Page 89 of My Heart to Find

“It’s okay,” he says with a smile. “I know I come on heavy.” He offers me his hand, and I surprise myself by taking it so easily. “We’ll go slow with this.”

I nod, and my head’s spinning, and I drink in his eyes—the only stable points in my mind. My breaths come in short, sharp bursts.

He leans closer, and I’m staring at him. At his lips, now. How close he is. And he smells of sandalwood. Suddenly, the whole room seems to smell of it, of him.

I lean in close to him, shaking.

Our lips brush, tenderly at first, but then with slightly more pressure.

And we’re kissing. I’m kissing Damien Noelle! My heart pounds, and adrenaline thuds through me, and I’m getting too self-aware, too self-conscious as we kiss. And I’m crying still.

But it feels right.

Damien pulls back and smiles. That’s all he needs to do because the smile says it all. It tells me everything I need to know, because it makes his eyes lighter. Makes his eyes into a portal into his soul, and looking at his smile and his eyes, I see his soul.

And I know that he’s right—everything will be okay.

CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

Cara

Three Years Later

“WELCOME TO THIS VERYspecial episode ofThe Accidental Detectives. Today, on the third anniversary of our very first episode, we’ll be looking back at the case that started us off. The Marnie Wathem Case.” Damien’s voice is rich and authoritative as he speaks into the microphone, and just hearing him speak almost makes me fall in love all over again. “And, in a first for our podcast, we will be broadcasting this whole episode live, so this is a great opportunity to ask your own questions. Just tweet those questions to us, and we’ll be answering a few across this episode. And of course, where would we be if we didn’t have some amazing guests lined up?”

He nods at me.

I lean forward in my chair, still unbelieving that we have a proper recording studio now. And it’s posh—so posh. Half the switches in here I don’t even know what they’re for. Plus, there’s proper soundproofing and everything. And big fancy headsets for us all to wear. And the fact that I’m wearing the headset—having it touching my hair—still amazes me. Amazes me that it doesn’t bother me. That the brain inflammation is getting better, even if it’s a slow process.

“Yes. We have some amazing guests.” I smile widely—even though I know that viewers won’t be able to see me. But it’s a habit I’ve picked up, since Damien and I have been doing this sort of professionally. It’s amazing how our little podcast actually took off. I suppose finding two missing women helps a lot with making your true crime podcasts popular. I nod toward the guests sitting in a row beside me. “So, you’ll be hearing live from Marnie Wathem and Sophia Byeon, the two abduction victims of Ronald Richards. We’ve also got Trevor Wathem and Jana Hargreaves with us, and along with Damien and me, we’ll be chatting about the moment the four of us rescued Marnie and Sophia. Plus, we’re also joined today by Maria Smithdale, the criminal psychologist who carried out the initial assessment on Ronald Richards when he was first detained.”

“What a great episode this promises to be, with just that line-up alone!” Damien says. “But we’ve also got recordings of the police interviews with Richards too, including the initial one where he denied any involvement in the abduction of Wathem and Byeon. We will be playing these recordings on air, and then we will have the first-ever interview that Marnie Wathem. How amazing is that?”

“Yes, it is amazing, Damien,” I say, and I think it sounds silly using his name like this, so often, but it was in the podcast coaching lessons that Mum got for me. “And we’re just so grateful to both Marnie and Phia for giving us this opportunity. So, let’s start at the beginning, shall we? Let’s get started on this special episode about the Wathem/Byeon abductions.”

Damien presses play on our ‘jingle’ clip. As it plays, I look down the line at my friends. Jana gives me a big thumbs-up. Trevor’s looking nervous, as is Marnie. Phia lifts her head up and then pushes her hair—now purple—behind her ears with precise, confident movements. Maria, the criminal psychologist, folds her hands carefully in her lap.

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