Leah’s father stepped forward, a large, stooped man with tufting white hair who reminded Kate of a snowy owl. Pain tightened his face, rendering his nose even more beak-like.

Through the window, Kate saw Detective Gabriel lean against the far wall of the corridor, angling herself so that she could observe them.

Kate shifted slightly so that the detective could not read her lips and pulled out a notepad.

“Let’s start with a little background,” she said. “How old are you, Leah?”

“Twenny-five,” Leah mumbled.

“She is twenty-five,” Susan repeated. “She has never had any trouble with the law. In fact, she works for a private information security firm.”

Kate glanced up from her notebook. “You mean, computer security?”

Tim Roberts nodded. “Yes, she is a cyber security expert.” Pride shot with pain radiated in his eyes. “She was recruited straight out of university. MIT.”

“Do you know why she was in the house of Harry Owen’s parents?”

Tim Roberts glanced at Leah. “We’ve been trying to figure that one out. As far as we know, Leah never met them.”

“What about Harry Owen?” Kate envisioned Harry: tall, athletic build, attractive. He would be about ten years older than Leah, but dating younger women fit his profile. “Could they have dated?”

Susan Roberts pursed her mouth. Kate noted she did not look at her daughter when she said, “I don’t think so. She was seeing someone. A guy.”

Chapter 24

Chapter 24

“She was seeing someone. A guy.”

Even through the fuzziness in her head, Leah registered the disapproval in her mother’s voice. Her mother did not like Aiden. “I don’t trust him,” she had said to Leah a few months ago.

That had hurt. A lot. “You don’t have to, mom,” Leah said, forcing her tone to remain even.

But although she kept her distance from her mother after that, she had never been able to push her mother’s words completely out of her mind. They were dust motes floating in her heart—invisible until a particularly illuminating beam of truth about Aiden was revealed.

The first time was when he let slip that his hair had once been very short.

Just the fact that she could curl into his arms made Leah giddy. Aiden was an inch taller than she, and as they lay on her bed, her feet rested on his. Beneath her palm, she felt the rapid thudding of his heart rate as they each caught their breath.

“You are incredible, Leah,” Aiden murmured, capturing her hair in his fingers. “You give fairy orgasms.”

She laughed. “What does that mean?”

“Your hair is like gossamer and your skin is so pale. You are like a fairy.”

A fairy? “A six-foot tall one.”

“They are the best kind.” He nuzzled her, playing with her hair.

She reached for a strand of his hair. It was thick, wavy, almost as long as hers. “When did you start growing your hair?”