Page 40 of Deadly Secrets
Short, shallow breaths flared her ribcage. She shook from head to toe. “He sniffed my camisole,” she said in a horrified voice.
And I’ll kill him for it. “Don’t let him get to you, Brooke. Don’t let him get under your skin any more than he already is.”
“You’re right.” She took a deep breath and nodded, pushing slightly away and looking up at him. “Sorry I keep acting so silly. Usually I don’t lose my nerve like this. My knees keep giving out on me like I’m some soap opera heroine.”
“You’ve been through a lot. I have the feeling all of this is bringing your ten-year-old self to the surface and she’s fighting to find some safety and security again.”
“I’m sure you’re right, and I have enough nightmares as it is without letting this a-hole get inside my head. I have to detach from this or I’ll never feel safe again.”
Detachment was a vice he used often, but sometimes it backfired. In this case—at least for the moment—it was probably best if she did just that.
Roman hated to make her keep watching, but he needed her to see the entire video clip. “Do you think you can handle the rest? It’s almost over.”
Spinning in the circle of his arms, her hands grabbed onto his, securing his hold tighter around her waist. Her head bobbed in consent and she straightened her spine. “I’m fine. Play it.”
Atta girl. Her hair tickled his cheek. “Detective Benedict caught a few seconds of the guy in another section of the parking lot as he was leaving. It’s coming up.”
He pressed play and on cue, the video switched to a different section of the lot and a different angle. The man didn’t get in a car to leave, but walked around the corner of a building with Brooke’s things and disappeared into the dark night beyond.
“Wait,” she said, leaning forward again. “Go back a few seconds.”
Roman released his hold on her and rewound the video. “Here?”
“Right before he hits the sidewalk.”
He did as instructed, and she said, “Freeze. Right there.”
The man stood immobile with one leg raised to step onto the sidewalk.
Brooke pointed at a flash of light on the man’s chest. “What is that?”
It looked like one of those orb things that ghost hunters were always capturing and claiming were spirits. Not that he ever watched those shows.
“I don’t know.” He played with the zoom feature, going in and out a couple times, trying to figure it out. “The outside lights on the building are reflecting on it. Must be metal of some kind.”
Her body tensed. She rubbed her head. “A necklace? A pin of some sort?”
“Shane can do amazing things to clear up blurry photos and videos. I’ll ask him to run this through his software and see if he can get a better image for us.” He closed the laptop and turned her to face him once more. “You okay?”
“Of course,” she said, and then, she sighed deeply and shook her head. “Who am I kidding? That guy—he has to be the man who killed Aleisha.Hasto be. Which freaks the hell out of me. And he knew that was my rental car. He targeted me! And…and, oh God, he sniffed my cami.”
She visibly shuddered. Her skin had a gray cast.
Roman made her sit on the barstool. “You’re sure it’s him, the guy you saw that night?”
Her teeth bit her bottom lip. “I can’t ID him from a physical standpoint, no. I didn’t get a good look at him that night, nor can we get a physical description from that video, but… Who else knows about that particular sigil and my relationship to it?” Those haunted eyes of hers came up to meet his. “He was wearing a mask, just like my childhood attacker. The sigil… It has to be him, Roman.”
She was tough, but realizing that the killer from her youth was stalking her now was a blow. The vulnerability in her eyes, the fear making her tremble under his hands drove him crazy.
He couldn’t help himself. He wrapped his arms around her and drew her head to his chest. “I won’t let him hurt you, Brooke. Ever. I will find him and stop him. I promise.”
Her arms went around his waist, her hands touching his back tentatively. “Thank you. You can’t know how much this means to me. Just to have someone I can talk to about…”
Her voice was soft and…Ah, shit. Was she crying?
He stroked her hair. “You’re staying with me. We’ll pick up some clothes and toiletries in town after we hit the gun range. Otherwise, I can ask Polly to get some stuff for you if you don’t want to shop.”
She raised her head and he saw the tears on her cheeks. “What if thisisThe Reverend? If I’d gotten a better look at him all those years ago, maybe I could have stopped him before now. He wouldn’t have killed all those innocent people.”
