Page 42 of Cold Silence
Travis nodded but not because he liked the decision.
“We’ll have to make a plan in the morning on how to handle the guy,” Gage said. “For now, I’m gonna head to the bedroom and get a little shuteye before my watch.”
“I won’t be sleeping,” Travis said, knowing full well his buddy was clearing the stage for Travis to be alone with Claire. Not something that was good for either of them. “So go ahead and turn in for the night.”
“I’ll see you at zero three hundred as planned, and you can do whatever you want.” Gage passed Claire where she sat on the sofa.
She’d curled her feet under her, and her Bible lay open on her lap. She looked at Travis, her expression flat and unreadable. “I was beginning to wonder if you were coming back.”
“I could never stay away from you, Claire,” he teased to hide the emotional turmoil he knew was coming.
She frowned. “Everything go okay with Mike and his apartment?”
Travis took a breath and sat next to her. He provided the highlights of the photo wall but didn’t go into details. He opened his mouth to tell her that he’d taken pictures of the offensive display, but his throat closed around the words, so he clamped it closed.
“You think they’re current?” she asked, thankfully not picking up on his angst.
He swallowed a few times. “Could be.”
“If only I could see them, I might be able to tell.”
Travis had to show them to her. He got that. She could indeed see something that might help them. But he sure didn’t want to.
“Travis?” She locked gazes. “Is there something you’re not telling me?”
Yeah, I still care for you and don’t want to hurt you more.
“You’re scaring me.” She eyed him. “What is it?”
“I took pictures of the wall.”
“So I can see the photos he took.” She closed her Bible and clasped her knees. “Show them to me.”
“That’s not really necessary,” he said, trying one last time to spare her the pain. “You get the gist.”
She locked gazes with him. “Show them to me, Travis.”
He could try again to withhold them, but she wasn’t going to give up. That he knew from his time with her in the past. He’d been blind-dropped into war zones. Invaded warring soldiers’ territories. Been shot at. Survived IED’s. But showing her the photos left him unsettled. It was one thing to take fire himself, but to let her come under fire like this? Sure it wasn’t gunfire, but it would hurt all the same.
She rested a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. I can handle seeing them.”
He hated to break contact with her, but he got out his phone, opened the photo app, and gave it to her.
She studied the screen. Swiped through photos. One at a time. Enlarging and studying them.
She gasped. “Some of these pictures at work are recent.” She looked up, her eyes terrified. “How did he…oh, oh! No. No. Hidden camera, right?”
“Looks like it.” Travis curled his fingers to his palms, wishing Robb was right in front of them and Travis could feel the sting of his knuckles against the guy’s face. “We’ll check first thing in the morning. If he placed them there, we can have him arrested.”
“But how do we prove he put them there?”
“He’s in possession of the photos, which should give the police enough cause to request his phone and computer where the cameras are likely connected.”
“But you were in his apartment illegally. We should have no knowledge of the photos and can’t even tell the police about them.”
“Leave that to me. I’ll figure it out,” he said with all the confidence he could muster. He wasn’t used to having to do everything by the book, but he would somehow get Robb to let him in.
“One thing’s clear.” She clutched her hands. “I was wrong. He’s clearly deranged and has likely been stalking me. But did he steal the prototype?”
