She drew back slightly, like she expected a backlash from him. A verbal blow, maybe. But Gabriel wasn’t surprised, nor was he disappointed in her. He understood what it was like to feel the crushing pressure of reality weighing down on you, how appealing and easy it was to escape it artificially, to seek answers where there were none. What impressed him about Sara was how quickly she had fought back. Her mother had only been dead a year, so he figured she’d really only struggled with the sedatives for six months or so. That was commendable, that she had reached out for help so quickly. And watching the determination on her face, and from what he’d seen of her personality since they’d met, he had no doubt that she would conquer her dependency. Even if she couldn’t conquer her demons, given that she had no idea one was sitting four feet away from her.

He didn’t want to be her demon.

And he needed to back off emotionally.

But not before reassuring her that he thought she was amazing.

“I think that’s great that you addressed the issue so quickly. It took me a long time to admit I had a problem, and even longer to actually do something about it. You should be proud of yourself for facing it head-on, and fixing it. I totally respect that.”

“Thanks. I feel better. I do. I’m kind of a control freak, and I didn’t like being out of control in my life.”

Gabriel knew that control was a fine line between screwing the lid so tight on your emotions you couldn’t breathe inside, and reckless, scattered explosion. “Do you have any idea as to who killed your mom? Or what went wrong in the investigation?” It was rude to ask, but lack of answers drove her, that was obvious. It had driven her right into the grip of sedatives, and right out of the state of Florida.

Sara pulled her skirt tighter over her legs, but she didn’t balk at the question. “I don’t know who could have done it, I really don’t. If it wasn’t Rafe, which I truly believe it wasn’t because, first of all, he loved my mom. And second of all, I saw him drive off in the opposite direction that night. We were at dinner, and we all parted ways. She was killed only an hour later. And I think the investigation stalled because from day one they thought they had it solved by turning to the obvious. They didn’t even look into any other possibilities as far as I’m concerned. So any other leads they might have had are dried up by now, I’m sure.”