Page 47 of Whispers in the Dark
Ethan stood, hands on the table. "You don't wait for confirmation on shit like that. You bring it to the table. You know what we were working on. We updated you on the person found on Charlotte’s porch.
“This isn’t some petty case,” Alex added. “A woman shows up with the same signs and symptoms of a Gideon Ward victim, and you think you can play it close?”
“I was trying to avoid a false alarm,” Brad said defensively.
Alex shook his head. "We’re past alarms, Brad. This thing’s already on fire."
The room went quiet. Not calm—just quiet. Like before the next explosion. The air was stale, thick with coffee breath, stress, and unspoken things. Alex’s back ached from hours of tension from the last few days. Every muscle in his body wanted to shut down, but his mind kept replaying details like a broken reel.
Brad stood by the door, arms crossed, looking like he’d just waltzed out of a bar fight with a smile and no bruises.
Alex stared at him, eyes heavy. “Killian, I’m too exhausted to deck you.”
Brad shrugged, unfazed.
“You used your get-out-of-jail-free card tonight. That was it.” Ethan’s voice cut through from across the room. Steady. Final. “Alex, call Noah. Tomorrow, you two are watching the autopsyon Henry Byron. Call your boss. I don’t need the U.S. Attorney being surprised.”
Alex didn’t argue, just nodded and reached for his phone. His fingers felt clumsy, slow. Like they were moving underwater.
Ethan waited for Alex to finish his conversation with Evan Shipley, the U.S. Attorney. Brad lifted an eyebrow, but Ethan didn’t slow down. “I’ve already spoken with the Waverly County PD chief. We’re taking over the college’s tech center. Effective immediately.”
Alex blinked. That was bold. But the town would eat up the PR angle. He held up his hands in finger quotes. “Gideon Ward Returns—or Did They Get It Wrong?”
Ethan kept going, “We’ll make it look like some kind of joint law enforcement program. Public safety initiative or whatever buzzword sells it. No one will question all the jurisdictions being in one place.”
Alex watched the way Ethan spoke—cool, controlled, calculating. He could already picture the press release.
Finally, Ethan exhaled. “We’re calling it a night. We need some sleep.”
Alex didn’t move right away. His legs felt like concrete. His brain still cataloged a dozen loose ends. But Ethan was right. If they kept pushing like this, someone was going to make a mistake.
As Ethan and Brad filtered out, Alex stayed behind for a second. The silence hit like a punch. His reflection in the window looked older than he remembered. Maybe, if the world didn’t catch fire again, he’d crash for a few hours.
Just a few. Enough to dream, maybe. Or more likely, not dream at all. Just blackout. He hoped for blackout.
Alex slipped into the guest room, the door clicking shut behind him with a soft finality. Charlotte lay on her side, back to the door, covers pulled high. Bailey was curled up on the floor inhis bed, his chest rising and falling with the slow rhythm of deep sleep.
Charlotte wasn’t sleeping.
Alex could tell by her breathing—too quick, too shallow, like she was trying to force calm and failing. She wanted him to think she was asleep. He didn’t blame her. Some things were easier not said today.
He stripped down to his underwear in the dark, muscles heavy and stiff from the day, and slid into the bed beside her. The mattress dipped just enough to make her shoulder twitch, just barely.
He moved closer, wrapped his arm around her waist, and pulled her gently against him. His body curved around hers, fitting like a puzzle piece.
For a moment, she resisted—just in tension, in the set of her shoulders. But then he felt it: the slow release, her body giving in, inch by inch. Her back softened against his chest. Her breathing deepened.
“I promise,” he whispered, his lips near the curve of her neck, “we’re going to solve this.”
He meant it. For her. For Henry Byron. For the woman found catatonic on the highway. For the ones who wouldn’t get another shot.
Charlotte didn’t speak. She didn’t have to.
Her body stilled in the way it only did when sleep finally took hold. Alex held her there, letting himself sink into the warmth of her skin, feeling the steady beat of her heart.
Sleep didn’t take him so much as it ambushed him. And for a while—just a while—everything else disappeared.
The sun hadn’t risenyet when Charlotte’s phone buzzed against the nightstand. Her hand shot out, grabbing it before Alex could stir.
