Chapter 4
Evelyn stroked the purring tabby on her lap and stared at the untouched website template before her.
She needed something new and exciting to show Gabriel but couldn’t stop replaying her earlier conversation with Detective Mitchel.
She wasn’t used to so much excitement in her life, and in one day she’d spoken with a mogul about a new job and met the sexiest cop in existence.
Even if his story made her question whether she should keep talking to Gabriel.
Could he be right about the boy she’d known in high school?
She shut her laptop, along with the chance of getting any work done, and picked up the business card she’d tossed on the desk when she’d gotten home.
She leaned back in her chair and twirled the card between her fingers.
Detective Mitchel had asked about Gabriel’s behavior when they were younger, and she was somewhat embarrassed she could recall so much about him after so long.
Gabriel was as built now as he had been as a teenager.
His blond hair hadn’t been as well-groomed back then, but he’d been the picture of quiet rebellion.
Not enough of a bad boy to get him into trouble, but enough to let everyone know he wouldn’t fall in line with the status quo.
His ability to turn his charm on like a kitchen faucet and his family connections had garnered the attention of every high- profile student, coach, and teacher at their private school, but Gabriel hadn’t wanted anything to do with high school politics.
Which Evelyn had found fascinating.
Not that she’d ever told him or anyone else. She was too busy trying to be invisible and survive her own hellhole of a life.
But while trying to blend into the background, had she missed signs of him being a sadistic psychopath?
If she had, so had everyone else, or he wouldn’t be the successful entrepreneur he was today.
And try as she might, she couldn’t picture the mysterious boy with the wide hazel eyes and constant smirk as someone who would kidnap an innocent woman.
Just because he’d raised his nose at authority as an angry teenager didn’t mean he’d become a monster.
“Hey Evie, what are you doing?”
The sudden burst of noise set her nerves on edge, and Snowball hissed before leaping off her lap.
Evelyn took a second to compose herself then turned to face her roommate with a plastered-on smile.
Her only friend from childhood stood in the doorway of the apartment, her arms loaded with grocery bags.
“Hey, Lacey. The time got away from me. I didn’t expect you home. ”
Evelyn stood and stretched her arms above her head, trying to ease the tension in her shoulders that had nothing to do with hunching over her computer for too long.
It didn’t help.
Ignoring the shroud of questions hovering over her like a dark cloud, Evelyn intercepted Lacey in the kitchen and grabbed a few bags and put them on the counter.
“Where’s Abbie?” she asked as she opened a cabinet door and put away a box of cereal.
Evelyn hardly ever saw her roommate without her little blond princess prancing around her.
“She had playgroup after school today. It’s so much easier to get through the market when I don’t have a four- year-old hanging on my arm.” The whoosh of plastic rustled around the room.
Evelyn glanced over her shoulder at the bags of groceries littering the floor. “I’d say it was easier to buy more without her, too.” She snorted out a laugh and returned to shoving boxed food wherever it would fit.
“What can I say? I had more time to wander around, which means more opportunity to shop. It’s just a good thing I went to the market and not Sephora.”
The hint of sadness in Lacey’s voice spoke of more than a missed trip for makeup. Her meager salary as a preschool teacher hadn’t been enough to support her and her daughter after Abbie’s father took off. She’d been stranded with a toddler and no way to afford to keep a roof over her head.
Evelyn might have been raised by the poster-image of bad parents, but the tainted money they’d left behind had afforded her a two-bedroom apartment with plenty of space to share. Even if using it always made her feel dependent on the two people she’d desperately tried to get away from.
She’d insisted Lacey and Abbie move in with her until Lacey could stand on her own feet. Two years had passed, and Evelyn hoped the two never moved out. They gave her the joyful home she’d always craved.
With the last of the groceries put away, Evelyn closed the cabinet door and faced her friend. “Makeup is the last thing you need, but thanks for the supplies. I hadn’t found the motivation to go to the store the last few days, and we were running low.”
Lacey brushed a lock of shoulder-length auburn hair away from her deep green eyes, and a wicked grin lifted her lips. “Oh, that’s right. You’ve been too busy obsessing over your coffee date with Gabriel. How’d it go?”
