Page 347 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

She laid the blanket on a chair and stared at the kitchen. What on earth was she going to do? Probably it was the season that left her feeling like this. The way she’d felt when her mom left her on the porch.

Russ hadn’t even been home. Back then he’d locked his doors. Until she sat there for three hours after her mom left her. Forty-five degrees.Eight years old, Viv. How could you do that to her?She’d walked out of the room before he finished his phone conversation.

Nothing good ever happened in February.

Still, at least it wasn’t fall. Homecoming…

She shuddered. She should start by not thinking about that. Then get to work.

Being back wasn’t about closure. Neither was it about that case file with her name listed as the victim.

Just the hundreds since then with her listed as one of the investigating agents. The lead profiler, part of a team that saved lives.

Clean slate.

Hardly. Someone was trying to get her kicked out of the FBI, and she was going to find out exactly what Benson had on its hands.

Take down a killer.

Figure out who sent her here.

There was no reason she couldn’t do both, even if the odds of her success were nil. Like the odds of her convincing her mom to stick around.

Just stay here. Russ will take care of you.

It didn’t matter what mom had said to her.

Addie was going to take care of herself.

CHAPTER SIX

Jacob always parked in the same spot at the grocery store. It took a whole blink before he realized someone had parked a white compact in the spot.Hisspot. He hit the brakes and swerved, missing the Hyundai by an inch. He yanked hard on the wheel and rattled into the neighboring space.

He stared hard at the car beside his, trying to decide if it was okay to be mad or if he should learn how to deviate from his routine sometimes.

He could do something different if he wanted to.

If he wanted.

Jacob pocketed his wallet and headed into the store. The carts were all wet after spending hours in the rain before they were collected by some high school kid earning a few extra bucks for gas money so he could take his girl to the lookout point and try his luck.

Not that Jacob had ever done that.

Except that thought brought up memories with Addie. Thebeforeof their relationship.

He pushed the cart down the first aisle and allowed himself the indulgence of remembering a few evenings with Adelyn Franklin where they’d gone a little further than they shouldhave. Sure, he’d been raised Christian—they both had. He just thought he knew better, which pretty much all teens did. They’d thought they could do whatever with no consequences.

Except in their case it led to the two of them being abducted by a crazed killer.

Not great for keeping his head on straight about what God did to punish those who didn’t follow his law. Instead of being hyper-religious, Jacob’s counselor had steered him toward not absorbing warped ideas about following the rules or feeling responsible for what happened.

God had grace. He gave it to Jacob.

It was up to Jacob to show it to himself when needed.

He might not have done anything to deserve what happened, but processing all that had taken some time. He’d rather forget about what happened and focus on now. Think about the good. Didn’t mean that was the right thing to do exactly, but it kept him sane all these years.

He liked his ordered life. His routine.

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