Page 54 of Protected By Duval
Then her beaming face relaxed a little and her cheeks warmed up with color.
“After swings?”
“Yeah,” Jack agreed. “After swings.”
By the time night had fallen and the park lights had come on, Duval could see the warm look in Noelle’s eyes. They’d come a long way from the terrified tears of the other night, but he knew it wasn’t ‘fixed.’
Emotions and trauma weren’t like a light controlled by a switch.
This was a good first step, but there was a journey ahead.
And he wanted to walk it with this woman and her child.
CHAPTER 9
NOELLE
After that night at the playground, Noelle’s life changed in leaps and bounds.
The face she’d been working on came together in a few hours, at least in her head.
It took the better part of two days for her to draw it to the point where she felt it was as accurate as possible.
When she walked into West’s office she handed the drawing over she felt a warm feeling of pride in her chest.
West looked up at her with a curious sort of smile.
“How sure are you of this… this face?”
Noelle handed him the second canvas board. “Here. This might make it easier to see.”
He took the canvas board and saw the life size image of the skull on the canvas.
She reached out and lifted the layer that had been tucked behind the canvas and lifted it to overlay the image of the skull.
The vellum layer was the same ‘finished’ image that she’d shown him first, but on a translucent sheet it gave a clear image of the face she’d built from the skull.
West lifted the vellum and laid it down again.
And then he looked at the finished, solid image.
“Wow… I… I can see it. I can see her.”
Noelle smiled. “Thanks. I’m glad.”
He looked over both images again, flipping the vellum up and down. “Damn… this is…” He looked up at her with a wincing smile. “Creepy.”
She giggled. “I get it. And it’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”
The door to West’s office opened up and Noelle stepped to the side as another of the Rangers walked in. She looked at the taller man and frowned a little.
He looked familiar, but she couldn’t remember how she knew him. Or where she’d seen him before.
He had what people called salt ‘n pepper hair, white and black. His mustache was thick but well trimmed. The stubble on his jaw looked like it would feel like a rough sandpaper and she felt her lips press tightly together.
She much preferred McCrae’s smooth jaw over this man’s rougher appearance.
He held out his hand to her, startling her from her thoughts. “I’m Kelly Miller. Another one of the S.W.A.T. team.”
