Chapter 11
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Janie tossed and turned until the wee hours of the morning. The unsettling feeling she’d had after leaving the M.E.’s office had grown stronger as the night went on.
Giving up on the idea that sleep would be coming anytime soon, she threw the covers to the side and rolled out of bed. Maybe a shower would help to settle her nerves. If nothing else, perhaps the hot water would make her tired. At least then, she’d be able to rest.
A glance at the clock on the bedside table showed it was a little after two.
Hoping the running water wouldn’t wake Emmett, whose room was across from hers, she quickly stripped and hopped in the shower.
Twenty minutes and nearly a full tank of hot, steaming water later, and she felt more awake than before.
Janie’s stomach growled, and she realized she hadn’t had much for dinner the night before. Emmett had gone through a drive-thru on their way back to the safe house, but she’d been too wired to take more than a few small bites. Her appetite had apparently decided now would be a good time to return.
At two-thirty in the morning.
Of course.
Knowing she definitely wouldn’t be able to sleep until she’d eaten a little something, Janie threw on her baby blue, pinstriped sleep shorts and matching blue tank. Her bare feet moved silently across the plush carpet as she made her way to the door.
There was the slightest creaking sound as she pulled it open. She checked to make sure Emmett’s door was still closed before peaking down the hallway to her right. Dark shadows marked the walls and flooring, but there was no movement that she could see.
With caution, she tip-toed out of her bedroom and made her way down the curved staircase. It wasn’t until Janie got to the kitchen that she bothered turning on the lights.
One thing about this place, it had lots of natural light sources built in throughout. Between skylights and massively large windows, the moonlight alone was almost enough to see by.
She went to the refrigerator and pulled open both of the stainless-steel doors, pursuing the selections of fresh vegetables and fruits. There were also deli-shaved ham and turkey, as well as some Greek yogurt and a dozen eggs.
It was too late to do any actual cooking, and though a parfait sounded delicious, even that felt like too much work. Closing the doors, she leaned down and pulled open the bottom freezer.
Bingo.
A brand-new container of chocolate ice cream was waiting to be consumed.
“Don’t mind if I do,” she whispered softly.
There were two separate containers, so she grabbed one to call her own. A search through the room’s many drawers for a spoon finally yielded results at her fifth attempt. Janie slid the spoon’s edge into the creamy dessert and carried it into the cozy living room space a few feet away.
She sat down on the couch and pulled her lower legs up onto the center cushion. She leaned forward, grabbing the remote from the coffee table, ensuring the volume was low after turning on the TV.
While she sat there, stuffing her face and flipping through channels, thoughts of what they’d learned about Amy’s death weren’t far away. In fact, they were the very cause of her insomnia.
She couldn’t get the images Scarlett found out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. And she’d tried. All night, as a matter of fact.
Janie also couldn’t stop imagining the horrors Amy went through before being tied to something heavy and tossed into the water. No one should die like that. No one deserved to be ruthlessly murdered and then forced into a watery grave.
“What did they do to you, Amy?” she whispered out into the otherwise empty room.
When she and Emmett had returned to the safe house earlier, she’d gone over every photo and document in the file. Three times. And she wondered if the M.E. would reveal the truth to the press or conceal it.
You already know the answer to that one, Janie.
If he were planning to tell the truth, it would already be on the news. The autopsy was complete, and from the signed document they’d found, which looked pretty damn official, he’d already ruled on the cause of death.
Cause of death: Asphyxia due to drowning. Manner: Suicide.
And once Nguyen revealed the official cause and manner of death to the cops, the case would be closed, and Amy’s killer would be able to walk away Scot-free.
I can’t let that happen.
There were too many unanswered questions. They still needed to know who killed the young intern, whether it was the same man who’d broken into her hotel room, and why all of this was happening. Until that time came, Janie’s own life was still in danger.
At least you have Emmett.
She shoved another big spoonful of ice cream into her mouth. Over the next several minutes, she sat alone eating away her sorrows and paying no attention to the show playing on the TV.
Janie was so lost in her rambling thoughts she didn’t realize she was no longer alone. Not until she heard the deep rumble of his voice.
“Couldn’t sleep?”
Every muscle in her body tensed, and a tiny cry escaped with a start. “Emmett!” she admonished him by calling out his name. “What in the—” She sucked in a calming breath with a scowl and her hand over her racing heart. “You scared me half to death.”
