I woke up feeling more exhausted than when I went to bed.

My dreams were filled with horrific scenes of the past. Laying there awake, I focused on the svelte blonde woman from across the street. Those liquid clear blue eyes, her slender figure, and that Cupid’s bow mouth of hers; and don’t get me started on the delightful way she’d blushed earlier. The way her skin pinked up, slowly spreading toward her neckline made me wonder how far the change of color had spread beneath the edge of that t-shirt of hers. Somehow, with thoughts of Emberlyn Roth, I was able to chase the nastiness of the last eight years away, enough to fall asleep again.

Then it would start all over.

During my shower, I made a point to look into my neighbor right away. Leaving the bathroom, towel tucked around my hips, I grabbed my cell and pulled up my contact list, hitting call when I found the one person I needed.

“Matthews, here.”

Brycen and I had worked a few cases together, whenever I had time to moonlight for Nightshade Securities, a mutual friend’s—Dalton Kippers’—company. If I didn’t have a job on with the JPD, I’d probably be working with Kippers and his crew fulltime—something Dalton had been hinting about as of late.

“Brycen, I need you to look someone up for me,” I tell him. “Name’s Emberlyn Roth. Address…” I rattled off the information as well as what I knew about her.

“Seems like a quick and easy thing. By the address you gave me, isn’t she one of your neighbors? What do you need this for?”

“Yeah.” I sighed. “Rosie’s been spending lots of time with her.”

“Ah, got it,” he said. “I’ll have a file sent to your NSI email before the day’s up, bro. Any chance you’ll make NSI your permanent home any time soon?”

Maybe. I thought, but said, “Appreciated. I need to see this case through before even thinking on what Dalton’s proposing.”

“Right. I’ll just leave your email active. You’ve been working with us often enough, I doubt the big man will be opposed.”

“Sure, you’re just too lazy to be bothered with reactivating accounts,” I razzed him. “Anyway, get back to me with what you find.”

Before I could hang up, I heard Brycen’s whispered, “Holy shit!”

“What?”

“Is she for real?” the guy asked.

“What do you mean?”

“She looks like that?”

“If you mean a tall blonde bombshell with—”

“With fuck me eyes, I—”

Something akin to possessiveness struck me. “Shut the fuck up!” I ordered.

Chuckling, Brycen said, “Relax man, but damn!”

I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, yeah.”

“I’ll get her details to you like I promised; but do me a favor?”

I sighed. “And what would that be?”

“If she’s clean, promise me you’ll give her a go.”

“Bryce—” The man cut me off by hanging up.

What was up with people and their matchmaking these days?

As I left for work, I couldn’t help but notice Emberlyn crouched down on her porch, picking some little box up. I’m not sure why I sat there for so long, and I sure as hell didn’t like the way her face paled to that of a white sheet when she looked inside the parcel. Looking around, she retreated to the safety of her home, then closed the door.

After witnessing this reaction of hers two days running, it was safe to say that her behavior set me on edge.

I assured myself that with Brycen looking into her past, I didn’t need to worry about the unsettled feeling in my gut just yet, so I pushed it back, concentrating on the fucked-up day I knew I was about to have.

Not for the first time, the medical examiner, or ME, came back with his report; one that gave us absolutely nothing.

None of the fibers found on the body, during their preliminary sweep, were foreign. There was no hair, saliva, or skin follicles to speak of that didn’t belong to our latest victim, or her boyfriend, found on her body; yet there was clear indication that she’d had sexual penetration fairly recently.

Going over the evidence so many times made my head hurt, and I was sure that Will felt the same way by how he seemed to be obsessively massaging his temples.

When my desk phone rang, I was glad for the reprieve. The call display announced my mother calling.

“Hey, Mom. How’s–”

“Is Rosie with you?” The panic in her voice had me jumping to my feet.

I looked at my watch, my brows furrowing. “She’s not back from school yet?”

“She should have been here half an hour ago,” she said.

“Did you call the school?”

“They said one of their teachers saw her leave.” She sniffled. “Shane, she’s always home by now. Always!”

“I’m on my way.” Hanging up on her, I headed for the door. “Rosie’s missing.”

“Need backup?” Will asked.

“I need you to go to the school and find out who saw what,” I told him. “I’m gonna hit my neighborhood and see if anyone knows anything else. The school’s a five-minute walk for her, someone has to have seen something.”

Packing up a few files, I rushed to my Escalade, cranked it, and headed home.