Page 17 of Jina

Jina looked at him expectantly. He rubbed his face, wondering if he had apple turnover crumbs on his lips. “What?”

“I figured you were going to pray.” She folded her hands in her lap. “Many of my teammates are believers, so I usually hold back scarfing my food until they’ve said grace.”

“Ah, well, sure.” He didn’t usually pray before meals, but since she’d mentioned it, he figured this was a good time to thank God for keeping them safe. “Lord Jesus, we are grateful for this wonderful food we are about to eat. We thank You for keeping Mr. Glen and both of us safe in Your care. Amen.”

Jina gave a curt nod but didn’t echo the prayer. Instead, she dug into her meal with gusto. After witnessing the vigor in which she worked out at the MMA gym, he wasn’t surprised she could put a meal away like an offensive lineman.

They ate in silence, enjoying the meal. He understood why Jina had suggested the place. He’d never had a full Irish breakfast and knew he’d have to return at some point to try the rest of Rosie’s menu. Especially her baked goods.

When Rosie brought the bill, he quickly grabbed it. Jina scowled, but he shook his head. “My treat. You’re only here because I need to talk to your sister.”

“Yeah, well, that move may have saved my life,” she said somberly.

He gave Rosie his credit card. She returned a few minutes later, beaming at them. “Ach, don’t be a stranger now, Cole. You either, lass. I hope you’ll come back very soon.”

“I promise,” he said with a smile. “Best meal ever.”

“Ach, flattery will get you two coffees to go if you’d like,” Rosie said with a laugh.

She hurried off to fill a couple of to-go cups. He eyed Jina as they waited. “I don’t want you to be upset or think I’m trying anything funny, but we should head to my place to call Shelly.” As her gaze narrowed, he sighed. “If you’d prefer to head to the Peabody Police Department, that’s fine too. It’s not as private as I’d like. Not that I believe your sister will reveal any big dark secrets,” he hastily added.

She waited until Rosie brought their cups, then rose to her feet. “Okay, we’ll head to your place. For now.”

“Great.” He was glad she trusted him at least this much. It burned to know two different men had betrayed her—one stalker and the other attempting to sexually assault her.

Hard to blame her for being cautious.

Once they were settled in the SUV, he drove toward Peabody. She rummaged in the overnight bag, pulling out a laptop.

“Do you mind if I use your phone as a hot spot?” she asked, booting it up.

“Ah, sure.” He made the hot spot available to her. “Can I give you my email address?”

“Yes.” She typed as he spoke. “Email sent.”

Before he could respond, his phone rang. She quickly ended the hot spot connection so he could answer it. Seeing the ME’s number on the screen, he considered sending the call to voice mail. Then he decided to accept the call. “This is Detective Roberts.”

“Dr. Swain from the ME’s office. You asked for an update, so I thought I’d call.”

“Were you able to match our vic’s dental records?”

“Not yet, I’m waiting for them to come in. But I did find some clothing remnants that might be of interest.”

“Clothing remnants?” He glanced at Jina. “I figured there was nothing left after all this time. Most clothing decomposes within five years.”

“That’s true, but in this particular case, the perp was wearing a synthetic fleece, which can take a very long time to decompose. Especially since it appears a wool blanket was wrapped around the body. There were some woolen threads that were found with the bits of fleece.”

His stomach knotted as the realization hit. “Fleece, as in a sweatshirt?”

“Yes, that’s correct. A black hoodie sweatshirt to be exact. We have the eyelets from the string that went around the hood and several patches of black fleece that had not decomposed yet.”

A black hoodie sweatshirt. Just like the one Jina’s stalker had worn.

A cold chill washed over him. Was he wrong about her?

Jina was a tough cop, able to hold her own even in the face of a personal attack. It wasn’t a stretch to imagine her slamming a bat or some other blunt object into the stalker’s head to kill him, then hiding his body on the outskirts of the farm where she believed no one would ever find him.

Until now.

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