Page 102 of Threat of Danger
She was half turned away from him, but watching him from the corner of her eye. Considering how little she had on, she might as well be naked.
“Your turn,” he said, his throat suddenly dry.
“I’m fine.”
“Need help?” His body quickly warmed to the idea.
“Listen, perv ...” But then, after much rolling of the eyes, she stripped out of her bra first, then her panties, and hung them the same way he had. “Happy?”
“I could be happier.”
“Don’t even think about it.”
“Too late.”
Her lips twitched. She sucked them in and tried to make a sour face he wasn’t buying. Not when her eyes danced.
“How bad does your elbow hurt?” Now that the flames were higher, he could see the wound better.
“Can’t tell right now. It’s numb with cold.”
“Last tetanus shot?” he asked. “The river’s probably too cold for any nasty bacteria, but it never hurts to be careful.”
“I get my shots regularly. There are always bumps and scrapes at work.”
“I hate the idea of you getting bumped and scraped.”
“I do stunts for a living.”
And damn well too. So he was going to accept that this was a part of her life. “That jump was really something.”
Instead of smiling at his praise, her expression turned somber. “Is he dead?”
“All the way and then some. From that height and onto rocks? The only way he could be deader is if a sasquatch ate him.”
“Don’t even joke about that. This time, I want to see a body. I want to be there when they put him in the ground. No more disappearing corpses that pop up later.”
“He’s dead.”
“I can’t believe it was Principal Crane. It just makes everything even creepier.” She squeezed her eyes shut and rubbed her forehead. But after a couple of seconds, her eyes popped open. “Oh my God. I think I knew. Subconsciously. I’d recognized the bastard.” She stared at Derek, grappling with whatever thoughts were circling in her head.
“What are you talking about?”
“Every time I saw him, I had this visceral reaction to him. Like something inside me was screamingNo!I thought the reaction had to do with him hooking up with my mother. Each time, I couldn’t get away from him fast enough.”
“I wish I recognized the bastard sooner. I would have snapped his freaking neck.”
Jess shuddered. Then, long seconds later, she asked, “How do you think he picked his victims?”
Derek thought for a couple of seconds. “At games? Like when a girls’ soccer team comes to Taylorville High to play? He had access to kids from other schools.”
“He was obsessed with prime numbers and some other weird number stuff.” She stilled, paled. “He took us on the third of March, remember? Three of three. And three times three is nine. Nine is a special number to him.”
“Anennead.”
She raised an eyebrow in a silent question.
He shrugged. “Used it in a book once.”
