He could tell by the haunted look in her eyes that sadness still clung to her heart, but determination remained there, too. Good. He wouldn’t expect to see anything less in her gaze. Those dark green irises could still hold him captive. Tori stood close and he caught another whiff of her coconut shampoo. Her face was clean and free of makeup. She was beautiful just like this.
“Thank you, Ryan. For being here for me. For being there for Sarah. I started reading through her emails and she mentioned how you helped a few times when her car broke down. Or she needed to borrow something. You made her feel safe.”
He shrugged, grief strangling him. “Just doing my duty.”
“It was more than that, and you know it. You were kind of like a big brother to her.” He’d treated Sarah like a little sister when he and Tori had been together before. And he hadn’t stopped just because Tori had broken his heart.
It hit him that Tori was all alone now. Where he had three siblings, she’d lost the only sibling she had.
He wasn’t sure how it happened, but Tori was suddenly wrapped in his arms. It felt right and good for all the reasons it shouldn’t. He knew better than to think anything lasting could come of this. Still, they’d shared a bond once, and now that bond had moved to one of deep loss. He wished he could hold her for as long as it took for the pain to leave them both. Wished he could convince her to go to the safety of South Carolina, or that she’d become willing to believe that he could solve this—that he wouldn’t let her down. But that was all fantasy.
And Ryan lived in the real world.
She stepped away from his embrace and stood taller as she wiped her eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t have to be.” Tenderness coursed through him. He wanted to pull her back in his arms. He wished they could turn back time and have another go at a life together. Maybe Sarah could still be here with them, too, if he was going to wish for impossible things.
“We both have work to do, Ryan.” She opened the door and effectively dismissed him.
FIVE
He almost looked hurt. “Be sure to set the alarm.”
“I will.” Tori couldn’t exactly slam the door in his face, so she waited for him to walk away.
He held her gaze for a moment longer, then turned and walked down the sidewalk. She watched him until he got into his vehicle and then, finally, he drove away.
Tori closed the door, locked it and dutifully set the alarm. Then she remembered the window. She headed to the room where she’d slept while here and saw that the techs had at least put plastic over the window. The frame was still in place—funny the alarm was armed but she had a gaping hole in her house, for all practical purposes.
She grabbed her cell and texted her father to ask when he would be over to board it up. She could do it herself, except her shoulder still hurt. Plus, she knew her father and he would be hurt if she didn’t allow him this one small gesture of help.
Dad texted back that he was at the hardware store and would be by the house later in the day. She loved her parents so much and was glad that she could be close to them at this difficult time—just not too close. They each needed space to grieve in their own way. And her way of grieving was working to find Sarah’s murderer. She needed to help Ryan. She settled on the sofa and set her weapon on the side table, glad to have it back.
Finally she could focus—at least until Dad got here. She concentrated on reading through Sarah’s emails to her over the last several years.
It seemed like a long shot, but it was a good start. Some of them, she’d forgotten completely. She snacked on Doritos and chocolate and guzzled more sodas—almost as if she and Sarah were hanging out. Laughing and crying together.
Her cell buzzed. Mom. She texted her back that she’d be over for pot roast this evening but couldn’t come over early since she was busy at the moment and also was waiting on Dad to fix the window.
Her phone buzzed again. Only this time it was a call from Ryan. She pursed her lips. She didn’t trust her voice to sound steady just now. She texted him that she was all right, on the off chance he was calling to check up on her.
He wasn’t much better than her parents when it came to the smothering, and that thought sent odd and yet familiar sensations through her.
I have work to do. She pushed thoughts of Ryan away to focus on the emails.
One email sent only two months ago made mention of an issue regarding land pollution. Sarah had said she was heading to Sacramento, California’s capital, to protest. Tori sat up. With this email, she might be getting somewhere. Sarah had always been about social justice issues as well as environmental causes. Following this small clue could lead her nowhere, but Tori had to start somewhere. Though there were more emails to read, she could get back to those after a little digging on this.
After researching online, she finally found the name of a guy who had organized a protest in Sacramento over an agricultural pesticide used on commercial farms. The event had taken place around the same time as Sarah’s email. Tori decided to go with it.
The guy’s name was Dee James and he headed up an organization called A Better World.
It wouldn’t hurt to call him to ask if he knew Sarah. Tori searched through online databases until she found the person she believed was the right man, though she couldn’t be sure. There were a few
