Page 77 of Girl Between (Dana Gray FBI Mystery Thriller #5)
“Take your next right,” George instructed.
They’d been driving on a dirt road for far too long.
It was dragging Dana’s thoughts back to places she didn’t want to go.
The vibrant green marshlands and moss-riddled landscape couldn’t be more different, but in her mind, she was still traveling that endless pine-fringed road to Jake’s cabin, where all her ghosts dwelled.
“Or not,” George said when Dana missed the turn.
She swore, slammed on the brakes, and dropped the Rover into reverse after checking the rearview. “Sorry,” she muttered, righting their course.
“You good?” George asked.
“Nope.”
“Wanna talk about it?”
“Nope.”
He chuckled. “Roger that.”
The phrase made Dana’s blood boil. Logically, she knew it was common military jargon, but it would always bring Jake Shepard to the forefront of her mind.
She rolled the tension from her shoulders and exhaled. She’d chosen to accompany George today because she felt safer with him .
Not that Jake made her feel unsafe. He’d take a bullet before letting anything happen to her. Hell, he had taken a bullet for her.
But I took one for him, too.
Dana shook the senseless thoughts away. This wasn’t about keeping score. Of course, she knew she was safe with Jake. Safe wasn’t the right word. Off kilter maybe?
She certainly behaved unhinged in his presence.
What she needed to be was independent, autonomous, detached, in control. Yes, control. She was much more in control when she wasn’t alone with the ruggedly handsome, grumpy FBI agent.
When they were alone together, things got … complicated. And … steamy.
Well, not always.
Yesterday they’d been alone, and nothing happened.
Besides Jake helping her out of her clothing and into the shower.
Sure, she’d been a catatonic trainwreck that only the most desperate individual would’ve made a move on, but still, she’d been naked in front of him—twice, if getting in and out of the shower counted separately.
But nothing had happened.
It wasn’t like Jake hadn’t seen her naked before. She didn’t know why she was even thinking about this. But when she’d woken alone this morning, she’d looked beneath the covers, alarmed to find she was still clothed.
What did that say about her that she was slightly disappointed they’d platonically spent the night together? Had she really wanted to wake to the luxurious ache of Jake’s absence between her thighs? They’d only slept together once, but somehow, she knew she’d feel the echo of that night forever.
Great! I’ve been ruined for life by Jake Shepard and his member of mass destruction!
Dana’s cheeks heated with annoyance as she realized how pleased Jake would be if he was privy to her current thoughts.
She needed to focus on something else. Anything else.
“How much further?” she asked George, choosing to ignore how much she resembled a cranky child on a road trip .
“This road dead ends in about three miles. We’ll park there and take the ferry over to Abigale Goode’s place.”
“Ferry?” Dana looked around at the extremely rural setting. “Out here?”
“We use the term loosely in these parts. It’s really an old airboat. Motor doesn’t run, but she still floats. There’s a network of ropes we’ll use to guide it out to the Goode property.”
“Tell me more about the Goodes,” Dana asked.
“Not much to tell,” George drawled. “Family kept to themselves. Lived out here in the Barataria. Got by on the land. Fished, farmed and the like. They weren’t on anyone’s radar until the Harvest Girl case.”
“And the Goodes were the only suspects for the missing girls?”
George gave her a look of incredulity. “Four white teenage girls went missing from one of the most affluent neighborhoods in the country. The city was turned upside-down and inside out. Everyone was a suspect. It wasn’t until the Bridges girl surfaced and led the police out here that the Goodes became persons of interest.”
“And you said they were sisters?” Dana asked.
George nodded. “Twins. Marta and Tisha Goode. Survived by Tisha’s daughter, Alice, then her daughter, Abigale.”
“Abigale, that’s who we’re going to meet?”
“Yes.”
“And she knows we’re coming?”
“Not exactly.” George gestured to the swampy surroundings. “Folks out here don’t exactly operate on the grid.”