“It wasn’t a date.” Evelyn rolled her eyes.
Lacey grabbed her hand and tugged her toward the round table in the eat-in kitchen.
“Oh no. You’re not getting away with staying all quiet and mysterious.
I want details.” Pushing her toward one of the tufted chairs, Lacey sat across from her, placed her elbows on the table, and leaned forward as if Evelyn were about to spill the secrets of the universe.
Evelyn mimicked her posture but rested her head in her hands and swallowed a sigh.
Where should she start? With the panicked phone call from a stranger, the uneasy feeling she got when Gabriel had touched her hand, or the avalanche of desire that had crushed her when she’d spotted Detective Mitchel?
A sliver of guilt burrowed into her gut. Detective Mitchel’s sister was missing, and all she could think about was the bolt of electricity he’d inflicted on her with his touch...and his words of warning against a man who could finally free her from her demons.
“Coffee was good. Things took a weird turn, though, and I can’t wrap my mind around it.”
“I’m not surprised.” Lacey raised her brows and fell back into her chair.
Goose bumps puckered Evelyn’s skin, and she straightened. “What do you mean?” She kept her words steady, even though her heart rate kicked into high gear.
“He was always a little strange in school. Always kept to himself and never wanted any part of...well, anything.”
A tiny prick of defensiveness stung Evelyn’s throat. “I always kept to myself in school. Did that make me weird?”
Pity swam in Lacey’s sea green irises, and Evelyn fought the urge to cringe.
“We both know why you kept to yourself. Gabriel was...different. All the girls fell at his feet in a heap, and I always thought he’d rather kick his way through them than be flattered by their attention.
And don’t you remember what happened to that one kid he used to hang with? What was his name? Sam? Scott?”
“Oh my God, Simon! I completely forgot about that. But he never came out and said Gabriel had anything to do with his accident.”
“He didn’t get the chance. His parents pulled him out of school before he was even out of the hospital, and Gabriel just laughed about it. I remember him joking at lunch about how Simon was an idiot who deserved what he got.”
The police never found who had been responsible for the hit-and-run that almost cost the teenager his life. But Evelyn knew enough about how the law really worked to know money could buy an awful lot of silence.
A chill swept down her spine, and Evelyn crossed the room to the window, surprised to find it firmly shut.
The goose bumps on the back of her neck intensified, and she wrapped her arms around her waist. Detective Mitchel asked about Gabriel’s behavior in school, but surely one incident that hadn’t been proven didn’t count.
Hell, she’d never imagined Gabriel was responsible for his friend’s accident before Lacey mentioned it.
The power of suggestion wasn’t enough to implicate an innocent man in a hit-and-run from years ago, let alone in a kidnapping.
A text alert buzzed from her phone, and Evelyn put a pause on the gears spinning in her head to retrieve her phone from her desk. A text from Gabriel filled her screen.
Great catching up. How about dinner tomorrow night?
Her mouth fell open, and she stared at the words. Excitement bubbled up and swallowed the growing doubt and suspicion.
Gabriel had been the odd man out in school, but so had she. She wouldn’t condemn him based on assumptions. Besides, what harm could come from dinner?
Connor leaned against the rough brick of his apartment building and tightened his hold on Porkchop’s leash.
The dog curled at his feet, the warmth of his fur chasing away the chill of the setting sun.
The coroner’s van pulled away from the curb, taking with it the hand that would be forever branded in his brain.
At least it wasn’t Monica’s.
On closer inspection, Connor had spotted the black edge of a tattoo on the inside of what was left of the wrist. Monica didn’t have any tattoos, and relief had brought tears to his eyes.
Followed by guilt. The hand belonged to someone, and he could only pray she was still alive to see justice served.
“The police are almost done combing your apartment.” Ben stepped in front of him on the cracked sidewalk.
Connor had called the PI as soon as he’d stumbled out of his apartment.
Purple clouds battled against the orange glow of the sky, but enough light peeked through to highlight his lifelong genetic tan and too-long hair that never seemed combed.
