He'd had to pass psych tests when he enlisted in the Navy, and then again when he'd been a SEAL. Life seemed like one big test... Am I sane enough to handle what's coming? It had been easy enough to give the right answers. After all, he'd gotten good at lying from an early age.
Pretending my father wasn't an abusive bastard. Pretending every single day wasn't a nightmare.
After Jason's death, when he'd gone to join the FBI, there had been more tests... He'd gotten past them, too. But if the docs had known the truth about his father's passing, about how he'd stood there and watched the man die, a grim smile on his lips, Tucker knew he wouldn't have passed a damn thing.
"Couldn't help but wonder," he rasped out, "did my father turn Jason into a monster...or did he just pass that shit on down to my brother? Is it in the blood?" Then his laughter came, bitter and mocking. "Is it in me? Is that what you wonder now? Is it-"
"No." Her voice was flat. And suddenly, she was even closer, pressing her body tightly to his. "I don't wonder that about you. I see you."
She didn't always. Not right after he'd killed Jason and she'd run into the woods... Not weeks later when she'd cried in his bed. Not-
Dawn kissed him. He could taste the salt of tears in her kiss. She'd been crying for him. Silent tears while he told her his dark secret.
"I see you," she said again. "And I know what you are."
* * *
"CATHERINE..." BOWEN TRIED to keep his voice calm. The woman had been crying for the last ten minutes, not making any sense. He reached for her hands and pulled her up so that she stood right in front of him. "I need you to take a breath for me. Can you do that?"
Her breath shuddered out. She gave a nod. Her nose was red. Her eyes still streaming.
"You said that Heather's boyfriend worked for the FBI?"
"Y-yes... He'd just finished up a big case in Alabama...so he had some time off. He called. W-wanted her to meet him in New Orleans."
His heartbeat drummed in his chest. "I need a name, okay?"
She blinked.
"Give me his name. Just...tell me his name."
"Tuck." Her lips trembled. "She called him Tuck. Never heard his last name..."
Son of a bitch.
* * *
"DAWN!" HE COULDN'T find her. His brother had fallen into the water and Dawn had run into the woods. She was hurt, terrified, and he couldn't fucking find her. "Dawn, I swear, I am not going to hurt you."
Insects chirped back at him. He could hear a gator croaking from the river, but there was no sign of Dawn. "Baby, please, come out." He'd been searching for her, running desperately through those woods, but she seemed to have vanished.
Maybe she was unconscious. Maybe she couldn't call back out to him. He didn't know what all Jason had done to her.
Or maybe...maybe she was too afraid to call out.
She's afraid of me.
"He's gone. He's never going to hurt you again." Then Tucker heard a twig snap. He whipped around, looking to the left. "Dawn." She was huddled against a big, arching oak tree, nearly hidden by its trunk and drooping limbs.
He rushed toward her.
Dawn threw up her hands. "No!" Her cry cut through the night. "Stay away from me!"
Tucker stilled. He needed her in his arms. "Jason is gone. He won't ever hurt you again."
Her hands dropped. He risked a step in her direction.
"Don't be like him." Her quiet plea. "Don't hurt me."
He took another step. Another. And he realized that she'd heard him calling for her all along, but she'd hidden. Not because she thought Jason was still out there.
But because she was afraid of me.
His jaw locked. He stood in front of her. Didn't touch her, not yet. Tucker offered her his hand as she huddled on her knees. "I swear on my life, I would never hurt you."
Slowly, her hand reached for his.
* * *
TUCKER'S EYES FLEW OPEN. He stared up at the darkened ceiling as his heart raced in his chest. He could feel Dawn's body pressed against his, and he reached for the delicate hand that still lay over his chest.
He held her hand and hoped that she would always remember his promise.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
SOMEONE WAS POUNDING on the door.
Tucker frowned as he looked at his watch. Barely 7:00 a.m. He hurried toward the hotel suite door, wondering if there had been a break in the case. But he hadn't received any phone calls, and surely Bowen or Samantha would have notified him if they'd gotten a solid lead.
///
He checked the peephole.
Samantha. Bowen. Anthony.