Page 36 of Jacques

Jacques stepped in front of her and smiled softly. “There’s everything beautiful about that.” He raised his hand to brush an errant curl from her cheek, careful not to touch her skin.

Her eyes widened. Before he could lower his hand, she turned her face into his palm. “You obviously need your eyes checked,” she whispered.

Jacques froze, afraid to move his hand and spook her.

Her cheek fit warmly into his open palm. His thumb hovered over her lips. He was close enough that he only had to lean forward slightly to kiss those lips.

Footsteps sounded on the stairs outside the open door.

Danny stepped back and turned.

Yaya burst through the door and stopped, breathing hard. “Oh, good, I caught you. Did you find anything on Gisele’s security camera?”

Jacques nodded. “Thanks to your keen eye, we did.”

Her eyes widened. “The black car?”

“Yes,” Danny said. “And we could see half of its license plate. Deputy Cleyburn thinks it might be enough to identify the owner.”

Yaya clapped her hands together. “Thank goodness.” She glanced around the apartment, a frown settling on her brow as she took in the black dust on nearly every surface. “I have Maddie Parker scheduled to come clean tomorrow. She couldn’t come sooner. You’re not moving back in yet, are you?”

“No,” Jacques answered for her. “Not yet.”

“Oh, good,” Yaya said. “We’ll have this place cleaned up and shining as good as new when you’re ready to come back.”

“Thank you, Yaya,” Danny said. “You don’t have to do that. I can clean it myself.”

“It’s no bother,” she said. “The locksmith is coming tomorrow as well. You can collect the new keys later in the evening or the next day.”

“Thanks.” Danny hugged her landlord. “You’re so sweet to do all that for me.”

Yaya patted her cheek. “You’re special, Danny. I just want you to be safe and happy.” She sighed. “Now, I have to get back to the studio. I have another class starting in...” She glanced at her watch. “Yikes...right now. Bye, love.” She ran for the door, calling out to Jacques, “Take care of our girl.”

“Will do.” Jacques chuckled. “Is she always so...”

“Effusive?” Danny smiled. “Yes, and I love her for it.”

He turned back to Danny. “What would you like to do next?”

“I’d like to get answers to everything we have outstanding, but apparently it takes time.”

“Sadly,” he said.

She looked around the room. “I could use a few more clothes, then we can grab some lunch at Mimi’s and stop at Broussard’s for groceries afterward. By then, it’ll be time for me to go to work.” She grimaced. “I hate that you’re having to babysit me. I’m sure you have better things to do.”

“You’re my primary focus. We can do all those things and stop by the boat factory to see if Swede or Remy have anything new to add to the investigation.”

“I just want all of this to be over,” she said. “I’ve wanted it for a very long time. I’m tired of looking over my shoulder, afraid to let my guard down and not trusting anyone.”

“We’re going to get to the bottom of it,” Jacques said, praying he was right. Too many rapists got away with the crime, especially when they used drugs on their victims. Ketamine was some strong shit that could cause the victim to have amnesia when trying to remember the event, as had happened with Danny.

Jacques’s hands bunched into fists. He wanted to kill the man who’d attacked Danny. If...no, when they found him, Jacques would make him pay.

CHAPTER 9

They worked through the list of things they’d discussed: lunch at Mimi’s, then groceries at Broussard’s, where they loaded up on ingredients for omelets and sandwiches and a couple more bottles of wine. When they stopped at the boat factory, Remy and Swede said they’d interviewed a couple of Danny’s classmates. Each told the same story. They thought Danny had left early for her hotel. When asked about returning to the barracks, they said they carried a noisy Thacker inside and ran into an angry duty NCO.

Their recollection of returning to the barracks matched Pruitt's. They couldn’t verify the timing until they had the logs from that night to compare with Danny’s last memory of going to the bathroom and the time she reported to the hospital. Swede was still working to access the log and hoped to have it by the next day.