Page 38 of Cross & Crown

give off body language that said he was irritated, impatient,

or closed off. It was hard, though, when he was going on a

few hours’ sleep and had been interrupted during what was

supposed to have been an entire weekend alone with Kelly.

“What happened?”

“I had a dream,” JD said with a helpless shrug. “I woke up

in a panic, bolted for the bathroom, and sat in the tub until I could breathe.”

Nick nodded, his expression carefully neutral. “You

remember the dream?”

JD shook his head, wincing. He was wringing his hands,

rocking a little. “I feel stupid. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry they

called you down here.”

“Hey.” Nick leaned closer, lowering his voice. “People

aren’t built for this kind of stress, all right? You handle it

however you can, no shame in that.”

JD sniffed and laughed ruefully. “Have you ever woken

up in a bathtub, Detective?”

38

Nick opened his mouth and then closed it fast, looking

over JD’s head as the memory flashed through his mind. “Yes.

But I was hungover and . . . not alone. My point, though, is

that waking up and bolting for safety is nothing to be ashamed

of. I wake up swinging all the time. I tried to kill my boyfriend with a TV remote one time, so . . . I get where you’re coming

from. There’s no shame in fear.”

JD took in a shaky breath and rubbed a hand over his face.

“You still can’t remember anything?”

“I think I dreamed about the bookstore. I was there.” JD

shook his head. “But then we knew that already, huh? All I

remember is something about a book, I don’t know.”

Nick had his Moleskine pad out, jotting down notes. He

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