Dark stubble covered his oval face, and he pushed back a stray curl so his green eyes could relay the anger simmering under his calm veneer.
Connor ran a hand over his head, and stray pricks of hair tickled his palm.
He needed to shave but couldn’t find the motivation.
“Shit keeps getting worse. That asshole was in my apartment. He walked right in and left me a hand, for fuck’s sake.
Tell me he was stupid enough to also leave trace evidence. Anything to nail his ass to the wall.”
Ben’s jaw tightened. “Nothing so far. But the sick sonofabitch had balls to do this. The ones who get cocky are the ones who usually make mistakes.”
A strangled sob closed his throat. “You mean like cutting off a hand and leaving it in my bathroom for my dog to eat?”
Ben stiffened and shoved his long fingers in the pockets of his jeans. “The hand isn’t Monica’s. I understand it scared the shit out of you, but he didn’t make sure to cut above the tattoo.”
“It might not be Monica’s hand, but it belonged to someone. And if he’s sick enough to do it once, you and I both know he won’t hesitate to do it again.”
“Then we just have to find him before he does. It shouldn’t take much longer to ID the prints if they match a woman already registered in the missing person’s database. At least not if her family supplied prints to the authorities. And when we know her identity, it gives us another thread to pull.”
“Or another false lead to follow.” Desperation clawed at his psyche, making it harder to have hope of finding his sister before it was too late.
“No such thing as a false lead, just another eliminated possibility. By the way, I ran a search on Evelyn Price.”
Connor’s interest piqued at the mention of the pretty brunette. “What’d you find?”
“She went to school with Gabriel, comes from money, keeps a low profile. Stays way under the radar. I couldn’t find any social media accounts, which made it even more surprising to find her account on EternalMatch. Lives in Queens and works from home.”
“I read through her messages with Gabriel,” Connor said. “Sounds like they hadn’t spoken since graduation. Her roommate found his profile a few weeks ago, and Evelyn looked him up to get reacquainted. She looked pretty interested in what he had to say earlier.”
“Wait, you saw Gabriel earlier?” Ben grabbed a small blue notepad from his back pocket and untucked a pen from behind his ear. “What time was this? You never told me you saw him.”
Connor ignored the frustration in Ben’s voice. “I’ve been a little preoccupied the last couple of hours. You know, dealing with a break-in and a severed hand. Not to mention the circus combing through my apartment looking for evidence.”
Wide-eyed pedestrians hurried past him, reminding him to keep his voice down.
Taking a step closer, Ben lowered his voice. “What time did you see him? How much time elapsed between parting ways with him and coming home?”
Connor had told the dispatcher about his earlier encounter with Gabriel, but they’d shrugged it off and warned him not to interfere with an ongoing investigation. “I saw him with Evelyn Price at a coffee shop this afternoon.”
“You talked to him? Dammit, Connor, don’t be stupid. You can’t tip your fucking hand and give the guy a reason to freak out.”
Lead dropped in the pit of his stomach and Connor leaned forward, resting his forearms on his thighs. “Sonofabitch. I swear I didn’t think about that. I needed to get there and warn this woman.”
Ben blew out a breath. “You should have taken a minute to think about how Gabriel would react. Dude, I’ve seen plenty of pictures of your sister since you hired me.
You two could pass as twins. No way he saw you and didn’t realize who you were.
And what about this woman? What does this mean for her? ”
“Evelyn? Why would Gabriel seeing me have anything to do with her?”
“If Gabriel is the monster you think he is, do you think he saw you at the coffee shop and just left? Or would he have waited around to see what you were doing there?”
“He saw me talking with Evelyn.” Dread curdled in his stomach. He didn’t remember seeing Gabriel after the little shit had smirked as they passed each other in the narrow aisle between tables. After that, his focus had been squarely on Evelyn.
“Have you talked to her since this afternoon? If Gabriel is responsible for the break-in, he could have gone to her apartment once he was finished here.”
Cursing his lack of judgment, Connor grabbed his phone and pressed redial. If his hasty decision to seek out Evelyn led to her getting hurt, he’d never forgive himself.