Karen Rose - Have You Seen Her?

"Jenna, you're still here."

Jenna looked up to find Neil Davies standing at the base of the school's steps. "Neil." She started to smile a welcome, but her eyes suddenly narrowed in concern. "Is Steven all right? '

Neil shrugged. "Don't know. Haven't seen him since tins morning." He looked around. "Are you supposed to be here alone?"

Her patience snapped. "No, I'm not supposed to be here alone," she said testily, then watched his face fall and felt guilty. "I'm sorry, Neil. I've had a bad few days. I guess you all have, too."

He shook his head and leaned against the iron railing. "That's an understatement." He was quiet for a moment, then asked, "You tell your family about the wrecked car?"

Jenna nodded. "I finally told them the truth. They were not as upset as I thought they'd be."

Neil ventured a grin. "More worried about you, huh?"

Jenna nodded again, this time a small smile curving her lips. "Fancy that."

"I kind of hoped it would turn out that way."

"Mmm." When he didn't say anything, the silence grew awkward. "So, Neil, you never did tell me where you're from."

One corner of his mouth lifted and Jenna thought he was a very handsome man. Not as handsome as Steven by a long shot, but still the kind that made women swoon. "Wales," he said.

"More recently than sixty years ago."

He looked impressed. "Good memory."

"Umm-hmm. So where, Detective Davies?"

"Seattle," he said, surprising her.

"Really? What brings you all the way to little old Pineville, North Carolina?"

"I thought I could help on Steven's case," he said and she detected a touch of self-pity.

"But obviously you were wrong. Have a seat, Neil, and tell me a story."

And after a long look, he sat. "I thought I knew who was killing the girls. I was wrong."

"Mmm. So should I deduce that you've met this killer, or thought you'd met him, somewhere in the past? Say, Seattle?"

"I should have gone to Ph.D. school," he murmured ruefully. "I'd be a lot smarter than I am." He looked out into the darkness of the parking lot. "And Alev and Kelly might still be home with their parents," he added, his voice bitter.

Jenna digested this. "Steven believed your lead, didn't he? And then you realized you were wrong and the whole investigation was in the toilet."

"Right again."

"So what now?"

He turned his head to look at her and she saw he was lost. Totally lost. "I don't know."

"Will you go back to Seattle?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. Not a whole helluva lot left for me there."

"So I take it you're not married."

"Was. Not anymore." Neil looked down at his hands. "I kind of got obsessed with a case."

"A serial killer of young girls in Seattle?"

He nodded. "Yeah."

"You didn't catch him then. What happened?"

For a minute she thought he wasn't going to answer, then he shrugged. "The evidence I gathered had been tainted."

"Like OJ.'s glove?" she asked wryly and he looked up at the sky with another unwilling smile.

"Just like that. I gathered it right. I swear I did. By the rules. By the book. Just like I'd done a hundred times before. But something happened. The records showed I'd been in the evidence room the night critical semen samples disappeared-and then reappeared the following morning."

'They accused you of contaminating evidence."

He nodded morosely. "And even though I had a concrete alibi, a fucking judge let a killer go."

"And because you blame yourself for not catching him then, you come all this way, bent on catching him now, only you're wrong and quite possibly made everything worse. Am I on target?"

He nodded. "Right once again."

"So you punish yourself for something you should have done or shouldn't have done."

"That's me."

Jenna shook her head. "That's bullshit."

He darted a quick look her way and scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means get a life, Neil. You goofed. Pick up and move on. Lots of people have."

"You mean like Steven."

Jenna heard the sneer in his voice as he said Steven's name. "Among others, yes. Why don't you like him, Neil? He's a good man."

Neil's laugh was hollow, launching warning bells in her head. He looked away, his jaw taut. "Do you know what it's like to lie awake and stare at the ceiling?" he asked, his voice hard.

"Yes," Jenna said unflinchingly.

"Night after night?" he pressed.

"Yes," Jenna answered.

"For years?"

"Yes." She could hear the edge in her voice. She was growing weary of his self-pity.

He fished in his pocket and brought out a pack of Win-stons, still in the plastic. "I haven't smoked in years."

"So don't start again now," Jenna snapped.

The corner of Neil's mouth lifted. "If my wife had been more like you…" He shoved the cigarettes back in his pocket, unopened. "So do you still lie awake night after night?" he asked.

She thought about the enveloping warmth of Steven's body during the night, the utter safeness of his arms around her, and couldn't stop the satisfied smile that curved her lips. "Not anymore."

He turned his head, only his head, and she was startled by the way his dark eyes had hardened. "Because of him."

"Yes," she said, but it came out crackly. She cleared her throat. "And you? Can you sleep?"

He nodded, then pulled the cigarettes from his pocket. Nervously tapped the pack against his palm. "The first night I saw you I slept for the first time in three years." He closed his hand into a fist, crushing the cigarettes. "And dreamed of you."

Jenna blinked, unsure of what to say. "Neil, I-"

Neil lurched to his feet. "Stop. Let's just leave it alone, all right?" He strode toward the parking lot and she jumped to her feet to follow him.

"Neil, wait."

He looked up at the stars, then back at her. "You really love him, don't you?"

She nodded, again not knowing what to say. So she said the truth. "I really do."

He took her hand, squeezed it. "I'll probably go back on the first flight tomorrow."

And as she looked at him, she saw a very lonely man who truly cared about the girls he believed himself to have failed. Her heart squeezing in compassion, she leaned up and kissed his cheek. "I hope you find peace, Neil."

He grimaced. "I'd settle for a good night's sleep."

Her mouth curved up. "Try counting ewes."

"Ah. Girl sheep."

She rolled her eyes. "I knew it was a guy thing." And he laughed as she smiled. He stepped away backward until he got to a tiny little car.

"Good luck, Jenna. I hope Steven's the good man you believe him to be. If I had a woman like you waiting for me, I sure as hell wouldn't be late."

Jenna's smile faded. "Safe travels, Neil."

Thursday, October 13, 6:30 P.M.

Neil watched her from his rearview mirror as he drove away, cursing himself for once again being in the right place at the wrong time and Thatcher for having all the good fortune. Then a Volvo wagon zoomed past him on the right and exited the school's parking lot in a cloud of dust.

Thatcher's Volvo. Of course.

"Well, damn," he said softly, though only half of him could regret Thatcher misinterpreting what he'd seen. The other half was glad. Jenna didn't deserve a volcano ready to blow. She was also alone, waiting for a man who wasn't coming to get her. And she still had to worry about Lutz and his friends as the next football game drew nearer. Those thugs were more than desperate.

He'd nearly returned to the front of the school when he heard her scream. Senses on full alert, he jumped from the car and pulled his Glock from the waistband at his back. " Jenna !"

She screamed again. Running, following the sound of her scream, he rounded the corner of the school where four big figures were dragging her toward the football field.