Page 85 of Firefly Effect

I nod, looking in the direction of the window. Now that I can finally place it, I can see an outline of a figure behind the screen. “Foster Pruitt is Doctor Lincoln Reed. The Pruitts were his adoptive family, but when he went to jail, they reversed the adoption. He’s been tracking his sister’s killer from campground to campground since he started to connect the dots. He thinks the Firefly Man lives here. In Bryson City.”

More silence fills the air, and chills explode all over my body.

“I think he might be right,” J.D. says.

I balk, confused how he could know such a thing. “What? Why would you say that?”

J.D. pauses again, and now I know he’s just trying to choose his words carefully. “Because… I fear the killer is one of my patients.”

Fear seizes me—the killer is so close and possibly someone I know. Even worse, it’s someone who has sat on the same couch as I have with J.D. and even possibly Lincoln. But my fear turns into dread, then into anger.

I ball up my fists, tired of the game being played by the two men I’ve trusted most in my life. “Tell me what’s going on. Please.”

“I can’t, Evelyn,” J.D. says. I can hear his desperation. “Just be careful. Please. You’re not safe. No one is. Not until the Firefly Man is caught.”

I squeeze my lids together, confused at what to do with this information. “If you think the killer is one of your patients, can you at least tell me who?”

Several beats pass before he speaks again. “He’s coming.” The rushed whisper makes all the hair on the back of my neck stand on end. “Go, Evie! Leave now.”

The image behind the screen disappears, and I’m left with panic beating at the walls of my chest.

All I can do is run.

“You sure you don’t need me to help?” Janessa asks when she swings by to get her paycheck later that evening.

I’m trying so hard to not show the jitters I still feel long after leaving J.D.’s house. I raise my hand to wave while my head stays down as I wash the remaining dishes. “I’ve got it. Have a good night, and thank you for everything this week.”

Janessa grins and walks out the door. I turn off the hot water and wipe my hands, intending to lock up behind her. Before I can make it halfway to the door, Lincoln slips inside and pushes his back against the door.

I halt in my tracks.

He raises his hands in instant defense. “Please, Evie. Can we just talk for a minute?”

Everything J.D. said earlier rushes back, my chest swarming with conflicting emotions. “I’m not ready, Linc.” Even his nickname feels foreign to me now. “I’m still so confused.”

He lets out a breath and nods. “I know. And I’m sorry I’m the reason for it all. I don’t deserve your forgiveness. I don’t deserve your understanding. What I feel for you is real, Evie, and while I don’t expect you to see that after everything I’ve told you, I do need your help to find Carley’s killer.”

His eyes plead with mine. “Please, Evie. Let me help you remember.”

After everything I’ve learned in the past twenty-four hours, I didn’t expect for him to ask for my help. At the same time, I’m relieved he asked. “I do want to remember.”

His eyes widen, illuminating the forest green I love so much. “So you’ll let me help you?”

I let out a breath and nod. “On one condition.”

He nods. “Anything.”

I search his eyes, building the courage to ask for what I really, truly want. “Tell me who you really are. Tell me everything. No more secrets.”

CHAPTER

THIRTY-TWO

LINCOLN

“Evie, I…” I stop talking when she starts to shake her head.

“Tell me the truth, Lincoln. The whole truth. Or you can turn around and leave.”

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