Page 53 of Hidden With You

She shifted, leaning back so that she was looking at him directly. “I love you. I love you, and because I do, I want you to figure it out. I want you to know who took Bonnie and Sandra away from you. Please let me help you try to figure it out. I told you I thought I could. And I meant it. I know you think it’s silly, but I might see something you don’t.”

He stroked her hair then rubbed the pad of his thumb along her lower lip. “Are you sure? I don’t want their shadows in our relationship.”

“But of course they’re in our life. They were your life. Where else would they be? And you deserve answers. So do they.”

He didn’t think it would do any good. After all, he’d been working the case for a decade. And at the same time, he never wanted to let this woman go. And if walking this path beside him was what she wanted to do, then he would accept that. Because there was no way he was going to give up. He’d meant what he said. Sandra and Bonnie deserved to be free too. And it filled his heart with joy to know that Zelda felt the same way.

“All right,” he said. “We’ll work this together. We’ll figure it out.” He rolled over and started to get out of bed. She tugged him back.

“Hold on there. Where do you think you’re going?”

“I thought I might grab a shower.”

“Slacker. Let’s think about this.”

“We don’t have to right now.”

“Yes we do. You had a dream.” She grabbed her phone. “You need to tell me about it before you forget. And I’m going to record it.”

He did, telling her as much as he could, but it was hard. The bits and pieces kept disappearing the way they do when dreams turn to smoke.

“Run it through for me again. You might remember more.”

And so he told her once again.

“Hiding in plain sight,” Zelda said. “Never seeing it coming and looking in the right place. Does that mean anything to you?”

He shook his head. “No. Nothing.”

“Sounds to me like your subconscious thinks that you already know the answer. I mean, hiding in plain sight seems pretty definitive.”

“Well, then my subconscious is a filthy bastard because it’s not telling me a thing.” He squeezed her hand. “I know you want to help. But we should probably move on. I don’t think interpreting dreams is the kind of thing that happens when you force it. It’ll probably come to me in the shower.”

She wiggled her brows. “Well, showers are something I can definitely be talked into.”

“Something we agree on.”

He slid out of bed and held out his hand to her. She took it but stayed on the mattress as she asked, “What about motive?”

“I’ve thought about that for years. I have no idea. Other than me, I don’t know what it could be.”

“What were you working on at the time?”

“That’s the thing. You’d think it would be related to my work. But I’d taken three months of leave. I’d been injured, and it was summer. Bonnie was going to be starting first grade, and we wanted to spend time. They were killed at the end of the summer. Right before school started. You’d think that anybody who’d been pissed off at me on my last case would’ve attacked a little bit earlier.”

“But maybe not. What was the last case?”

He could tell that she was determined, which meant that he wasn’t getting his sexy, soapy shower any time soon.

“If we’re not showering, we’re eating. I need food to think.” He let go of her hand long enough to grab her robe and toss it to her.

“Fine. You cook. I’ll make notes.”

Moments later, she was in her fluffy robe and settled at the dining table. He was cracking eggs as he rattled off the cases that he’d worked immediately prior to that horrible summer. He’d been over this so many times he could do it from memory. There were a half dozen matters, and not a single one of them seemed like a good probability. Something he’d ruled out years ago, and which, by the end of breakfast, she’d ruled out as well.

“I warned you. You wanted in on this mystery. And it is one.”

“So if it wasn’t related to one of your cases, it had to be personal. You must have enemies. From earlier cases. A longtime vendetta and someone saw an opportunity. Like somebody who held a grudge after you cut them off in a parking lot, assuming that’s a metaphor for something a hell of a lot bigger.”

“I have enemies, yes. It comes with the whole MI6 thing. But you do know that we’re not going to solve the mystery this morning. Right?”

She scowled. “I know. I just...”

“What?” he said.

“I just want this for you.”

His heart melted a little. “I know,” he said. “And for that, I love you desperately.”