So far, it looked as though he was the only thing connecting every victim, including Laura Bright.

  * * *

  Noah sat at the dining room table, staring at the computer screen and examining the photo file Emily had provided. It was eerie seeing this part of his past captured in such detail. Considering how much video was taken every second of every day and night, it was unimaginable to think that anybody got away with criminal acts.

  Curious about the sources of the pictures, he asked Emily where they had come from.

  “We asked friends of the victims for any records they had of the deceased from as far back as their acquaintance went. Most were from college days.” She circled to show him, laying her hand over the computer mouse.

  “Wait. Stop.” Noah reached for the mouse and found his fingers resting atop Emily’s. Because she didn’t jerk away, he left his hand in place. Her skin was warm and soft. Her hair was damp from a shower and smelled like oranges. He looked up at her as she leaned over his shoulder. The temptation to tilt his head toward her until they touched was strong and growing stronger.

  Emily turned toward him slowly. He could feel her breath on his cheek, see her lips parting slightly. Close enough to kiss. Close enough to get him in a pile of trouble if he stepped over the line, Noah reminded himself as he forced his mind back to the images on the screen, cleared his throat, and asked, “Have you been studying the backgrounds?”

  “I assume an investigative team did. Why?”

  He pointed. “Look at this one.”

  “I see a crowded dance floor. Who or what am I supposed to be looking for?”

  “Me. There. See?”

  When she leaned closer to look, he sat back in his chair to give her space. What he’d seen was not unusual, but it had brought back bits of buried memory.

  “What about it?” Emily asked.

  “I’m not sure. That picture gave me a nervous feeling and I don’t know why. I wonder if something happened, either that night or in that same place.”

  To his surprise, Emily grinned. “Scoot over. We captured that as a screenshot. I may have the whole video.”

  Standing, he relinquished the chair and let her work. He’d never particularly enjoyed dancing, but his friends had often cajoled enough to get him up and moving. As far as Noah was concerned, a good long run was far superior to hopping around in time with music. Running unwound his nerves and provided a peaceful time for introspection. Some of his best, clearest thinking came about when his feet hit the ground with a steady rhythm and the rising sun gave him a sense of a new day bringing fresh opportunities.

  The busier his life got, the less frequently he ran, which was actually self-defeating, he reminded himself. The trouble with jogging in and around Paradise, however, was being stopped by people who wanted to chat or relay gossip. Perhaps, now that he was incognito, he’d be able to squeeze in a little exercise in a neighborhood where he wasn’t known. It was worth considering, providing he didn’t get mugged. Smith was right about blending in. The less attention he called to himself, the less chance of a problem.

  Emily disturbed his short reverie. “Got it!” She was pointing at the screen. “This is it, right?”

  Noah peered at the grainy footage. “Looks like it. I see myself and recognize a couple of others. A few more seem familiar, but I can’t think of their names.” He caught himself frowning. “Sorry.”

  “It’ll come to you. Give yourself a chance.”

  As he straightened, he shook his head. “That would be fine if somebody wasn’t eliminating people from my past.”

  “And from your present,” Emily added. “Remember Laura Bright.”

  “How can I forget? Has there been any word on the woman who knifed Anderson at the hospital and slammed you with the cleaning cart?”

  “Unfortunately, no. Partial prints on the IV by Laura’s bed are a match to ones found on the jimmied window of my bedroom, but that’s really all we have. There’s no record of that person in any data bank.”

  “Too bad.”

  “Yeah, no kidding.” Emily hesitated. “Look, why don’t you stay and watch the whole video while I finish posting clues and mark possible connections between each victim. Maybe something else will occur to you if you try to imagine yourself back a few years, dancing with pretty girls.”

  Noah snorted a wry chuckle. “Pretty on the outside, maybe, but not always sweet inside.”

  “Jot that down, too,” she suggested. “When a name pops into your head, make a note of it and of anything else you can recall about that person.”

  “It’s going to be random,” Noah warned her.

  “That’s what we want. Anything and everything. We can sort it out later. If you stop to think about each memory, your subconscious is liable to form a story. What you need to be cautious about is the mind’s tendency to fill in details that aren’t accurate. Our brains crave order. We want to make sense of things, and if the actual details are lacking, it’s possible false ones will fill the void.”

  “Which is why ten people can see the same crime committed and give different descriptions.”

  “Right.” She laid a hand gently on his forearm and looked up into his eyes. “I trust you to be totally honest with me. I just don’t want you to embellish anything because you want so badly to help. Understand?”

  “Completely.” Noah sighed deeply. “The only reason I’m here at all is to help you, you know.”

  “I was afraid you were feeling responsible.”

  “Not at all. I’ve racked my brain, and I know I haven’t said or done a single thing to trigger violence. Not in the past, not lately.”

  “How can you be sure?”

  “Because my life is not lived on the edge the way yours is, Em. I don’t pursue people and put them in jail. I defend them, and a big portion of my work is pro bono, as well.”

