Vince waits as the woman visibly collects herself, already feeling bile in the back of his throat. It’s an effort to remind himself that Reza is fine, now, regardless of what happened then.
He’s not someone Vince should still worry about, anyway.
“Reza didn’t come home one night,” she finally says, words plinking out from between her lips like river pebbles. “Omar would stay up with me on nights like that, but he had work and I finally told him to just go to bed. Told him I’d wait.” Melissa’s brow scrunches, determined purse of her mouth as she fights the pull of memory. “So it was just me awake when there was a call from the hospital.”
Possibilities race through the detective’s mind, most tossed out the second he remembers every inch of smooth skin his mouth has traced. No scars. No bu
