Chapter 16 #2
She toyed with a wisp of his hair that curled around his ear.
She considered his offer but didn’t want to be dependent on him for anything.
Including his protection. Dependence led to disappointment and heartbreak.
Despite her displeasure over his leaving, she mustered a smile.
“I’ll be fine. I’ve thought of a way to run some new analyses that will cross-reference the Fiancée Killer data with your aunt’s murder.
Do you think I could get access to the old case files from California? ”
“Definitely. I’ll make a call to the San Diego police and make an official request since Caroline’s murder appears to be pertinent to our case.
I’ll have them copy you with any emails sent.
” Eli leaned in to give her a deep kiss, then gave her bottom a playful swat.
“And now I have to get moving, before your perfect lips and hot little body tempt me to blow off responsibilities today in lieu of a day in bed with you.”
A chill found her when he tossed back the covers and crossed the room.
The cold had as much to do with the disappointment and the lonely void created when he removed his solid presence, his warmth and the shelter of his arms as it did the nip of the bedroom air.
How quickly she’d returned to the place she’d known too briefly in college, where lying with Eli, wrapped in his arms, could make her feel safer and more complete than she’d ever known before.
Climbing from the bed, she found his bathrobe hanging on his closet door and tied it around her.
She pushed the empty ache away, reminding herself of the hard work she’d done in the past decade.
She’d focused on finding herself, learning to be comfortable in her independence and establishing a balance that wasn’t dependent on anyone else’s approval or recognition.
The process had been slow but steady. In light of all the memories evoked by this trip north, seeing Eli and Aunt Jean and coming to grips with Allison’s death, she realized just how far she’d actually come.
She refused to let old hurts and ancient memories cause her to backslide.
She inhaled the tantalizing scent of Eli that clung to his bathrobe and let herself relish the intimacies they’d shared last night. Her feminine core tingled at the reminder of his body twined with hers, his hand and lips loving her, arousing her, waking a dormant part of her soul.
Noelle squared her shoulders and set the glow of their lovemaking aside.
As enjoyable as the night had been, she had to put those tender feelings back in the box where she kept her treasured memories of Eli and prepare herself for her inevitable return to Seattle.
Last night had been about closure for her.
She and Eli could part as friends with one last precious memory of the sweetness of their shared passion.
But she’d come too far, worked too hard to risk her fragile emotions to a fraught relationship with Eli.
She would help him catch the Fiancée Killer, bury Allison and return to her life in Seattle knowing she could put Alaska securely behind her once and for all.
Eli didn’t return from his meeting with the local police investigator until that evening. Noelle had made herself a toasted cheese sandwich and tomato soup from a can in Eli’s pantry and was just sitting down to eat when he hustled in from the cold, bringing the mid-November chill with him.
“Sorry I was gone so long. After I finished at the office, I stopped by the hospital to catch Asher up on what I’ve learned.”
“Oh? And how is he?”
“Discharged, it turned out. So then I trekked by his house and found him surrounded by a gaggle of elderly neighbors who were feeding him up on casseroles and homemade sweets. I helped him shoo the well-meaning ladies away so he could rest and gave him the highlights of the new case information. When I left, he was starting an audiobook, grumbling about his doctor restricting his screentime, and enjoying the bounty of baked goods his neighbors had provided.” Eli peeled off his coat and draped it over the back of a kitchen chair.
“That smells good. I missed lunch, so I’m famished. ”
He started prowling the kitchen, and she waved him to her chair. “Eat mine. I’ll fix more for me while you tell me what the police found in the wreckage of Scott’s house. Anything useful for the case?”
Eli looked ready to reject her offered dinner, but hunger clearly won. He picked up half of the gooey cheese sandwich and took a big bite, groaning in satisfaction. “They definitely did.”
Noelle tried to ignore how sensual Eli’s enjoyment of the sandwich sounded as she dug in his pantry for another can of soup.
“Among the scattered and partially burned papers in Scott’s destroyed home office,” he said, “they found a file he’d made regarding my aunt’s murder.”
Noelle spun to face him, a can of minestrone soup in her hand. “Just as we thought. The similarities in the posing of the victims and manner of death weren’t a coincidence.”
“Seems not.” He took another large bite and around the mouthful he said, “That’s not all they found. Maps. Photographs of the locations where the bodies have been found. He’d made a plan where to leave his victims, it seems.”
“Is there anything we can conclude from those locations?” she asked as she popped the top on the soup and dumped it in the same pan she’d used to heat the tomato soup. “Maybe my software program can predict where he might go next, and we can catch him red-handed.”
“If only.” He slurped a spoonful of soup, then cut a sharp glance at her. “Wait. Do you think your program can do that?” His eyes were bright with hope. “Predict future locations? If so, we can stake out those sites and wait for Montgomery to show up.”
Her pulse pattered, and she was flooded by a desire to do anything she could to make Eli happy, to fulfill that look of anticipation and to be the answer to all his wants and desires. She swallowed past the sudden knot in her throat. “I haven’t tried it yet, but I will tonight.”
He rewarded her with a smile that melted everything feminine inside her. She was warm wax, eager to be molded to his liking, if only to receive that bright look of delight and affection for as long as possible. Or at least until she returned to Seattle.
That thought popped the fragile bubble of joy that had sidetracked her and mercilessly snatched her back to reality.
Nothing had fundamentally changed in her situation or Eli’s since she’d arrived in Shelby.
They’d slept together, sure. And it had been as wonderful and moving as she remembered from college.
But she was the same person, with the same difficult history and the same need to avoid further heartbreak.
They still had separate lives in different states, and the same challenges of ethnicity and societal bias.
She couldn’t bear the thought of her relationship with Eli causing any tension or dissension between him and his family.
The sound of Eli scraping the bottom of his soup bowl roused her from her gloomy thoughts, and she pasted on a smile to camouflage her dejection. “I can fix more if you’re still hungry.”
He wiped his mouth on a napkin and rose to carry the dish to the sink. “Nah. Let’s get back to work. I want to show you what the local detective gave me this morning. And I want to see what your software can do about forecasting where Montgomery might be going next.”