  He saw her gaze narrow, felt her lift her hand from his arm, saw her backing away. Finally she stood very still, looking at him as if he had just morphed into Public Enemy Number One.

  “In other words,” she said, “you’re the good guy and I’m the villain?”

  “I didn’t mean that. Don’t be so touchy.”

  “Touchy? Touchy? I’m a cop, Noah, and a good one. We uphold laws that most people look for ways to circumvent. And when we do catch them, society does its best to get them a slap on the wrist and send them out to continue breaking laws.”

  “By society, I take it you mean attorneys and judges.”

  “I do.”

  Hesitating to carefully choose his words, Noah decided to speak his mind. Emily certainly had. “You realize what you’re doing, don’t you?”

  “Telling the truth,” she answered quickly.

  “No. You’re prejudging my profession the same way you complain that people prejudge you. Even the men and women who backed the release of the man who killed your fiancé were doing what they thought was right. All any conscientious judge or jury can do is their very best at that moment in their lives.”

  The sight of moisture glistening in her eyes was almost enough to stop him, but not quite. Emily was never going to heal until she was able to forgive others for what happened in the past and learn to forgive him for wanting to aid the hopeless.

  Approaching, he tenderly took her hand, clasping it between both of his. “The past is the past. Yes, it hurts. It probably always will. The people involved made mistakes. Very human mistakes. We’re all fallible, Emily. Even you.”

  She jerked her hand from his, wheeled and limped from the room, leaving Noah behind. The off-duty, cereal-eating cop made a sound of derision. “That went well.” He picked up his empty bowl and gestured with it. “Next time, do what I did with this stuff.”

  Noah snorted. “What’s that?”

  “Put a little sugar on it when you try to feed it to her. A hard truth is always easier to swallow if it’s sweetened.”

  TWELVE

  A tiny spark of truth in what Noah had said kindled a bonfire in Emily’s mind. She wanted to scream at him for being wrong, for not trying to understand how she felt, yet some inner force was holding her back. That was why she’d left him so abruptly and why she was presently pacing the floor in the tiny, dimly lit bedroom.

  Most of the time, when criticism came her way, Emily was able to disregard it, so why did it hurt so much when Noah failed to appreciate her point of view? Surely, it wasn’t because she cared more about his opinion than that of others, was it? That possibility did exist despite her best efforts to dismiss it. To dismiss him. Was there that much hero worship lurking in her buried memories of the young man he’d once been?

  An alternative idea was whirling through her mind, and no matter how much she denied it, touches of rationality clung to the notion. Did she admire the man he had become? Was it possible to disagree so vehemently and still appreciate the good he was trying to do in the world?

  “No,” Emily insisted aloud in the empty room. People like Noah did their best to thwart all the good she and her fellow officers were also trying to do. How could she look up to someone who pitted himself against her?

  However, he did seem to be trying to help in this instance, didn’t he? Could he have touched on a glimmer of truth when he’d contrasted her attitude with that of private citizens who misunderstood the goal of the police force?

  “No,” she said flatly. “Just, no.”

  A knock on her door startled her. Expecting to see Noah, she jerked open the door. “What?”

  It was Smith, and he was grinning. “At ease, Zwalt. I’m just the messenger.”

  “Sorry. What’s up?”

  The undercover cop hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “That lawyer in there is practically jumping up and down. He says he’s found something.”

  “Gotcha. Thanks.” Emily sidled past him and almost ran back down the hallway. The hopeful expression on Noah’s face raised her spirits, too.

  He stood and offered her the chair in front of the laptop. “Go back about ten minutes and watch this all the way through.”

  “What am I looking for?”

  “Expressions. Don’t watch me, watch the crowd. You’ll see.”

  If Noah had not been fidgeting and standing so close behind her, Emily might have been able to concentrate better. As it was, she would have missed the clue he’d found if he hadn’t pointed when the video reached the scene he’d mentioned.

  “There. Along the wall. See her?”

  Emily hit Pause. A nondescript woman in her twenties was leaning with her back against the wood paneling. Her arms were crossed as if she was barely able to control anger, and her eyes narrowed as they tracked Noah’s progress across the room in the company of several blonde women.

  “Who is that?” Emily asked him.

  “Beats me. But she sure doesn’t look happy. Am I imagining it, or is she glaring daggers at me? No pun intended.”

  “I don’t think it’s you,” Emily replied. “I think she’s staring at the girls you’re with. Can you identify them?”

  Leaning closer, Noah touched the screen. “That’s Annie. And Kit is in the background. See?”

  “What about the other one? It looks like you have a girl on each arm.” As she spoke, Emily had to tamp down an undeniable jolt of jealousy.

  “We were all just casual friends,” Noah said. “I’m not positive about it, but that may be a roommate of Annie’s. Her name’s on the tip of my tongue, I just can’t quite come up with it. It was kind of unusual.”

  “She’s blonde, too.” Emily started paging through the lists in the police file until she came to the one she sought. “Here. This may be her. Does Vangie Mead ring a bell?”

