Dani seemed almost embarrassed by the hug and she wouldn’t meet Harper’s eyes. Harper didn’t say anything. Dani had her own demons to deal with.

“We’re…we’re going to look at the video from last night. Do you want to come with me or stay here?”

Dani looked at her then. “I’ll go with you, if you don’t mind.”

Chapter Thirty-Two

Dani stood behind Harper and Reid, who sat near the desk, the security surveillance video already up and running. She watched the dark, shadowy entrance to the motel for several minutes, then found her attention shifting from the stalker to Harper…and the hug they’d shared. She fingered the locket at her neck absently, her mind replaying the events of last night and this morning. Things had changed between them in a matter of hours, it seemed. Changes that she was responsible for, not Harper. She never would have thought she’d be bold enough to initiate any physical contact between them, but it had come so naturally, she hadn’t had time to think it through.

She also hadn’t had time to really sort out these feelings she was having. Was the attraction she felt for Harper simply a result of the situation she found herself in? Harper was a cop, her protector, her security blanket. Was that why she was feeling this affection for her? Or did it still stem from when she’d first seen her picture? She thought back to that day when she’d been flipping through the profiles of the female detectives they’d sent her. Her intention had been to select someone who had a lot of experience, someone who was well-seasoned, someone she could learn from. No one jumped off the page at her until she came to Harper Jeremiah. She remembered staring into her eyes, wondering what she’d been thinking in that instant when her picture was snapped. She’d dutifully gone through the profiles of each one, but she kept going back to Harper. She knew then that even if Harper had been a rookie, she’d still have chosen her.

“Fast forward to midnight,” Harper said. “It was after that when we heard the noise.”

Reid nodded and Dani forced her attention back to the monitor, pushing her thoughts of Harper away…at least for the moment.

“There! Did you see it?”

Reid shook his head. “It was just a shadow.”

“Right. Go back. Play it again.” Harper pointed at the bottom left of the screen. “Watch here.”

Dani kept her eyes glued to where Harper had pointed, anticipation making her heart beat just a little fast. Reid played it at real speed and it was just a blur on the screen, as if a shadow flew by the camera.

“That’s nothing,” Reid said.

“Slow it down. It’s a person.”