“Sorry.” He came over to sit next to her wearing a pair of gray sweats and a black t-shirt that showcased his magnificent physique.
Didn’t the guy know about the whole men-in-gray-sweats phenomena that had taken over the libidos of women across the globe? From the tired expression on his face and the man’s slightly mussed hair, Janie assumed the clueless man didn’t.
“Whatcha watching?” He settled in on the far cushion, near her bare feet.
“No idea.” She shrugged, taking another bite of ice cream. “I haven’t been paying attention. Sorry I woke you.”
That last part came out a little wonky due to the scoop she’d just put into her mouth. She didn’t bother worrying about how unladylike talking with her mouth full probably looked.
It wasn’t as if anything would happen on that front anyway. He’d made that perfectly clear in his office the day before. Which was totally fine with Janie, and frankly they had bigger things to worry about, anyway.
Like trying to put a name and a face to the person who wanted her dead.
“You didn’t wake me,” he revealed. A few seconds later, he asked, “You want to talk about why you’re sitting down here by yourself in the middle of the night?”
“I was hungry.” Janie kept her eyes glued to the show she wasn’t watching while giving him the half-truth.
“And dirty, apparently.”
The unexpected comment pulled her gaze from the flatscreen to him. “I’m sorry?”
“Your hair.” He reached over and played with a section of the locks she’d merely towel-dried.
It wasn’t until then that Janie even considered how she must look. A heated flush crawled into her neck and cheeks she prayed he couldn’t see.
“Oh.” A nervous chuckle left her shoulders shaking. Glancing down at the thick, damp strands pressed against her chest, she told him, “I thought a hot shower might help me sleep.”
“Not so much, huh?” His voice was a bit deeper and rougher than normal.
She shook her head slowly. “I couldn’t get my mind to shut off.”
“I figured. You’ve had a hell of a week.”
“Nothing compared to Amy,” she muttered under her breath.
His hand came to a rest on one of her ankles, making her thankful she’d taken the time to shave. Her body tingled from the innocent touch.
“It’s not your fault she died.”
“I know.” She truly did. “I just wish I knew the why.”
Almost more than knowing the who, it was the killer’s motive that had left her tossing and turning.
“We’ll know soon enough.”
She looked up from his hand to meet his dark brown stare. “Hundreds of deaths go decades without being solved. And there are new ones added to the list every year.”
“True, but there’s one big difference between those cases and this one.”
“Which is?”
His thumb feathered across her smooth skin. “They didn’t have me and my team.”
“You’re a bit cocky, aren’t you?” Janie’s lips lifted into a grin.
“Not cocky if I’ve got the goods to back it up.”
“And do you? Have the goods, I mean.” She allowed a hint of flirtation to come through her tone.
Humor lit up his eyes as his smile spread across his ruggedly handsome face. “Haven’t had any complaints so far.”
“I’m your first client,” she reminded him.
That thumb continued brushing across her ankle, and she wondered if he even realized what he was doing.
“I know.” He shrugged. “But I haven’t heard you complain.”
Janie’s laugh seemed to fill the cozy room.
“I’m glad you’re here, Emmett.” Her gaze locked with his.
“Me, too.” He spoke a bit softer. But then, “Your ice cream’s about to drip.”
Huh?
She looked down at the spoon still clutched in her hand. “Oh, shoot!” Janie rushed to put it over the softened container right as a healthy drop of melted chocolate goodness fell. “Guess I should get this back in the freezer before it goes to waste.”
“Hold on, now.” Emmett’s dark brows dipped low. “You weren’t going to share?”
“Oh.” She blinked. “I thought . . . I mean, there’s another brand new container in there, so I figured—”
“His and hers?”
Janie gave a quick nod of her head. “Something like that,” she chuckled.
For a moment, neither one of them seemed capable of looking away. Without a word, he leaned toward her, and for one heart-racing second, she thought he was about to kiss her.
The next second, Emmett’s hand left her ankle and reached for the spoon. He took it out of her hand, scooped up a little more ice cream, and put it into his mouth.
“I took a guess that you’d like chocolate.” He gently grabbed the container from her grasp after swallowing the generous bite.
The man rose to his bare feet, which she also found oddly sexy, and started to head for the kitchen.
Wait, what had he just said?
Janie rose from the couch and belatedly followed him into the other room. “What do you mean, you took a guess?”