Cynthia Eden - Abduction

A definite edge had entered her voice. “Yeah, that one.” He’d felt the same frustration that she was showing when he’d reviewed the material.

“I think the killer had done those same actions before. He knew how to clean up after himself. He knew how to make sure there wasn’t so much as a sliver of evidence left behind. This definitely wasn’t amateur hour.”

“That’s why you think we’re looking at a serial.”

“Her neck was broken. A personal, intimate death. That type of kill suggests that the perp wanted to have power over his victim. He liked the control.” She nodded. “That’s probably why he picked two young teen girls as his victims here in Hope—he thought we were weaker than he was, that he could control us both.”

“You’re profiling him.”

She rolled back her shoulders and finally caught that lock of hair that had been teasing her cheek. “I’ve taken some profile classes at Quantico, yes, but that’s not exactly my strong suit. You want someone who can get into a killer’s head?” Her lips lifted once again in a faint smile. “That would be my friend Samantha. When it comes to killers, she’s an absolute genius.”

Hayden found himself leaning closer to Jill. “You’re the one who saw him, face-to-face.” He’d just seen the back of the jerk’s head, his baseball cap, his dark shirt, his jeans as the guy ran toward the front of that old SUV. An SUV that had later been found, stripped down and abandoned, two towns over.

Her smile flickered. “I saw him, and I’m the one who should have been able to identify him. I know that.”

“Jill, that’s not what I—”

Sadness was heavy in her voice as she said, “I know Christy’s parents blamed me.”

His hand fisted on the sand.

“Did you know...they came to my grandmother’s house once?”

“What? You never said—”

“Her father had been drinking. Her mother was trying to keep him under control. He was yelling and saying that I could have stopped the killer. That I knew who he was. That it was my fault Christy was gone.” Her lips turned down. “Kept saying I shouldn’t be living when he was burying his daughter. That it wasn’t right. That it was my fault.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell me?” He jumped to his feet.

She tilted back her head and stared up at him. “Because I thought he was right. It was my fault. If I could have remembered more about the guy, if I could have described him better—”

“Jill,” he cut in, growling her name, and then he reached for her—breaking that no-touching rule—and hauled her up beside him. “Nothing that happened was your fault. You were a victim. Just that. You didn’t do anything wrong.”

The wind blew against them.

“I remembered he was wearing big sunglasses, and a baseball hat. He had a square jaw, and I think I saw a little bit of blond hair on the side of his head, peeking from beneath the hat.” He heard the faint click of her swallow. “He was tall, over six feet, I believe. And I remember thinking that he was far too strong.”

Hayden hated that man. Hated him.

“Peek tried to get me to do a sketch,” Jill said, “but that sketch could have been anyone. When the artist was done, I didn’t even recognize the picture I was staring at.” She gave a little laugh, one that sounded bitter and wrong coming from Jill. “Hell, right now, he could be you. You fit the description that I just gave. Blond, tall, strong, square jaw...is it any wonder that no one was able to find the guy?”

His hands tightened on her shoulders. “It wasn’t your fault.” He needed her to believe that.

“It wasn’t until I started my criminal justice courses that I realized...eyewitness testimony is notoriously unreliable.”

He didn’t let her go. Her voice had softened. He should back away. But he didn’t.

“Just with my work at the FBI, I’ve talked to so many witnesses...” She gave a sad shake of her head. “Witnesses who saw the exact same perp, but who described him in completely different ways. It’s just...unreliable. I was unreliable. I could have described the man totally wrong. Even adult witnesses describe perps the wrong way...so, of course, a thirteen-year-old kid who’d been traumatized would make mistakes.” She swallowed. “I made mistakes. To tell you the honest truth, I can’t even swear to what I saw today. Maybe he wasn’t blond. Maybe I was just thinking of you. You had such a big role in that day for me. Maybe you were all that I could see.”

She’d been all that he could see. The first person who’d looked at him as if he weren’t trash, as if he were someone who mattered. And then he’d seen her get taken.

I can’t lose her.

Those had been his thoughts that day. He remembered them perfectly.

I won’t lose her.

“It’s the human memory,” she whispered. “People think it’s like a video recorder or something but it’s not. The way people think...my friend Samantha said it’s more like putting puzzle pieces together. We have the bits and pieces there, but sometimes our mind makes jumps to fill in the rest for us. To close those gaps.”

The wind caught a lock of her hair once more and blew it over her cheek. His hand rose and brushed back that hair, and then his fingers lingered on the silk of her skin. “It wasn’t your fault. Nothing was.”

She sucked in a sharp breath and seemed to become aware of just how close they were.

Aware that he was touching her.

I need to back away.

He started to ease away. His hand slid down her cheek and—

Jill caught his hand in hers. “It’s because it hurts.”

Hayden’s eyes narrowed. “What hurts?” He never wanted Jill to feel pain. He would do anything necessary to see to it that she never suffered a single day of her life. Not—

“When you touch me, it hurts.”

Her words pierced the heart she’d always owned.

“It makes me feel too much. You make me feel too much. You always did.”

Was that good? Or bad?

“You make me want...” Jill said, giving a shake of her head. “You make me want things that I can’t have.”

Maybe they should be clear. She could have him anytime she wanted. Anytime, any way, any day. He was aroused for her right then. It was pretty much impossible for him to get close to Jill and not want her.

“That’s dangerous,” she continued, her voice husky. “You’re dangerous to me.”

No, he wasn’t. She was the safest person in the world when he was near.

Her body brushed against his. It had been so long since he’d held her. Dreams weren’t enough for him any longer. Memories could only get a man so far. She was close. He needed her.

A taste, just a taste to get him through...

“I never stopped wanting you,” Hayden confessed. It was time to make sure there were no secrets between them.

Her lashes lowered. Such thick, dark lashes. The sunlight made her red hair gleam. “I tried to stop wanting you,” she said.

He deserved that. Damn it. He sucked in a deep breath and made himself step back. “We shouldn’t stay out too long. You always burned too easily.” He should have brought her a hat. Or grabbed a beach umbrella. Her skin was so much paler than his own and—

Jill touched him. Her fingers curled around his wrist and Hayden stilled.

“I tried,” she said, “but then I came face-to-face with you, and I realized the need is still there.”

“Jill...”

“I’m not here to make the same mistakes. I’m here to get my life together. I’m here to end the past and to try and move on.”

Was she saying he was the past?

“If I’d known you were here...” She licked her lips and didn’t say another word.

“You wouldn’t have come,” Hayden finished. Damn, he hadn’t realized just how much Jill hated him. He didn’t want that. He couldn’t deal with that. Not from her.