“Are you sure?” Part of me now hopes that they had made some kind of mistake.
“We made positive ID. Detective Montgomery went down to Corpus Christi himself to make sure.”
“Oh God. Do you know what happened?”
“No, I’m sorry I don’t have any other answers for you at this time. Please know we are doing all we can in a combined effort with them to get answers. We are actively looking for anyone who has information regarding this.” I reach out with my hand, clinging to Brayden’s under the table.
“I need to see her. Brayden, will you take me?”
“Of course,” he says.
“Detective Montgomery thought that you might say that. He said for you to give him a call and he would make the arrangements for you. Again. I’m sorry for your loss.” He picks his folder up from the table and walks back out without a goodbye.
I sit there frozen, completely numb. “She’s dead.”
“I’m so sorry, Lizzie. Let’s go back to the house and get a few things and we can go.”
“If it’s okay, I want to go now. I can’t wait.”
I’m not ready to say goodbye. Part of me hopes, as we make the way to Corpus Christi, Detective Montgomery tells me they made a big mistake.
Yellow is usually a cheerful color. I’m not sure I’ll ever see it again without imagining it stretched out around the scene, fencing in officers who step lightly, screening the ground. A man crouches, surveying Linda like a child watching an anthill. His face remains grim but analytical, like whatever he’s studying is not a young woman with leaves tangled between locks of brown hair that she was so meticulous about taking care of. Like her clothes are layers of earth and not torn, bloody shreds. Like she’s a rock and not a cold lump of what was human flesh.
Like she’s not dead.
Tears blur my vision as if my brain realizes I can’t handle what I’m seeing, and it’s doing its best because I’m frozen, too frozen to turn away, to even close my eyes, to draw breath.
Brayden’s hand cups my shoulder. “Let’s go.”
A sip of air teases my tongue but it can’t get past the tight throat.
“Lizzie, let’s go,” he says again. “You’ve seen her. There’s nothing we can do here.”
I open my mouth, but I can’t speak without breath. It’s that need, the starved feeling that finally forces my mind back on to myself. I draw in a deep gasp. Then lose control of everything else. Brayden’s arms are the only thing that are holding me up.
“We can’t leave, Brayden. Promise me we’ll stay here until we can bring her home.”
“Yeah. We’ll get a place close by. We can call the detective to let him know where he can find us.”
Brayden pulls me tightly into his chest, his big muscular arms fencing me in, making me feel safe. “I swear to you, Lizzie, I am going to find the bastard who did this to her and I won’t stop until I’ve spilled his blood.”
137
Brayden
I brush my fingers through the silky ringlets of her hair, coaxing her to relax. “Sleep,” I whisper, pulling the blankets up to cover us once more.
She shuffles, lifting her head off my chest to roll over on her side. “I can’t. I’m lying here in this hotel, too keyed up to sleep. I’m filled with so much rage and hurt that I want to break something to see if it makes me feel better.”
I understand what she feels and know there are very few things to ease the pain that comes from such a great loss. I watch as she crawls out of the bed and begins to pace the floor.
“You’re too keyed up, and you need to just let loose and blow off some steam.”
“I’m willing to try anything.”
“Let’s shift and go for a run.”
“Not something I ever done before.”
I roll to face her. “You never let the cat out of the bag?”
She fights hard not to smile. I hate seeing what this pain is doing to her and would give anything to take it away.
“Funny,” she says. “Didn’t expect you to have jokes.”
“Just because I’m serious, doesn’t mean I don’t have a sense of humor.”
“I only ever shifted with my mother. After she died, I spent most of my life hiding who I am, trying my best to fit in and be normal.”
I roll off the bed and step in front of her. “I hope to never be normal,” I state. “Normal is overrated.”
“Brayden, I can’t.”
“Why?”
She turns her back to me. I’m not willing to let her shut me out. Not when I know she needs me.
“Stop. Please.”
I reach over and catch her hand. “Come here.” I lead her to the edge of the bed. “Sit down.”
Her defenses are up and the last thing I want to do is build a wall between us. When she sits down, I take both of her hands into mine.
“Look at me, Lizzie. It takes a greater amount of strength to let go than it does to hold on. I can help make the pain go away, if you let me.”
She turns into me, pressing her face against my shoulders to hide the tears.
“Shh… It’s okay. Let it out.”
“Brayden. Make the pain go away. Even if just for a little bit.
“Okay.”
Shifting during the day isn’t a new thing for me, but I want to make sure we will be safe. “Come with me. I know a safe place we can go, where no one will bother us.”
As sad as this is, her having to see Linda that way, she has to take care of herself. All of this is what we must do if we are going to keep our heads on straight, since we’re about to go to war. I want to make sure I give her all the support she needs.
“This view is amazing. I imagine how great it must be to be able to roam