“Ya don’t say,” Dana mused, taking in the expanse of bare, bone-white trees that stretched skyward like skeletons wreathed in drooping crowns of Spanish moss.
She knew the haunting plant was nothing more than an invasive species from the Bromeliaceae family, but that still didn’t stop her mind from observing the moss’s uncanny resemblance to decaying flesh hanging from the bone-like trees.
“Is it always so barren out here?” Dana asked .
“It’s come a long way since Katrina.” George shook his head at some distant memory. “Used to look much worse if you can imagine. But it’s grown back with a vengeance. I hardly recognize it now.”
“Nature is resilient,” Dana replied.
“Cruel and resilient,” George amended.
Dana couldn’t argue there.
“We didn’t get to finish our conversation about Dr. Landry,” George said, pulling Dana’s attention from the ruthless landscape.
“Oh, I didn’t realize there was more to discuss. I don’t trust him. You do.”
“Right, but I’ve given you examples demonstrating his trustworthiness. I was hoping you might do the same regarding your opinion.”
“I don’t have examples. I have a feeling.”
“A feeling?”
Dana noted George’s stare; eyebrows raised, lips pursed with amusement. Does the Army teach everyone the same patronizing look? “Yes, an uneasy feeling,” she replied.
“Oh, well I’ll see your uneasy feeling, and raise you a pillar of the community.”
“Even pillars of the community aren’t above suspicion,” Dana argued.
“Come on, Gray. I took you to the man’s free clinic. Not to mention that he still works at the hospital, volunteers at the coroner’s office and cares for his blind, ailing daughter. He’s dedicated his entire life to helping people.”
“It’s not that I don’t hear you, but I know what it’s like to think you know someone.”
“You mean Claire?”
Dana’s gaze darted from the road to George momentarily.
“Yes,” she said after composing herself.
“Sorry, didn’t mean to pry. Guess it’s just been on my mind since Shepard brought it up.”
“Jake told you about Claire? ”
“Just that she was someone you both trusted and ended up blindsided.”
She swallowed the tightness in her throat. “He’s right,” she said. “I thought she was a friend, someone I knew. But I was wrong. I see that now and how dangerous that kind of clouded judgement can be. I don’t want to see that happen here.”
“I get it. And I appreciate it, truly. But Landry’s not pulling the wool over my eyes.
I’ve known the man since I was a boy. Watched him try to stop the hurt in this whole damn town after Katrina, even though the hurt in him was big enough to swallow him whole.
He lost his wife, his practice, and almost his daughter.
But he’s still here, still fighting the good fight, alongside me and every first responder in this town.
He’s one of the good ones, Dana. I’d stake my career on it. ”
“Then I hope you’re right.”
The road ended abruptly, and Dana slammed on the brakes. “Is this it?” she asked apprehensively.
The ‘ferry,’ a barely seaworthy bucket of rust, was tethered to an even more rotted-looking floating dock, which appeared to be nothing more than a few splintered pieces of petrified barnwood strapped haphazardly to some old oil drums.
“Yep,” George confirmed.
Dismayed, Dana reached for the door, but George stopped her, a gentle hand on her shoulder.
“I don’t know what happened on your last case, I don’t need to.
What I do know is carrying the weight of it will only make it harder to heal.
Don’t do that to yourself. Life’s hard enough without punishing yourself for the past.”
“Easier said than done,” she quipped, fighting the stinging sensation behind her eyes.
George took her hand when he saw the emotion welling there. “True, but this isn’t a fight you need to face alone.” He tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, and her breath hitched. “Sometimes it’s easier to let go when you find something new to hold onto.”
George leaned closer, but Dana pulled away, letting go of his hand. “George, I?— ”
“I know, it’s complicated.” He grinned. “But if it ever gets uncomplicated, you know where to find me.”
She huffed a laugh. “I do.”
“Now come on. We got a ferry to catch.”