Page 13 of Lana

He placed his hand gently on hers, the words stopping in her throat as he gave her a beautiful smile that made everything seem right. “Don’t apologize, please. I’ve been working on my phone, it’s no inconvenience at all. Everything is okay.”

Everything is okay.

Her heart skipped a beat as he repeated the exact words her therapist created as a mantra for her when it seemed like the world was closing in on her.

She looked at him again, really looked at him. And he looked back at her.

There was no tension, no awkwardness. It felt like she’d known him for years, but it had been less than twenty-four hours.

“Thank you,” she said with a voice that sounded fragile even to her own ears.

The corner of his lips turned up ever so slightly and he gave her hand a small squeeze before he withdrew it.

What now?“Can I see the details of Lana’s case? Can I look at the notes?” she asked.

Mitch’s eyebrows lifted. “Sure. We can go through them together, if you’d like. I can explain where it’s at and what angles we’re looking at. I can’t give you information related to any particular suspects though.”

She nodded, understanding. “Can you take me to where she was found?”

For the first time, she thought she saw him hesitate. “I can, but there’s nothing there, Zoe. Just the woods... I don’t think much would be gained from visiting the site where we found her.”

She paused, searching his eyes. He held her gaze, but she felt like his eyes were a veil.

“I’d like to see it anyway,” she insisted.

He chewed his cheek for a second before nodding. “Okay, I’ll take you. You let me know when you’re ready to go and we’ll go.”

“Now?” she asked and his eyebrows lifted again. “I mean, if you don’t have to get back to the station.” She was aware she’d already taken up the better part of his day, but she felt like she needed to see where Lana had been found, although she didn’t know why.

“Sure,” he said with a gentle nod, but the hesitation in his voice was unmistakable.

CHAPTER7

MITCH

The constant chatter through the radio lessened the uneasy feeling creeping up the back of his neck. He didn’t want to go back to the site in the woods, and he couldn’t imagine Zoe would find whatever she was looking for there, but he also wasn’t going to deny her the chance to go.

He suppressed a shiver, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

Mitch lowered the window, letting the warm breeze soothe his discomfort and organize the thoughts tumbling around in his mind.

He felt particularly uncomfortable about this case. If his uncomfortable feelings were a person, they’d be a shadow looming beside him. He exhaled a long breath.

He reminded himself he only needed to focus on the next thing to do... a tactic he’d learned over the years when things felt overwhelming. It happened rarely, because again, Redwater was a small town—but every now and then something happened to jolt him out of the security of being a small-town sheriff.

“Who found the bodies?” Zoe asked, speaking for the first time since they’d left the hospital.

“I found them,” Mitch said. “Well, my puppy found them, actually. He ran off and I couldn’t work out why he didn’t come back to me. I found him at the opening of the woods and quickly realized what had upset him.”

He turned off the main road, almost turning the car around the second he did. He really didn’t want to go back there; there were only ghosts in these woods.

“Are you sure you want to do this? I don’t think there’s anything to see here. All of the evidence has been removed,” he said, giving her one last chance to change her mind.

But he already knew she wouldn’t take it.

“I need to see it,” she said with glistening eyes.

Mitch exhaled a long breath and nodded. “Okay,” he said, continuing down the dirt track.

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