Page 52 of The Whispering Girls

“What are you doing here?” Katie said, feeling incredible relief.

“Why do you think?” he said.

“I didn’t know you were coming. Are you Gav’s surprise?”

“The sheriff suggested I come down to help and act as backup.”

“Who’s watching over the forensic unit?”

“Eva is covering and she’s doing fine. In fact, it will be good for her to run things for a while. She’s such an asset. If there’s something that needs me, I can drive back in a little over two hours.” He smiled with a lingering gaze.

There were no doubts that Katie and John had an attraction to each other, but while she was engaged to Chad it had never been acted upon, and Katie hoped no one else had noticed this weakness of hers—not wanting to be vulnerable. She studied him as sweat trickled down his forehead. He had a way of smiling at her that made her feel as if he knew what she was thinking. They were good friends. In fact, they were close friends.

He pushed up his sleeves, revealing his tattoos from the Navy, where he had been a Seal. “So,” he said. “Where were you heading in such a hurry? I could barely keep up with you.”

“I like to clear my head first thing, but…”

“Somehow I have a feeling you’re taking this route for a reason.”

Katie smiled. She couldn’t keep his gaze. “You know me so well. How much do you know about the current crime scenes?”

“I drove in around 5a.m. and Gav was sleeping on the couch with paperwork spread across his chest. I woke him.”

“That’s Gav.” Katie felt bad that she wasn’t awake to help him sift through things.

“He briefly updated me and then I studied the board.”

“I’m glad you’re here because there are forensic questions we need answers to,” she said and began walking toward her original destination.

“So where are we going?”

“I was staying at a cabin when a young girl, TJ, knocked on my door and took me to the first crime scene.”

“Okay,” he said.

“And I wanted to look at it again—I have some questions I want to try to answer.”

“These homicides are full of questions, according to Gav.”

Katie rubbed her face. She felt faint.

“Hey,” said John. He stopped her and put his hand lightly on her arm.

Katie looked at him but didn’t explain. She put it down to feeling overwhelmed by not getting answers she needed to solve the investigation.

“I know how hard the last case was for you—and that’s why you were here to get away and rest. And now you’ve been thrown into these cases…”

“Yeah, that’s part of it. I just…”

“Just what?” He still had his hand on her arm.

“Things are different this time. I don’t think we’re going to solve this one.”

John smiled at her and took his hand away. “For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve never stepped back and hesitated about anything.”

“Well, but these cases…”

“You need some coffee, food, and to regroup.”