Page 105 of Catch Me When I Fall

“Grayson?”

I looked down to my lap to her head, facing the TV. We’d been down here for the last few hours. After I spilled inside her, we stayed connected, her back against my chest for some time. Eventually, I pulled out and carried her to the bathroom. There, I ran her a bath and set her in the warm water, watching her, afraid to look away. I didn’t want to miss a moment. I washed her. I caressed her. I kissed her.

I loved her.

Then, eventually, we made our way downstairs and turned on her favorite movie. We didn’t speak, but we stayed close, and there was beauty in that, our comfortable, satisfied silence.

I continued stroking her back. “Yeah, baby?”

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, lifting her head to look at me. “I’m sorry for not telling you about the notes.”

My jaw tightened, my hand stilling. I couldn’t tell her it was okay, because it wasn’t, but I forgave her.

“It was stupid,” she added.

“I forgive you,” I told her, my thoughts drifting to the stack of notes upstairs. I needed to get to work on it. I needed to send them to Doss and see if he could recognize a pattern of behavior in the writer’s words.

“I—uhm—I also need to tell you about the woman,” she confessed, breaking my train of thought.

“The woman?” My shoulder’s straightened as my brows came together.

Carrie sat up, curled her legs, and remained facing me. She was wearing one of my shirts, a gray cotton T, her bare legs covered by her fuzzy strawberry blanket. She leaned against the back cushion, chewing on the inside of her lip.

Muttering a curse, I reached for the remote, clicked the TV off, and angled my body to face her, throwing my arm on the back of the couch. “Carrie, what are talking about?” I pressed, frustration growing in my chest.

She looked away from me. “A woman has been watching me,” she said.

A chill ran down my spine. “How long?”

Carrie looked at me. “I’d only been in town for about a week, and Margo caught this woman at Rossy’s glaring at me. She wouldn’t stop staring, even when Margo tried to intervene. When Rossy finally did, he told her she had to leave. She left, but not before calling me a bitch as she went out the door,” she explained.

Rossy.

“Does Rossy know her?” I asked, thinking it could’ve been someone from his past.

She shook her head. “Margo and Rossy had never seen her there before.”

“Was this before or after you got that first letter?” I asked, trying to keep my voice calm.

“She showed up the next week,” Carrie whispered.

“Fuck,” I muttered, pinching the bridge of my nose.

“I didn’t recognize her, and by the time I’d made it out here, I didn’t think anyone would have followed me,” she added, shame lacing her voice. “Then last week, I saw her. She didn’t pay any attention to me, and I brushed it off. I convinced myself she was just a local, but I needed you to know.” A soft, pitiful laugh filled my ears, and when I looked back up at her, she was shaking her head. “I’m so stupid, aren’t I?”

“No,” I assured her firmly. “You are anything but stupid. Your father was in prison, and Robert—”

“—was already dead,” she finished for me. She brushed her curls back and looked to the orange fuzz ball curled up on the other end of the couch. “My father was—is a bad man. I know that, but Robert…I know nothing about him.” Her eyes met mine, glimmering with worry. “Did you—have you…” She trailed off.

“During the initial background check, Red Snake found nothing,” I said, my voice cold now. “However, over the last few weeks, I’ve had a feeling we’ve missed something.” I reached up and scratched my beard, focusing on the kitchen now. I needed to get to work.

“What do you mean?”

“On paper, Robert Hale is solid. He made good investments, had a fairly normal childhood, and served his community,” I explained, my eyes meeting hers. “But you and I both know he wasn’t a good man. What’s on paper could be a lie and in my experience, Sunshine, bad men will do anything to change the narrative.”

“So we need to focus on him and not my father?”

“We aren’t going to do anything,” I corrected her. The last thing I needed was for her to put herself in danger. “You are going to continue going to work, taking care of Monty, and letting me do what I need to do.”

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