  “I think that’s it. Where is she these days?”

  “Memphis,” Emily said. “There’s a chance she may remember who the grump is who was watching you.”

  “Are we going to Memphis?”

  “No.” Emily shook her head. “That’s not necessary. We can contact the police there and have them interview her about this video. Anybody else?”

  “Not so far. I still have hours of video to watch, so maybe I’ll see something later.”

  Slipping to the side so Noah could resume his seat at the computer, Emily said, “Okay. I’ll call my chief and get things moving.” She took a couple of steps. “One other thing. I’m sorry I got upset at you. You’re entitled to your opinion.”

  “And you’re entitled to yours,” he began smiling, “even if you are wrong.”

  * * *

  The astonishment on Emily’s pretty face was so comical Noah had to laugh. To his relief, she responded in kind. It had been so long since he’d heard her actually laugh, he was shocked that the sound was so warmly familiar. He might not remember the names of all the women he’d met since leaving Paradise, but the one he’d left behind was surprisingly unforgettable.

  “Agree to disagree?” she asked.

  “Yes.” Noah offered his hand, and she accepted it, but instead of shaking the way business acquaintances would, he simply held her hand for a long moment. Her lack of resistance wasn’t full acceptance, but it felt like a step in the right direction. Anything that broke down the walls she’d built around herself was bound to help her heal from the loss that had hardened her heart. That was one of his goals, he realized, accepting the notion easily. It had to happen.

  He wanted to congratulate her for coming this far but held back. Nothing he said or did was guaranteed to reinforce this change in her opinion, and the less he drew attention to their newly found middle ground, the better.

  “I’ll get back to work, shall I?” Noah suggested, canting his head toward the computer.

  “Of course. Absolutely. I’ll call Chief Rowlings and explain everything. He can take it from there.”

  “Good.” Noah picked up a pencil and jotted down the time stamp on the video he’d been watching so he could locate it again. When he looked up, Emily had her back to him and was speaking into her phone. He couldn’t help overhearing.

  “I’ll take a couple of screenshots and forward the details to you. We got the video from her, so she should be easy for the Memphis department to locate.”

  Replying to whatever Rowlings said next, Emily added, “Yes. He’s still working on it. Yes, you were right. He’s one of the good guys.”

  Noah didn’t care whether she ever told him the same thing or not. It was enough to hear her admit it to her boss. The funny thing was, he truly didn’t care what most people thought of him as long as he was doing his God-given job to the best of his ability. Max mattered, of course. So did Olivia. But beyond them and a few men he’d worked with in the city, the only other person whose opinion carried any weight at all was Emily Zwalt. Officer Emily Zwalt.

  That was the biggest drawback. If he’d been positive she’d entered law enforcement because of a dedication to the profession, he might not be so concerned. Unfortunately, the more he learned about her past and saw the way she behaved on duty, the more he questioned her true motives.

  If, as she claimed, she had chosen to become a police officer to enforce laws and keep the peace, then fine. Since her wounded heart had led her there in order to right a wrong that could never be changed, she was liable to take too many chances and risk her own life too often.

  Someday, somehow, he was going to have to try to get her to see that mending a broken heart didn’t require a full-on, frontal attack. It wasn’t nearly that easy. They all carried invisible scars that would always be with them. Emily had the tools to work with to effect her healing because she had faith in God and Jesus that would eventually lead her to forgiveness of the ones who had caused her such pain. And after that, she’d be able to forgive herself.

  * * *

  The morning sun was just rising when Emily’s phone beeped. Jolted awake, she grabbed at it, dropped it, and retrieved it off the carpeting. “Zwalt.”

  “You awake?”

  The urge to quip I am now passed when she realized who the caller was. “Yes, Chief. What’s up?”

  “You need to get over to Memphis ASAP.”

  “Did they catch the attacker?”

  “Afraid it’s not that simple. A unit was sent to check the premises when Ms. Mead didn’t answer her phone. They found her, all right.”

  Emily stifled a gasp. “Dead or alive?”

  “Alive. Apparently she fought back, and the attacker fled. They found her hiding in a closet, hysterical. I want you standing by with Holden when she’s calmed down enough to be interviewed. I assume you still know where he is.”

  “He’s here at the safe house. We can be on the road in a few minutes. Which hospital?”

  “I’ll text you the details while you drive. Keep the unmarked car. You’ll look less official.”

  “No uniform?” she asked, frowning.

  “We don’t have yours back yet. Forensics needed to test the blood on them before cleaning. Just wear whatever you like as long as you’re well armed.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  It occurred to her to wonder about adding a protective vest beneath her civilian clothing. If there were spares in the trunk of the cruiser, she’d take them out and see if one would fit Noah. There was more likelihood of that than there was of finding one small enough for her.

  Not that she was too concerned about being attacked again. Memphis police doubtless had the hospital and victim well covered. Their techs would be going over Vangie Mead’s apartment, too. It was going to be interesting to see if any prints matched the ones already on file.