stayed there before she moved.
Her body ached. In other circumstances, she would have said it was from sexual
satiety, but right now all she felt was used. Moving as though she were an old
woman, Jill found her bag. She’d packed a sweat suit and sneakers, knowing they
would likely leave at a time when the dress she’d worn the previous evening
wouldn’t be suitable.
After pulling the sweatpants and jacket on over her nude
body, she slipped her feet in the sneakers and scraped her hair back into a
ponytail. She stuffed her other belongings back in the oversize bag then
grabbed the dress she’d worn the previous evening. With nausea roiling in her
gut, she tossed it in the trash and left the room.
Jill checked the glove compartment when she got in the car. He’d
used the spare key to retrieve his service weapon and she sighed with relief.
Still holding herself in check, keeping her mind blank, Jill adjusted the seat,
checked the mirrors and started the car. She busied herself with the details of
those tasks to keep from thinking about emotions she couldn’t process yet.
The streets were still deserted so early on a Sunday
morning. Maybe she could get home without encountering anyone awake in their
neighborhood. She was pretty certain she couldn’t face her neighbors and
actually smile and wave as if her entire world hadn’t come crashing around her
ears. No. She wasn’t even close to Kevin when it came to acting ability. He’d
actually convinced her he’d never met Adam before.
Luck was with her. Jill pulled his car into the garage next
to hers and triggered the automatic door before walking inside their neat
kitchen. She dropped her purse on the counter then wrenched at her wedding band
and engagement ring. After yanking them off, she dropped them next to her purse
and staggered along the hallway, stripping her clothes along the way.
Once the water in the shower was as hot as she could stand
it, she stepped beneath the needlelike spray and scrubbed her skin. She berated
herself for overreacting. Logic told her to wait for Kevin’s explanation, to
give him and Adam both a chance to explain.
But she was so angry and her anger won. She had been so
confident a threesome would just be a night of fun, a fantasy fulfilled.
Instead it turned into one night she might well regret for the rest of her
life.
Once she’d dried, Jill donned fresh clothing, pulled out
Kevin’s luggage and methodically packed his clothes. As she filled a case, Jill
dragged it to the kitchen until she had three full-size suitcases and a duffel
bag in a neat line. That done, she blew out a long breath and opened the
sliding-glass doors onto the deck so she could go outside. Working in the yard
had always been her therapy. Maybe, just maybe, it would work now. And it would
keep her from staring at those suitcases and changing her mind.
* * * * *
If their sergeant thought it strange Kevin and Hell arrived
in the same car, he didn’t say anything, just looked at them both and jerked
his head over his shoulder. “We’ve got a Jane Doe back there. Jogger found her
this morning.”
Adam’s heart skipped a beat, all the issues with Jill going
straight out of his head. “It’s not Addy Brown, is it?”
“Too old. This one looks as though she’s late twenties,
early thirties. Hard to tell. Looks as if she might’ve been an addict.”
“So why call us?” Kevin asked, his gaze shadowed with a lot
more than concern over the Jane Doe.
“Did you get a chance to go through the cold-case file I
gave you?”
“Yeah,” Kevin told him. “Hell and I both agree there could
be a link. We’ve started cross-referencing for similarities. So?”
“This Jane Doe has a couple of the identifying marks linked
to our cold-case missing girl.”
Adam shifted, not liking where this was heading. “So ten
years ago, a pretty high school senior disappears then ten years later, her
body turns up within spitting distance from where another teenager
Sharon Kleve, Jennifer Conner, Danica Winters, Casey Dawes