Total pages in book: 115
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107766 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 539(@200wpm)___ 431(@250wpm)___ 359(@300wpm)
Somewhere in her mind, there was something she could do with that toy. But what? “What do I do with you?” she muttered to the cartoonish face. At least she thought she did. It was getting so hard to focus.
Her heart had started beating faster, and she closed her eyes for a moment, forcing herself to calm down. This was probably useless. Still, she couldn’t help the small kernel of hope that was expanding within her. With effort, she removed the bottom of the toy by cracking the plastic platform. Inside was a tiny metal spring. She steadied herself and extracted it with her fingernails. She swallowed, wiping at her sweat-drenched face again as her stomach cramped. “Calm, calm, calm,” she said like a mantra, when she felt her heart beginning to race. “Stay calm.”
With a shaking hand, Josie smoothed out the coils in the small spring, holding her breath as she did so, afraid it might snap. But it didn’t. She continued to run her index finger and thumb along it until it was as straight as she could make it.
She held it up in front of her eyes, marveling at the sight of the straightened piece of metal, no longer than her finger.
A tool. She had a tool.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The small log cabin, with the wraparound porch at the end of a trail that led through a dense grove of woods, would have been the perfect picturesque getaway if they weren’t “getting away” from a sadistic murderer. Still, the view of the mountains in the distance was beautiful and majestic, the air fresh and fragrant with pine. As she stood on the porch, she allowed herself to relax, taking a breath slowly in and blowing it out along with the pent-up worry held tightly in her muscles. She hadn’t fully realized how much the knowledge that she could be in the crosshairs of another evil man had stressed her, had caused her to look over her shoulder even when she was locked in her bedroom alone.
A bird landed on the railing, twittering and then flying away. Josie smiled. Here there was no reason to worry, no reason to look over her shoulder. No one knew where they were except a few trusted employees of the Cincinnati Police Department, and for the first time since Zach Copeland had shown up as she stood in her backyard hanging laundry, Josie breathed more easily. She’d been a little resistant about leaving town at first, unsure if it was necessary, but now, now she was so glad Zach’s boss had recommended it. Whether it was “necessary” or not, safety-wise, whether Zach and his boss’s hunches had been correct, Josie needed this. She hadn’t realized how much.
“Not a bad day at the office.”
Josie laughed softly as Zach came up beside her. “Nope. Not a bad gig if you can get it.” She cleared her throat, her expression going serious. “I’m sure you didn’t volunteer for this, though. I’m sorry you had to drop everything and drive me out of town.” She didn’t know anything about Zach’s life, didn’t know if he had a girlfriend, someone waiting at home for him. At the thought, her heart felt uncomfortably heavy. She attempted to dismiss the unwanted feeling, turning her body slightly and gripping the railing in front of her.
“Actually,” Zach said, facing her, his hip leaning against the railing, “I did volunteer for this.” Josie turned toward him too. Zach was so near she could see the color of his eyes in the waning evening light. They weren’t black as they sometimes appeared, or even dark brown. They were a deep midnight blue, and he had a tiny white dot in the middle of his left iris, something you could only see if you were right up close. Eyes were so individual, she thought, something twisting inside of her, some recognition she couldn’t explain. “I didn’t want anyone else out here with you, Josie, keeping you safe.” He frowned slightly, something that looked like confusion passing over his features, vulnerability, maybe. “I seem to have a hard time turning that job over to anyone else.”
She stared at him, at those midnight eyes. He’d just admitted something to her, though she wasn’t sure what. Maybe he didn’t even know. But she felt the subtle shift between them, the way he was looking at her not as a cop looked at the victim he was protecting, but as a man looked at a woman. Or was she reading too much into this moment? It’d been so long. And she’d always been very good at seeing what she wanted to see.
Josie turned away, back toward the mountains beyond. “Tell me about yourself, Zach.” She wasn’t sure what subtle change had just occurred between them, wasn’t even sure it was something that would be acknowledged again, but he knew so much about her—more than just about anyone, come to think of it—and she knew practically nothing about him. Her champion. Her guardian. And yet in many ways, a stranger.