A Glimpse of the Dark Side: Adult Paranormal Erotic Romance Collection Read Online Free PDF Page A

anything else about the night Lianna disappeared?"
    He sat down in a scratchy mauve armchair.
    "Not much that we didn't already know.
Apparently, she went to this meeting at around midnight, but nobody
missed her until morning. Her mother said good night to her around
11:30 PM, and then Lianna had gone to a convenience store for a
bottle of juice just before midnight. We talked to the cashier. He
said she seemed very excited, and said she was off to a special
date." Agent Sterling shifted in the chair. "Then she left the
store and that's the last anyone saw of her."
    In the bathroom, January closed her eyes. Her
head began to spin again like it had back on the plane, when she
was looking at Lianna's pictures. The story sounded more and more
like Lori's with every new detail.
    She came out of the bathroom and sat down on the
bed to catch her breath.
    "Are you alright?" he asked.
    She shook her head. "No, Agent Sterling, I don't
think I am." She looked at him. "Are you aware of what happened to
me when I was sixteen?"
    Agent Sterling did not miss a beat. "Yes, we saw
your file. I understand there are a lot of similarities between
this case and Lori Daniels'. That's another reason we thought you
would be an asset as we look for Lianna."
    "An asset," she laughed bitterly, the
pain suddenly as acute as it was ten years ago. "Well, Agent
Sterling, I don't think you read my file very carefully, because if
you had, you'd know I was not much of an asset to Lori. She died ."
    "I can't say I agree with you completely," Agent
Sterling said. He leaned forward and fixed his gaze on her. "I read
your file cover to cover. You tried to talk Lori out of going," he
said, "and then you went to the police as soon as you knew she was
in trouble. You faced them even when you didn't know how to explain
that you knew she was in trouble. And when you found out where her
body could be found, you told the police. Even when you know you
would be ridiculed." He paused. "It had to be tough for a
sixteen-year-old to admit to being special. I can't even imagine
what you went through after that."
    January's eyes felt hot. She wished he would
stop talking, but he went on.
    "The report said you were nervous but steady.
You never broke down, not even once."
    Tears ran down her cheeks and she reached into
her purse for a tissue. Agent Sterling got up and gave her his
handkerchief. She took it and dabbed at her face. It smelled like
him: clean and strong.
    "Do you know what the worst part was?" she
whispered. "All the time that I was missing her, and horrified at
what had happened... I was also relieved." She looked up at him
through her tears. "I was relieved that it wasn't me. That I was
still alive. Isn't that horrible?"
    She was crying now, hot angry tears. She didn't
care anymore what she looked like, or what he thought of her. She
waited for him to launch some awkward platitudes at her and make a
beeline for the door, like most people did when confronted with a
crying stranger.
    To her surprise, he sat down next to her. He was
so close she could see the rise and fall of his chest beneath his
shirt.
    "No, it's not horrible," he said. "You should have been relieved to be alive. Lori's death made you
realize how valuable life is."
    She let out a bitter laugh and rolled her eyes.
"You sound like me, talking to my clients. Maybe I should take my
own advice every once in a while."
    Something like sadness flickered over his face.
"I think your line of work and mine are not too different. When
you're around the dead and the miserable all the time, it makes you
forget what's good about life."
    For the first time, he smiled at her-a genuine,
dazzling smile-and she felt a sudden wave of inexplicable joy.
Their eyes held. I think I'm starting to remember , she
thought.
    There was a knock on the door.
    She sprang up from the bed and dabbed at her
face frantically with the handkerchief. "Come in," she shouted,
hoarsely. Agent Sterling had somehow, noiselessly, returned to