Page 100 of Intrepid

I clicked to enlarge the image on the screen, the one I’d originally seen on the news report almost ten years ago. Two side-by-side photos of Eli and another boy whose face might’ve changed dramatically over the years, but his eyes still carried the same piercing broodiness that left my heart pounding inside my chest.

“Sera, what’s wrong? You look pale.”

If Ty had a son, the boy on the screen would’ve been a spitting image of him. The strong masculine jaw hadn’t yet taken form, and his hair was much less groomed. To anyone who looked at Ty recently, the similarities might be subtle enough to miss, but I’d studied those eyes and those lips. I’d kissed them and stared into them as he made love to me. I, of all people, couldn’t deny the match.

Jameson Cross.

“Sera? Yo, earth to Sera!”

I blew out a held breath and shook myself free of my musings. “I’m sorry. I was …. Hey, do we have any water?”

“Yeah, sure. Hang on, I’ll grab one from the fridge.”

“Thanks.” I remained in a trance, staring at Ty on the screen.

Until I couldn’t look at him anymore.

I clicked out of the image, and another caught my attention. A familiar face, though at first, I couldn’t place why. It was a sketch of two men, one of whom I’d seen somewhere. I clicked on it, pulling up a separate news report of two wanted men suspected of having murdered Eli. They were police sketches provided by the survivor.

“Who are those two? The murderers?” Lilia set the bottled water onto the coffee table and took her place beside me once more.

“They were suspects for a while. There was a manhunt for them as possible accomplices, but it was dropped soon after they’d arrested the meth junkie. Not sure why.”

Where had I seen that face? The round features. I closed my eyes to a twinge of disgust churning in my stomach and flipped them open again.

“Oh, God.”

I typed wood chipper accident into the search bar, and the moment his face popped up on the screen, I clapped a hand over my mouth, tossing Lilia’s computer onto the couch beside me.

Racing to the bathroom brought me skidding in front of the toilet, just in time to expel the miniscule amount of food I’d eaten that morning. For the next few minutes, I dry heaved.

“Oh, sweetie.” Lilia knelt beside me, gathering my hair, and the soothing rub against my back helped calm my stomach. “Hey, I’ll have Tony come here tonight. If someone tries breaking in again, I’m sure they’ll think twice.” Lilia’s boyfriend worked as a bouncer for one of the clubs in Hamtramck. Violence was nothing new for him, and I happened to know the guy carried. Having him stay would definitely put my mind at ease. “I didn’t want to say anything, but you looked like hell when you walked in. Think you need to get some rest.”

I flushed away the sour smell and nodded, accepting the bottle of water she handed to me. “I’m really not feeling good.”

“Take tonight off. I’ve got Jo covered.”

“I just feel bad.”

“Don’t. I’m ordering a pizza with everyfuckingthing on it.”

“Okay, but … don’t tell Tony about the money. Not yet. Not until we know for sure where it came from, okay?”

“Deal. You sure you’re going to be okay?”

“I don’t know. I just need to figure some things out.”

35

Sera

I stared through the windshield at Ty’s Ducati parked out in front of his apartment building, still trying to wrap my head around the idea that I’d been seeing the wood chipper killer all that time while never knowing his true identity.

My thoughts drifted back to the conversation I’d had, the one when Ty’d suggested the victim wasn’t actually a victim.

Some people aren’t what they seem. How do you know the victim didn’t do something equally as horrific?

Like pieces of a puzzle falling into place, small bits of Ty’s conversations came together, creating a terrifying picture, for which I had yet to learn my part.