The Departed

could live with his actions. But the consequences might be walking away from his career, and it started with staying out of this now. Even if he could objectively look at any of it.
    Dez squeezed his hand and he looked down at her. “Do you want to stay here?”
    I’m not leaving —
    He wanted to tell her that.
    Blake cleared his throat. Looking up at him, Taylor lifted a brow.
    “I ran into the mayor before I came out here, before I heard what was up today. He mentioned that if I saw you…well. I don’t know if he wants to rip your ass to shreds or what, but I think he wants to see you. He’s at the hospital.” Then the cop grimaced. “Of course he’s there. Where else are they going to be now?”
    He sighed and rubbed a hand over his mouth. “You know, I never did like Brendan all that much. He wasn’t a nice kid—had a mean way to him. His dad, now, the guy can be an ass, but he always did love that boy. You could tell. Joshua and Jacqueline…they tried. Loved him, and when it looked like he had problems, they tried to help.”
    Dez frowned, focusing on the cop. “Jacqueline?”
    “The mayor’s wife. Brendan’s stepmom.” Blake sighed, the sound echoing. Oddly loud. It reverberated through Dez’s mind. Every last moment seemed to slow as he said, “She had a baby her senior year in high school, Taylor. You remember that? Nobody ever did hear who the father was, not that I can remember, but she was…what…six, seven years older than us? Then one day, the baby up and dies. SIDS, they said. Now this. That poor lady.”
    That poor lady…
    Unconsciously, Dez tightened her grip around Taylor’s hand.
     

CHAPTER TWENTY–ONE
    LOST in thought, Dez barely realized they’d stopped at the hospital.
    That poor lady…
    Jacqueline—Dez had only the vaguest image of the woman. Blonde hair, sweet face, blank eyes. Doll’s eyes. Sad. Grim. Death on the air—but she’d thought it was Brendan’s. Brendan hadn’t died. Was it death she’d sensed? Despair?
    “Not making sense,” she whispered. She shook her head, rubbed her temples. “Not making sense.”
    A blast of cold air wrapped around her. Startled, she looked up, realized they were at the hospital. Taylor was standing just outside her car door, waiting expectantly, a grim look on his face. He hadn’t wanted to leave Anna’s grave. She knew it, even if he hadn’t said anything. Swallowing, she climbed out of the car, but he didn’t move. His body kept her caged in.
    “What’s going on, Dez?” he asked quietly.
    She looked past his shoulder toward the hospital. “I don’t know.”
    “Bullshit.” His voice, harsh and stinging, made her flinch.
    Looking back at him, she said again, “I don’t know . There’s something…it’s not coming together in my head yet—there’s a piece missing and I think it’s here.” Then, because she couldn’t leave him blind, she whispered, “But I think the woman who took Anna…I think she’s here. And…”
    She groaned and lifted her hands, covered her face. Anna’s plea rose from the back of her mind to taunt her, haunt her. “You know how they haunt me, right? Once they get their way inside me, until I lay them to rest, I can’t let them go? They can’t let me go?”
    “Yes.” He curled a hand over the back of her neck. “Dez…look at me.”
    She lowered her hands and stared at him. Her eyes burned, her heart ached. “She won’t be able to let me go now—not until I do what she asked.”
    A muscle jerked in his jaw. “Anna…you…you saw Anna.”
    “Yes.” She laid a hand on his cheek. “She’s held on, drifted in and out, but I don’t think it was her pain that kept her here.”
    His hand closed around her wrist, squeezed so tightly. “Don’t.” He shook his head. The mask on his face started to crack.
    “She needs me to help this woman, Taylor. She’s held on all this time…for her. Whoever this woman is, somebody hurt her. Badly.”
    Taylor let her go and spun away so fast, it left her floundering. The car shuddered under the impact of his fist and she flinched. But that didn’t keep her from reaching out and catching him. He already had blood on his knuckles—if he hit it again, he’d be lucky if he didn’t end up with more broken bones. He whirled on her, fury on his face. “You’re asking me to—to—what, stand by while you help the woman who killed my sister?” he snarled.
    “I don’t think she killed her. Anna fell.” Dez shook her head. “I