Page 43 of Hunting Justice
She nodded, then picked up the chair from the floor and sat. “Okay. I’m good.”
He quirked a brow. “No, you aren’t, but it’s understandable.” His gaze drifted to the screen and the photos staring back at him. “I was waiting for evidence, and now we have it. I think it’s time to call Matt and Decia.”
“I…” She swallowed hard.
He waited her out, not pushing.
“No one knows about me.” The pain in her eyes raked his heart.
“Come here.” He tugged her into a hug and rubbed her back. “Why is it so important that it remains a secret?”
Her cheek rested on his chest. “Because my scars are ugly, and it’s a constant reminder of how stupid I was.”
“Oh, Elle. The scars won’t matter to your friends. Sure, they’ll empathize with you, but they will not pity you. And as far as you being stupid, I don’t think so. You were young. And let’s be honest. Yes, you could have listened to your gut, but how many times do any of us ignore that internal warning? It rarely turns out as tragic as what you experienced. Give yourself some grace.”
The front of his shirt turned damp and warm. He hadn’t realized she’d started crying.
A few minutes later, she pulled away and wiped at his shirt. “Sorry that I got you all wet.”
“I’ll dry.” He brushed the hair from her forehead. “Better?”
She stared at him through watery eyes. “Yeah, I actually am.”
“Good. Are you ready to continue?”
She nodded. “You call Matt and Decia while I go get an extra flash drive from my office. We’ll give them the original, but I plan to make a copy for us.” Noelle strode down the hall, leaving him alone with his thoughts.
He forced himself to focus on the task at hand and not the possibility of Noelle’s serial killer out there on the loose. He grabbed his cell phone and hit Matt’s speed dial number.
Jonah opened another file while he waited for his friend to answer. The image knocked the wind from him. His failure slammed into him—again. A crumpled car so similar to Cara’s accident it made him want to puke. The girl’s injuries mimicked his deceased wife’s. Injuries he’d had no power to keep from killing her.
“Detective Williams.” Matt’s voice drifted down a long tunnel. “Hello?”
He shook off the image of the accident. “Hey, Matt, it’s Jonah.”
“Hey, Doc. What can I do for you?”
He ran his finger against the flash drive. “I have something I need to show you. Can you and Decia come over to Noelle’s?”
“Does this have anything to do with what y’all weren’t telling us?”
“Yes.” His gaze never left the photos in front of him.
“I’ll grab Decia. We’ll be there in twenty minutes.”
Jonah hung up and stared at the accident scene on the screen.
Over the years, he’d saved so many people in the emergency room. But faced with the life-and-death situation of the person who meant the most to him, he’d failed.
How had God let him become one of the best ER doctors on the east coast and not allowed him to save his own wife?
NINE
FRIDAY, 3:00 P.M.
Noelle’s pulse hadn’t stopped racing. Until now, she’d assumed the man who’d abducted her had disappeared, and she’d let her mind believe it. The idea her serial killer might still be out there torturing and murdering innocent young women scared the daylights out of her. What if he found her and finished what he’d started fifteen years ago? She swallowed the bile rising in her throat and took three deep breaths. She refused to fall apart.
Determination high to finish what she’d started and find the man who’d destroyed so many lives, she strode to the kitchen and stuffed her fears down tight. “Found one.” She stopped in her tracks.