Page 40 of Built of Illusions

Nico didn’t want her to leave. “Do you have anywhere you need to be? Can you hang out with us here for the rest of the day?”

Her frown told him she didn’t like it but she glanced back at the board and nodded. “I don’t need a babysitter, but I can work here for a while.”

Roman stood. “Thanks. It’ll make it easier for us to focus if we know you’re safe. I’ll see if I can scrounge up some donuts or at least some decent coffee.”

Roman closed the door as he left and Nico walked into Josie’s space and wrapped her in his arms.

With a sigh she rested her head on his shoulder. “I want to be independent and go on my merry way, but I’m scared.”

He kissed her hair. “Me too. But not for long. We’re going to follow this trail and find him.”

“You don’t have to say that. I’m an adult and you don’t need to placate me.”

He chuckled into her hair. “You’re definitely an adult. A woman who is as sexy as she is brilliant. You made a great connection today, Josie. I think you’ve found the key to unlocking the puzzle.”

Now they had to fit those puzzle pieces together in time to stop the bastard from killing again.

Josie couldn’t keep her mind off the pictures of the women on the board. Or off the man killing them.

Her sketch pad was full of the women but she’d avoided thinking about the man. Maybe that was a mistake. Nico and Roman appeared to think her insights had been valuable. They’d been researching furiously and muttering to each other about every piece of data they found and every person they eliminated.

She was familiar with eliminating things as progress. Mrs. Chaga had taught her to think about a project before diving in. She’d said some projects required more mulling time than others. It was often the ones that mattered that took the most time.

For Josie, art was often about expressing emotions. She’d created pieces over the years that had projected every emotion she’d ever felt, from fear to loneliness to peace.

Every piece had its core, a spark that spoke to her. One that pulled and wouldn’t let go.

Her emotions were in such a swirl, Josie wasn’t sure she could create a piece from it. She wished she had some clay to help her work through her thoughts. That was often the way to discovering the core of the piece. Even her paintings and photographs often started as clay. Once she knew the exact shade of the emotion, she moved to the medium that fit it best.

All she had now were her pencils and her sketchpads.

Steeling herself, Josie chose an empty sketchpad. She didn’t want the evil to seep into her other books. She could destroy this one once they’d caught the man. His presence was coalescing in her brain. He’d left behind the clues to his personality.

Josie studied the pictures around Zoey and then let her pencil fly. The photographs showed the aftermath, but she drew the scene of the attack, with Zoey facing her with the man between Zoey and Josie. She added in the parking lot details and Zoey’s purse flying.

When she had the feel of the activity, she did the same for Elana. And the other women they knew about.

Once she finished the final sketch of Rita in her Vegas motel room, Josie felt like she knew the man. Knew the anger that consumed him. Saw how his brokenness had turned that anger into something warped and selfish.

She let her fingers draw him in several poses, with more of his face showing. More of the evil spewing out.

With a shudder, she set the sketchpad down and sat back in her chair to move away from the creepiness oozing from the pages.

“Holy shit, Josie.” Roman’s voice had her flinching and she looked up to find both men beside her, watching over her shoulders.

Nico sat down in the chair beside her and cupped her face, brushing the tears off her cheeks. Tears she hadn’t been aware she’d shed.

Nico’s eyes were dark with concern as he studied her. Then he dropped a soft kiss on her forehead and pulled her into a hug.

Roman touched the sketchpad. “May I?”

She nodded. “Yes. I don’t know if it will help but I couldn’t stop once I started. If it doesn’t help you, burn it. I don’t want it.”

Roman patted her shoulder and moved back to where he’d been working, flipping through the book.

Nico continued to hold her, his hands moving over her back gently. “Thank you. Those sketches will definitely help. Not everyone is as visual as you are, and they’ll help our team visualize the scenes and learn about his body language and his mindset.”

“They’re probably not accurate.”

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