Dark Abyss by Kaitlyn O'Connor (classic novels for teens .txt) 📕

He asked her a lot of questions pertaining to her state of mind—specifically whether she’d felt like her life was in jeopardy—and finally turned off the recorder. She left them discussing it and headed toward the room she’d occupied before. Since nobody objected, she closed the door behind her and climbed into the bed, grateful to get the chance to stretch out, more tired than she ought to be when she hadn’t been out of bed more than a few hours.

Simon’s scent wafted to her as she cuddled the pillow beneath her head. She hadn’t known before he’d kissed her that it his bed, his room she’d been occupying. Her mind had catalogued that scent as a source of pleasure and comfort, though, and she knew the moment she inhaled it who it belonged to. It produced a sense of longing that made her chest feel tight, but it was comforting, too, soothing her rattled nerves and the vague sense of hurt that still lingered from the interview.

Simon had told her he was sorry when he’d kissed her that night. She hadn’t thought about it since, hadn’t even remembered it—only the kiss, and that had felt so much like good-bye that she hadn’t wanted to think about it. She discovered she still didn’t want to. It brought back the horror, the fear that he was going to die.

What had he meant, she wondered? That he was sorry he’d upset her that day?

She supposed he might have, but had the incident been significant enough to him for him to remember it?

Maybe he’d just meant that he was sorry he’d had to use her to find her father?

She didn’t suppose she’d ever really know.

* * * *

“You really have a way with women,” Caleb muttered.

Simon slid an irritated glance at him. “You have a problem with my handling of taking the statement?”

“As a matter of fact, I do. She was happy, excited, chirping like a little bird, and I happened to be fucking enjoying watching her and listening to her.”

“You didn’t have any more of a fucking clue what she was talking about, or interest in it, than I did!” Simon growled.

“Nobody cares, either,” Joshua said. “I’m with Caleb. She’s been through hell. I don’t see spoiling a little bit of enjoyment.”

“It wouldn’t have hurt to let her talk,” Ian said tightly. “We could’ve gotten the statement later.”

“We aren’t here to chat. The idea is to put together a case that will stick.”

“Jesus! You aren’t the only one that wants to see the bastard pay for what he’s done!” Caleb snarled. “Everything else aside, she isn’t safe as long as he’s running loose!”

Simon studied the others angrily for a moment. “We agreed this would have to be kept strictly professional. One whiff that she might be romantically involved with any of us and it could jeopardize the entire case. His lawyers would be all over it, screaming that we’d influenced the witness and her testimony wouldn’t be worth a damn!”

“Well, I’m damned if I see how letting her chatter on about recipes and franken-veggies is liable to hurt a damned thing!” Caleb said tightly.

“The point is we can’t allow ourselves to get side-tracked or … too friendly.”

Ian frowned. “If you ask me, you’re going as far overboard on your ‘professionalism’ as Caleb is in keeping things ‘friendly’,” he drawled. “You’re as blind in your own way as he is.”

Simon and Caleb glared at him.

“How do you figure that?” Simon asked tightly.

“I figure it,” Ian said coldly, “because I was actually listening to her. I was enjoying her liveliness just like they were, but I was still listening. You tuned her out the moment she got sidetracked or you would’ve realized she’s just as much of a professional as you are. She said she’d discovered something ‘significant’ and she was afraid something would happen to it. She risked a lot, Simon, to leave the house at all and she knew it was a risk, or didn’t you think about that?”

“She asked me to get it for her while she was in the hospital,” Joshua said. “She told me she’d hidden her files in her reader and asked me to find out if the paddler had survived the explosion.”

“And?” Simon prompted.

He shook his head. “I didn’t want to tell the Water City PD what I was looking for,” he said pointedly. “I asked for a copy of the report.”

“And they refused to send it because it’s an ongoing investigation and they haven’t decided yet whether we were involved or not,” Simon concluded. “I don’t suppose it occurred to you that asking was enough to make them that much more suspicious?”

Joshua sent him an angry glance. “It occurred to me, but she asked, and I could see it was important to her. I told her I’d try.”

“There’ll be men on Cavendish’s payroll in the department,” Caleb muttered.

“He’s too good at what he does to overlook the benefit of owning a few cops. If it did survive the explosion, it could still disappear from the evidence room.”

“We need to figure some way to retrieve it if it still exists,” Ian said, then added when Simon glanced at him sharply, “I don’t know or care whether it has a direct bearing on the case or not. It’s important to Anna.”

Simon studied him a long moment and finally settled back, thinking. “I hate to say it, but I think we run more of a risk of losing any chance of getting it if we try regular channels than getting it. The governor’s already