(Blood and Bone, #2) Sin and Swoon(34)

I don’t get a chance to digest what we have found. Forensics and the local uniforms arrive, and my instincts kick in, take over.

We catalogue, we ID, we photograph everything, and we spend twenty-four straight hours living in their world. It isn’t even scratching the surface, but it is getting rid of the bodies, bagging and tagging so the morgue can start their work.

At the end of it all I am standing in the kitchen, admiring the view as the sun begins to set, just as I did when Ashley was here. I remember the view, but I had seen it from her eyes.

“You all right?”

I look at Rory as he walks into the house, and shake my head.

“I wish we’d found even one alive. I can’t believe he poisoned them all.”

“Apart from the one with the stab wounds in her back. She definitely didn’t get poisoned, right?”

That makes me lower my gaze. “No. She died a few days before the others. She was the reason our girl got out. Ashley escaped because that girl saved her.”

His right eye twitches. “I can’t talk about this in here, Jane. I don’t mean to flake on you, but this place—it’s freaking me out. Can we talk about it away from here where it’ll be more of a file and less of a reality? Those girls, their life here—I can’t.” He shakes his head and turns, waving a hand. “I’ll take spies and terrorism and hostages any day of the week over this shit. Let’s get the hell out of here. They have an address on the owner. We’re going to Seattle to check him out.”

I walk behind him, feeling the same vibe he is. I just want to be away from this.





12. Little Orphan Janey




The ring on my finger feels like it weighs a ton.

“Hey, did you talk to Rory today?”

I shake my head at Dash, not really into the conversation. There’s a pit in the bottom of my stomach. I stare out the window, finding horses in the clouds. I can’t help but wonder what Ashley or Bethany found in the clouds.

“I did. He says the address turned out to be another fiasco. The owner of the Granger Mountain home died in a tragic car accident two years ago. The mountain getaway and his place in the city are under contest, with several relatives warring over it all. It belonged to him and his wife. She died of cancer five years ago. They had a son and daughter and an adopted daughter.” Dash wrinkles his nose, tapping his fingers along the steering wheel. “Anyway, the biological son and daughter tried to screw the adopted daughter out of everything. Got the dad to sign everything over to them and leave the adopted girl out completely.” He shakes his head. “She was adopted when she was three years old. She’s been their little sister for thirty-something years, and they still tried to screw her over. I can’t even imagine people like that existing.” His voice fades off as he drives into a suburb that I’m starting to get scared his parents live in. Perfect homes for perfect families made of perfect people.

I twist the ring on my finger and nod, half listening.

“I guess we all know worse people exist, don’t we?” He gives me a look when we pause at a stop sign. “You okay?”

I look behind us, checking for other cars since he’s sitting at the sign. We have hardly seen any cars since we got into the suburbs. “I will be when we solve it. You know how I like to mull over details until we get it right? Are you going to go?” I ask.

“Not until you tell me you’re going to be with it and not obsessed with the case.”

I lean in, feeling myself stuck in the mind ride and the facts and the missing information. This distracted zombie act is one reason he hates that I do this job. I place the softest of kisses on his lips, resting there for a breath. “I can forget about it for the Thanksgiving weekend of doom you have planned for me. So long as you tell me you don’t live in this bullshit neighborhood with the perfect families everywhere?”

He winces. “I don’t live here.” He’s been acting funny too, and with him I know it’s not the case. He kisses back, smiling against my lips. “Stop being scared to meet my mother. She’s way less frightening than any of the files you’ve worked. She’s easy—bring her a drink and compliment her hair and jewelry, she’ll love you forever.”

I smile back, loving that he thinks his mom is scaring me, instead of my brain being stuck on a file that’s unsolved. He pulls back, stroking my cheek with his finger and staring into my eyes. For the first time I’m actually glad I didn’t take him with me to that place. I’m glad he completely screwed up and made Rory the bad guy. If I only see Rory a couple of times a year, no biggie. But seeing Dash every day might get hard if I imagine him doing those things to Ashley.