“Who took the photo?” Jared said.  I turned to find him leaning over me with a hand resting on the wall, his face mere inches from my own.  I tried not to react but my eyes widened when I saw him; I hadn’t even heard him come in, let alone walk right up behind me.  What if he had been someone dangerous?  Oh, wait…

“I’m getting to that,” I said, hoping I didn’t sound as flustered as I felt.  Heat flashed over my face along with the scent of myrrh and some kind of citrus—his body wash maybe?  I shoved that thought aside and turned the photo.  It listed the girls’ names from left to right and after that it just said “Taken by B”.   This discovery wasn’t spectacular, but it was a start.  Jared grabbed the photo out of my hand and slid it into an interior pocket of his jacket.  “Hey!”

“What do you think you’re going to do with it?” he asked, leaning against the wall and crossing his arms.  He snickered and pointed to the floor.  “And what do you think you’re doing in an active crime scene in your bare feet?”

“Whatever,” I muttered.  I pushed him aside, ducking under the yellow tape still strapped to the doorway.  Jared might have the photo, but I had something else.  I wasn’t about to tell him about the necklace, he would just laugh it off as he had before.  Just as I reached for the doorknob of my apartment, Jared grabbed my upper arm.

“Hold it, honey,” he said.  I turned to face him but he was already opening the door and pushing me inside.  He shut it with his boot and turned the lock, all while holding onto me.  “What’re you gonna do now?” 

I wiggled out of his grip, taking a step into the small kitchen before looking up at him.

“What do you care?”  I grimaced.  That sounded a lot more personal that it had in my head.  Why was that?  Okay, maybe I was a little insulted he had brushed off my thoughts so easily but that shouldn’t have mattered.  People had done that before and it never mattered.  Yet somehow this guy was really grinding my nerves.

“Because you’re getting in the way,” he told me, “and when people get in the way, they get hurt.”

“Is that a threat?”  I eyed him, he was the threatening type, but for some reason it almost sounded like he didn’t want me to get hurt.  I changed my mind when I remembered the gun and changed it back again when I remembered he had saved me with said gun.  My brain was about to get whiplash being around Jared this much.

“No, it’s more like…a friendly warning.  Whatever is doing the killings is targeting girls involved with your boyfriend.  You fit the type.” 

I pursed my lips, not wanting to admit I had noticed the connection as well.

“Well they’re all involved with me too,” I said, “that doesn’t mean anything.” 

He stared down at me.  Maybe that was something he did when people kept getting in his way—did it work to make them back off?  Instead I found myself hoping he considered my words, mulling them over to try and figure out the meaning.  I had done it enough in the past twelve hours; he could at least do the same.

“Why don’t you quit with the doe-eyed Nancy Drew investigation here honey?  Because it isn’t cute anymore.”

I narrowed my eyes, he kept calling me that.

“Doe-eyed?” I questioned.  “No, I want to find out who killed them.” 

My arms crossed over my body, holding my head high despite wanting nothing more than to look away.  We watched each other for a long moment before his eyes shift to the right.  For a bounty hunter with a gun he wasn’t very good at standing up to people.  Or maybe it’s just me, a voice said in my head.  Nope, no, not it.  Heat crept up my neck—definitely not it.

“You’re not going to leave it to the professionals, are you?” Jared asked, already foreseeing my answer.

“If you’re such a professional why do you keep asking me for help?” 

His mouth gaped at that, eyes narrowing as he clicked his teeth together.  Jared had never officially asked me for help, but he did ask what I had seen at the crime scenes.  That was something I could hold over his head.

“Fine,” he said, uncrossing his arms and running a hand through his hair.  A habit when he’s stressed, I realized.  “What did you take from the apartment?” 

Jared walked into the living room and sat down on the couch.  I followed him in but stayed standing.

“What?” I asked, confused.  He wasn’t there long enough to have seen me take the necklace; there was no way he could’ve known that.

“You’ve been keeping something in your pocket,” he explained, stretching his arms over the back of the sofa.  “You keep your phone in your left pocket because you’re left handed, but you’ve been touching something in your right.  I can see your hand moving.” 

I blinked.  That was…a lot of information to gather on someone, even if he’d been following me for a couple days.

I looked down at my pockets, not even aware I was twirling the stone between my fingers.  Wow…he actually was a professional.  I tried to think of something to say, but there were no words to argue.  I’d never been bested before, not like this.  I tugged the end of the chain until the stone fell out of my pocket, holding it up to let it dangle between me and Jared.

“I found it in the cushions,” I said.  He watched the stone wave back and forth until it came to a gentle stop.

“What is it with you and rocks?” he asked.

My shoulders slumped.  This was exactly why I didn’t want to tell him; he would never see it as a clue.  He extended his hand to me, palm up.  Frowning, I reluctantly handed over the necklace, taking a quick step back to stay away from him.  Jared held it up in the air to examine it before he sighed. 

“Well I guess it means something if it was at two crime scenes.”  He kept his gaze away from me.

I failed to hide my grin, knowing why he wouldn’t look me in the eyes.  Jared was embarrassed for not recognizing a clue when someone shoved it in his face.

“What do you think it means?” I asked, hoping he would have an answer.  This was new to me, asking someone else a question.  Luke would say I was growing as a person.

“What do you mean?”  Jared looked at me with an exhausted glance, as if my question wasn’t justified.  I shifted my weight, uncomfortable under such scrutiny.  I definitely owed Luke an apology if this was how I made him feel on a regular basis.

“Well,” I started, “stones and crystals tend to have meanings.  If they were at both crime scenes maybe someone put them there for a reason.” 

Jared considered it, scratching as his chin, and appeared to come to the conclusion that I wasn’t completely useless.

“See ya.”  He shot off the sofa and stomped past me, nearly at the door before I jumped into action myself.  He still had the necklace in his hand and photograph in his pocket.

“Wait!” I said, reaching for him.  “I’m coming too.”

“No you’re not.”

“Yes, I am.”  He was already unlocking the door and I considered grabbing his arm like he often had mine.  I decided against the idea, yanking my hand back to my side.  “I found it, I get to go.”

“You don’t even know where I’m going,” he said walking into the hallway and down to the elevator.  I quickly slipped into a pair of moccasins and trailed him, slamming the door behind me.

“No,” I said, right on his heels, “but you’re going to find something out about the stone and I want to be there.”

“You won’t want to be there.”  A finger pressed against the silver arrow beside the elevator doors, lighting up red.  He went back to crossing his arms immediately.

“I’m going,” I said and mimicked his stance.  He had kidnapped me more than once, mocked my ideas only to find out I was right; I wasn’t about to just let him go without me.  I wanted to know how this was connected and I wanted to find out who was behind everything.

“Fine,” Jared conceded, “just let me do the talking.” 

I nodded.  It’s not like I talked that much anyway.