No wonder Annie never spoke. I’d spent twenty seconds in her head and barely made it out alive. She’d been locked in there twenty years.
She continued to stare at me.
“Thanks for talking to me, Annie,” I croaked. My voice was utterly drained. “If it’s okay… I’d like to come back again to visit sometime. But only if you want me to.”
Maybe, with enough practice, I could decipher some of her dizzying mind-scape; make a connection through the chaos.
She didn’t smile. Her expression didn’t change in the slightest. But her eyes looked a little less vacant as she gave a barely-there nod.
“Okay,” I whispered. “Then I promise I’ll be back. Soon.”
With a tired smile, I stood, grabbed my gloves, and left her behind. At the door, I glanced back one last time. She was staring out the window again. Into the darkness.
I wondered what she saw there. I wondered if it was as scary as the fragments I’d seen inside her head.
Swallowing down the lump in my throat, I stepped into the hall.
* * *
Gwen and Florence were (understandably) bummed that our trip to Oak Grove was a bust. If I was being honest, I was rather bummed, as well. I’d known going in that it was a long shot. I’d known better than to get my hopes up that I’d miraculously discover a clue that would lead us straight to Rory.
And yet…
Disappointment curdled in my stomach the whole ride back to Cade’s house. It lingered long after I waved goodbye to Gwen at the curb; after I let myself in the front door with the spare key; after I walked Socks around the block to do his nightly business. It lingered after I fed Socks dinner, and wolfed down my own. (Cold leftover pizza — not exactly a delicacy, but it did the job.) And it continued to linger even after I stripped off all my clothes and climbed naked into bed, as instructed.
The clock on the bedside table read 8:56PM. It could be hours still before Cade came back, but I was too tired to wait up for him. My body felt like it had been run through the garbage disposal.
I wished I knew where he was. If he was still out searching, or back at the station. Since he’d never made it into The Gallows, I was guessing that meant he hadn’t had a break all day. He’d be just as exhausted as I was when he finally dragged himself home. Probably more so.
Lying in the dark under his dove gray duvet, I used his landline to dial his cellphone. I listened to it ring several times before it kicked over into voicemail. His deep rasp hit my ear, setting off a full-body tingle.
“You’ve reached Detective Caden Hightower, Salem Police Department. Please leave a message…”
I didn’t bother.
Not a second after I’d hung up, the phone rang in my hand.
“Hello?”
“You naked?” Cade asked, his voice a low rumble.
“Maybe.” My lips tipped up in a grin. “You coming home anytime soon?”
There was a long pause.
“Cade?” I prompted.
“I like that,” he murmured. “You calling my placehome.”
A happy flutter moved through my stomach. “You know what I meant. It’s just an expression. Don’t get ahead of yourself.”
“Too late, beautiful.”
I rolled my eyes. “So, are you?”
“Am I what?”
“Coming back here soon?”