Page 65 of The Killer She Knew

The warning was enough to put her back in bed. She loved her father and brother, but they wouldn’t go easy on her if she fought doctor’s orders. And she couldn’t stand to see their faces after being locked in the same room with them since the moment they touched down in Durham. “Fine. Thank you for the food.”

“You’re welcome.” Ava took her usual seat in the chair beside the bed, one of the white boxes and a fork in hand. It didn’t look remotely comfortable, but her adopted daughter didn’t mind the long hours, the talks with the physicians and nurses, and the copious amounts of MSG. “Have you given any more thought into what happens next?”

“You mean putting all this food in my mouth?” Leigh grabbed for one of the boxes. Sesame chicken, maybe? Her stomach was done with the hospital’s offerings. “Yes, I’ve been thinking about it all morning. I don’t think I can look at another Jell-O cup.”

“That’s too bad. I swiped some off a cart earlier. Thought we could watch reruns ofJerry Springerand have dessert in bed.” Ava’s teasing smile was new, and if Leigh was being honest with herself, the most beautiful sight after everything they’d been through. “I meant, after you get out of here.”

“I guess head back to Quantico.” That’d always been the plan. That was where their apartment was, where they’d started building their life. They hadn’t even given it a real shot before she’d been brought back to New Hampshire. But the words hit wrong. Leigh set the white box in her lap, her body immediately holding on to all the heat, and studied Ava. She’d made a promise back on that campus. To put Ava first. To stop using her work as a coping mechanism and distraction from hard things. To give their relationship a fighting chance. The past three days quarantined to this room had been nice, but this wasn’t reality. “Unless you have a better idea.”

Ava’s caramel-brown eyes locked on to her. “What do you mean?”

She shrugged, as if the prospect of giving up the one constant—an obsession she’d clung to her entire life—wasn’t a big deal. Because, right now, it wasn’t. Ava wasn’t happy in Quantico. While Leigh didn’t think she would keep running away now that they’d uncovered the root of Ava’s turmoil in killing her abductor in cold blood, Ava deserved to be happy. And it was Leigh’s job to make that happen. “I have savings. I could take a few months off from work. We could go anywhere. Just the two of us.”

The fifteen-year-old sat straighter, her own white container forgotten. “You’re serious.”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” she asked.

Ava shook her head, eyes wide in disbelief. “Because you love your job. You love working cases, and if the past three days in this room have taught me anything, it’s that you go insane if you don’t have something to do.”

“I love you more.” It was the truth. Ava was hers. State mandated or not, and there wasn’t anything—anything—Leigh wouldn’t give to keep her. “Besides, I consulted with departments all over the country before I started working for the FBI. I could do that remotely, if needed, and you could keep up with school and therapy from a laptop anywhere in the country.”

“What about Uncle Chandler and Grandpa?” Tears glistened in Ava’s eyes. “You just got them both back. You can’t leave them. They’ll kill each other if you’re gone for too long.”

That was true. But maybe it was time for her to let her family stand on its own legs while she stepped into this next stage of her life. Do something for herself.

“Ava.” Leigh set the white box back into the collection on the side table. “I made you a promise, and I’m keeping it. This is me putting you first. This is me choosing you over my job. So where would you want to go?”

“Clarksburg.” Her adopted daughter stared at her, as though waiting for Leigh to immediately shoot down the idea of going back to where Ava had once had a life. “I want to go home. And I know it won’t be the same. Mom’s not getting out anytime soon, and Dad is…” Dead. Her father was dead. “But it’s the place I love the most.”

“I think that’s a great idea.” Leigh couldn’t fault her for that. They sat in silence for a few minutes—content in this new agreement between them—before a knock sounded at the door.

Ava jumped up to answer it, pulling the door open. To reveal Dean Groves on the other side. “If you’re here to take my mom’s blood again, she might kill you. And, believe me, she knows how to get away with it. She’s an FBI agent.”

Mom? Leigh’s chest threatened to explode. She’d never been called that before, never thought Ava would be the one to speak those words. The pain in her joints drained at the rush of warmth in her veins. “It’s okay, Ava. He’s a…” Friend? Ex? Life saver? She had no idea what to call Dean. “Person I know.”

“That sounded really convincing.” Ava narrowed that brilliant gaze on her, then onto Dean as if in warning. “I guess I’ll go see if I can find more Jell-O. Don’t let her get out of bed. No matter how much she manipulates you into agreeing with her.”

“I’m more than aware of what your mother is capable of.” A nervous laugh filled the hospital room as Dean stepped inside. Ava closed the door behind him, sealing them inside together.

“Not sure I want you here.” Leigh tried to focus on the food she’d set aside, but her nerves got the best of her. She wasn’t hungry anymore. Though she might have to hide some of it in case Ava came to make sure she’d eaten. Maybe one day she’d be a nurse like her biological mom. Only without the killer tendencies. “The last time we were alone in a room together, you punched me in the shoulder. Set my recovery back by a few weeks.”

“To be fair, we weren’t alone. Your partner—or whatever he was pretending to be—was on the floor unconscious.” Dean dared another step closer. His voice wavered, but damn it if that break in his confidence wasn’t human. She didn’t want to humanize him. She wanted him to go back to wherever he came from and stay there. “And I’m sorry about the shoulder. It was the fastest way to get you to back down.”

“You knew about my previous injury.” Not a question. He had to have studied her past case reports. “Seems unfair considering I know nothing about you.”

Dean didn’t have any argument to that. He took a seat in Ava’s chair, close enough for her to get a hint of whatever soap he’d used to shower. She was close to pouting again. She wanted a shower. “What do you want to know?”

“Why did you leave?” She hadn’t meant to ask. It had nothing to do with the investigation or identifying the killer he’d been chasing these past eighteen years, but it was the only question that mattered to her.

“To protect you.” No hesitation. No guilt or apology. Dean Groves was still the blunt and confident man she’d fallen in love with so long ago, and she hated it. “I knew if I told you I was bring framed, you’d sacrifice your studies and opportunities to work with Morrow to help me. And if I told you I was going to find Teshia’s killer, you would’ve wanted to go with me. That’s just the kind of person you are. You fight for people. People like your dad and your brother. People like your daughter. It’s who you are, and it’s one of the reasons I fell in love with you.”

She didn’t want to believe that. That he’d felt the same for her as she had him. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know more than you think, Leigh.” Why did she want him to call her “little rabbit” again? Dean leaned forward, his elbows on his knees. The gunshot wound he’d sustained had obviously been stitched and dressed, but he showed no signs of pain. Jerk.“I never wanted to drag you into helping me clear my name, but I can’t say I’m not happy to see you now.”

That should’ve raised her defenses, but she wasn’t sure she had them anymore. At least, not against him. He’d saved her life down in that basement—twice—and gotten shot in the shoulder if the sling supporting his right arm was any indication. “If that’s true, why come back now?”

“Ford’s trail was heading east. Up into New Hampshire. He tried to hide it, but I knew he’d somehow caught on to my movements chasing him. I also knew there was only one thing in New Hampshire he could use to make me stop coming for him.” Dean’s gaze softened. Or was that the pain pills they had her on? “I wanted to make him answer for Teshia’s murder and clear my name, but once I realized he was coming for you… I couldn’t let him hurt you for the mistakes I’d made.”

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