The Girl in the Mist (Misted Pines 1)

“If I try real hard, I can still taste it.”

She rested some of her weight against me before she pulled away.

Bohannan lifted his arm over my head and draped it on the back of the booth.

Jesse returned.

After resuming his sentry position, he declared, “I think I have to take a break from hunting this psycho to go down to Cuba.”

“I’ll be waiting for your call, Jesse Bohannan!” Kimmy yelled across the diner from her place at the door.

“I’m on it, Kimmy!” Jesse lied.

She glared at him then pushed out using more strength on the door than she needed.

The bell over it rang, and I could swear I heard the tinkle of her jingle bell earrings too.

It was official.

I was never leaving Misted Pines.

Sixteen

Elephant

I woke, petrified.

The dark pressed on me.

Celeste’s weight was a ghost resting against my side.

He was out there.

He was out there.

Not here, but out there.

I turned, reached for my phone, lifted it from its charger and engaged it.

I ignored the light from the screen assaulting my eyes and found the number.

She was in my time zone.

A glance at my clock said it was 2:37 in the morning.

I did not care.

She was trained. Her phone rang only twice before she answered, sounding fully alert.

“Ms. Larue.”

“I need to be moved,” I announced.

Agent Palmer said nothing.

“The town knows about me,” I noted.

“Yes, they do. And your team has assessed this, and we feel, as that has stayed under wraps, that you continue to be safe right now.”

“Those women,” I whispered.

“Ms. Larue.”

“What’s being done?” I demanded.

“You’ve done so well so far,” she muttered.

“What is being done, Agent Palmer?”

“What he’s doing is not your responsibility,” she said firmly.

“You do get you can say that. Freud could come alive, knock on my door, lay me on my couch and say that. Birds can start speaking English and say that. And I will still feel responsibility for what he’s doing to those women.”

“Your service reported those letters by the time you received your third one. We were aware of his tenacity. He gave no indication this would escalate as it did. And you’ll remember, Ms. Larue, that one day, it was your usual marriage proposal, same stationary, same exact words, almost like it was a tick, a habit he’d gotten into that was something he compulsively needed to do to live out his week, and then he was sending bombs and poisoning dogs and kidnapping women. We were all caught unaware.”

“You haven’t answered about what’s being done.”

“She shouldn’t have come visit you,” she mumbled.

I knew exactly what she meant by that.

“This isn’t on Celeste,” I snapped.

“She’s safer than you are, and you’re extremely safe.”

I felt my heart settle because that was the truth.

But it didn’t settle enough.

“Listen, it’s not protocol to share this,” Agent Palmer continued. “But when Bohannan was brought on board, he looked at your case, he did it thoroughly and he worked up a profile. This opened new avenues to the investigation, and we are…we feel we’re…” A long pause during which the specter of Celeste’s weight leaning against my side began to feel as heavy as an elephant. “We feel we might be close.”

“I think I need to leave the country.”

“Please, try to get some sleep, Ms. Larue. And if you’re still feeling that way tomorrow, the next day, we’ll talk again.”

I said nothing.

“This isn’t protocol to say either, but you have the best in the business at your back, Ms. Larue. And I’m not blowing sunshine.”

I sensed that.

It didn’t help.

“I’m sorry I woke you,” I said shortly.

“Try to get some rest,” she replied.

We hung up.

I put the phone back on the charge and stared into the dark.

My phone rang.

The screen told me Agent Palmer had a big mouth.

I picked it up and engaged it.

“I’m fine.”

“I’m coming over,” Bohannan growled.

I opened my mouth to speak but there was no one there to listen.

He’d hung up.

I turned on the bedside light, got up, slipped on my slippers, went to the armchair, pulled on my cardigan and left the room.

I went downstairs, turned on the little lamp on the kitchen bar, both ones on the table behind the couch, and went to hit the outside lights at the back.

I then stood by the security panel, and when I saw him coming, I disarmed it, walked to the door and opened it so he didn’t have to break stride as he stalked across the deck and into my house.

This I accomplished.

I closed the door and turned to him to see he was turned on me.

“What’s the matter?” he demanded.

“She shouldn’t have called you,” I replied.

“I’m the lead on your local detail. You’re making noises about switching your location. This means you’re getting agitated. Agitated is not a good state for anybody, and not something any security detail will take lightly. She’d be reprimanded if she didn’t call me.”