Total pages in book: 70
Estimated words: 68598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 343(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 229(@300wpm)
I stepped down out of the stadium seating, one seat at a time, until I was at the bottom.
The woman with the tiger in front of me now—where the hell the snake went was anyone’s guess—watched me walk, her eyes on me as if she’d met her fair share of apex predators before.
I knew she’d made me as I felt her eyes on me as I walked.
When I got closer, the woman that was definitely setting up a table, not taking it down, made me, too.
I watched her whisper to JP, something that likely had to do with “go see so and so” because she left, disappearing out of the tent flap immediately to her right.
I tensed, only because I thought JP leaving meant that Folsom would, too.
Yet, she didn’t so much as twitch as she watched me walk toward her.
Ignoring all of the people that were now watching me like hawks—I felt more and more eyes on me as I moved closer to Folsom—I came to a halt directly in front of her bleacher row.
She looked down at me while I looked up at her.
“You found me.”
I shrugged. “I’m not sure ‘found’ is the right word. But I definitely located you.”
She tilted her head. “And how did you do that?”
“Funny enough, it was on accident,” I admitted. “I was in a Waffle House, eating after hunting down a few new things for my case, and when I looked across to the booth in front of me, I saw you printed on a paper.”
“Me?” she asked, sounding horrified.
I nodded. “You.”
“What?” She looked alarmed. Sick to her stomach. Horrified.
God, just being close to her…it was the first big breath of air I’d taken since she’d last been in my presence.
CHAPTER 8
Life is like a dick. Sometimes it gets hard for no reason.
-Folsom’s secret thoughts
FOLSOM
Horrified looks.
Those had to be what I was giving off as I processed that information.
He’d recognized me from the newspaper. What?
“Don’t worry.” He held up his hand in placation, obviously reading the rising alarm on my face. “The only reason I recognized you is because it was the same way you decorated your face two Halloweens ago when you and Morrigan took Aodhan’s son trick-or-treating.”
I blinked, looking away as I tried to decide if he was right.
If he was, I was okay. He wouldn’t lead anyone to me. It’d be one-hundred-percent safe having him here.
However, if he was wrong, and I trusted him anyway…that would mean the men hunting me might already know that I was around.
Turning back to him, I remembered those first few moments of elation that spread through me upon seeing him.
I decided to trust him.
Because if I couldn’t trust Kobe, then if we ever had a shit-is-hitting-the-fan moment, my contingency plans were gone. Well, I had to rely on Kobe, or everything would be complete shit.
I swallowed down the ball of fear that was permanently lodged in my throat and said the next thing that was on my mind.
The other big thing.
The fact that he was here…that spelled good things for me.
That spelled…freedom.
For him to know that meant there was one less person on this planet that would be out to ruin my life. That would be there, ready and waiting, to take my daughter away.
The last six months had been pure torture.
When I’d started laying everything out in that file, I’d thought for sure that it was it for me. That it was the last time that I’d ever talk to Kobe because there was no way he was going to forgive me for this one.
But him being here…holy hell. That meant he forgave me.
A burst of what felt like hope took root in my belly, sending my cold body into a warmness it hadn’t felt in a very, very long time.
Not since the night that he’d helped me deliver JP.
Opening my mouth, words started to pour out of it.
“So you know?” I asked, feeling the butterflies take flight. “You read the whole file? And you’re okay with it?”
“What file?” he asked. “And am I okay with what?”
I felt myself instantly deflate.
He didn’t know what I was talking about.
After all this time, I figured he’d finally found me and was ready to confront me.
But if he hadn’t read the file…why was he here?
“Your first and only cold case,” I whispered. “The one you couldn’t solve.”
I saw the understanding dawn on his face and knew that my hope was premature.
Of course he didn’t know.
As of last night, he hadn’t accessed any of that information on his computer.
I saw the confusion clear from his face as the agony re-formed a wall deep in my belly, making me feel even heavier than before.
No, he definitely didn’t know what I was talking about and why it was so important.
“I haven’t gone into that case file in a year,” he admitted. “Which you should know. You see all of that, everything I do on my computer, don’t you?”