Page 33 of The Eleventh Hour

I look away from her seeking gaze, hating the feelings that are roiling through me. Why do I want to protect her? Seeing them together is doing something weird to me. I pace away from them and look down at the mine.

All right, let’s focus on the puzzle. If he was poor, he’s going to have family here. A record, someone will know him. Photos, doctors, school, records, he can’t be invisible.

“Have you checked the school?” I ask curiously.

“All his photos are missing.”

I kick a rock off the cliff and watch it until I can’t see it anymore.

“Hospital?”

“His name doesn’t exist. I tried voting, hospitals, and the school, and then someone started following me, so I stopped.”

I whirl around. “Someone’s following you? Is it Louis? He vanished after that day. Maybe it’s him.”

“There are always people following me. I’m the crazy woman who spent nine months in a psych ward suspected of being involved in over twenty-one murders. But they shouldn’t have recognised me here. But someone did. I got a letter warning me off, one at work and one at home. So, I stopped.” She closes her eyes. “And no, I’m positive it’s not Louis.”

“Just two letters?” I ask. There’s something in her eyes, some hesitation.

“Uh, I actually have a full-blown stalker. I’m not sure if they are the same person or not, though,” she adds quickly.

She pulls her phone out of her pocket and hands it to me. I take it and look through the messages. Shock roots me to the spot as I read message after message.

“Why haven’t you gone to the police?”

She gives me a withering look that makes me wish I hadn’t spoke.

I shut my jaw with a snap. Of course, she can’t go to the police, they’d probably laugh her out of the station.

Rafael’s hand is still tangled with hers. She seems to find some kind of comfort in his touch. I file that for use later.

The wind lifts her hair and whips it around her face. I haven’t seen a colour like that before, it’s so dark a brown it’s almost black. Warmer than black. Richer. She glows with her own inner fire. Her body is full of sexy, compact curves. She looks feminine, like one of those paintings Rafael is always showing me from the Renaissance. She looks soft, the soft that always intrigued me. But more, I can’t explain it, she captivates me.

I let out a growl and turn away from both of them. Focus, Dane.

“We need to see if there’s a storage in the school or where they send it. But, first, let’s retrace your steps.”

She cocks her head to the side, watching me with pursed lips.

“Fuck it, let’s go back to our place, eat some food, and talk in quiet. We need to discuss your lovely little tag-along privately, and I’m getting heebie-jeebies.”

A slow smile spreads across her face. “Heebie-jeebies?”

My cheeks burn, and I shoot her a glare. “Get in the car, you two.”

Rafael nudges her and leans down to whisper something that makes her eyes sparkle and a deep, husky chuckle leave her throat.

I stomp to the car and climb in behind the steering wheel. They stand out there, whispering for a minute. Rafael pulls her to the car ,and they slide into the backseat.

“I’m not a taxi,” I snap.

They look at each other and laugh. What is happening here? I glance in the rearview mirror, and Rafael’s brown eyes look gold, and they smile almost mockingly back at me like he knows something I don’t.

Damn him.

I look away as I’m driving. Things haven’t been the same since Terrance disappeared, but for a second there, it felt a little bit closer. I drive in silence, refusing to be drawn into their quiet conversation.

I turn into the place we’ve rented and park the car in the car park.

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