gray.

That realization made him opt for a different approach.

One he suspected Wade and Jenkins would be proud of— if he actually admitted what he’d done.

Though he had no reason to unless it worked.

Jake had every intention of slipping the note under Dana’s door and heading back to the airport without another word to her, but the figure he saw outside her door changed things.

Vincent George cut an intimidating silhouette in the pale morning light.

But the moment he spotted Jake he lowered the hand he’d been holding near Dana’s door.

A bright, toothy grin masked the temporary confusion on his face at seeing Jake in the hall, and not in Dana’s room, as he’d probably expected, based on the way he’d hesitated to knock.

It was unfamiliar and uncomfortable territory for the two men, sizing each other up as competition.

Jake never would’ve asked Flynn to keep an eye on Dana if he didn’t trust and respect him.

He supposed the fault was his own for not staking his claim when Flynn gave him the chance.

Not that Dana made that sort of thing easy.

“Morning, Shepard,” Flynn greeted. “Didn’t expect to see you out here.”

“Feeling’s mutual,” Jake grunted. “What are you doing here, Flynn?”

“Please, call me George. I left Flynn behind when I left the Army,” he said. “Helps keep the ghosts buried, if ya know what I mean.”

Jake did. “Right, George it is. So why are you here?”

“Caught another graveyard vic.” He scrubbed a hand over his tired features. “Makes three, now.”

“What’s that got to do with you being here at this ungodly hour?” Jake muttered.

“Dr. Gray was a big help at the last crime scene. Never seen anybody more comfortable in a cemetery,” he grinned more to himself than Jake, but he caught the sentiment. “Thought she might have some more input for us.”

“You really think it’s wise dragging her into a police investigation?” Jake growled .

“You’re the one who said she knew her stuff,” George drawled. “Weren’t wrong either. D.C. made a mistake letting her go.”

“No one let her go. Dr. Gray makes her own decisions.”

George chuckled. “Yeah, I’m starting to see that.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Jake asked, taking an aggressive step toward his friend.

George didn’t back down. “I asked you point blank if there was something going on between you.”

“Yeah, and I said it’s complicated.”

The detective sucked his teeth, seeming unperturbed by Jake’s threatening proximity. “She said the same thing.”

“And what? You took that as an invitation?”

George stepped back, hands raised in surrender. “I only did what you asked.”

“It looked like you were doing more than keeping an eye out when I showed up last night.”

“Look, Shepard, I know what I owe you. That’s why I asked what your situation is,” he said, gesturing to Dana’s door. “If you only read me in half way, that’s on you.”

“Fine, but be man enough to admit that’s really why you’re here,” Jake accused.

“I told you. I’m here because someone dumped another mutilated body in one of my cemeteries.

That makes three. Three unsolved homicides in my city.

Maybe that don’t raise eyebrows when you’re in the FBI, but here, we don’t take that lightly, you get me?

My city, my job to clean it up. As I see it, Dr. Gray might be the best chance I’ve got at doing that.

So yeah, like I told you, that’s why I’m here.

To ask for her help in finding this sick son of a bitch before he dumps another body. ”

The lock tumbled, and Dana’s door swung open before Jake could respond. Face still creased with sleep, she skipped pleasantries. “There’s another body?”