Read InsistentHunger for Free Online Page A

eyes and pale face assaulted her. “He is twenty-nine or thirty.
We don’t have any evidence he’s dead.” Well, beyond the lack of a pulse or any
body heat, anyway.
    “Paige,” Veronica said softly.
    Paige shouldered her out of the way to get to the sink. “And
women don’t actually have to go to the bathroom in groups, you know.”
    “I know. Look, I know I’m not good with saying the right
thing, but if you need something, I’m here, okay?”
    Paige stared at herself in the mirror. Her eyes were almost
as bloodshot as Brady’s. “I know,” she agreed. “Hey, you should organize the
casserole flood that’s about to descend on Brady’s parents. There’s nothing
worse than having five tuna casseroles show up on the same day.” When an
officer went down, cops gossiped while cops’ wives, partners, parents and
significant others cooked. It was a rule.
    “Don’t one of the wives usually do that?”
    “Yeah.” Paige shrugged. “But if you’re doing it, you’ll be
too busy to say stupid shit to me and maybe I can get through the day without
crying.” Paige gave Veronica a small smile to soften the bitchiness.
    “Fair enough,” Veronica agreed after an awkward pause.
    “And make sure none of that shows up at my house. I just
need space.” Paige walked out and stood in the middle of the precinct, feeling
like every set of eyes were on her. She’d been nine when she’d learned how much
she hated being the center of attention and she hated it just as much this
time. Life was funny. When she was a kid, her mother had been taken by a drunk
driver, putting Paige in the middle of the limelight as the only witness to the
crime. Now she was an adult and Brady had been taken by a different kind of
serial killer. Of course, Brady was the walking around sort of dead, so Paige
wasn’t sure she deserved the sympathy this time around, but she was getting it
anyway. She was getting it and she fucking hated it.
    She turned to the closest cop, a detective who had come in
for the taskforce and whose name slipped her memory. “I’m going home. I just
need some space,” she said.
    She didn’t know the man and he didn’t know her, but his
expression turned sympathetic. “No problem. I’ll let the captain know.”
    Paige turned and headed out of the station, stopping to just
breathe. After months of muggy heat and bugs, the first cool snap had made leaves
start to turn red and the air turn crisp. If she got up early enough, she could
sometimes see her foggy breath on mornings like this, but the sun was up and
the heat was already starting to gather on the sidewalks today.
    Paige considered asking a uniform for a ride back to Brady’s
place where her car was parked or even her place, but she vetoed the plan in
favor of a nice, long walk. She had to clear her head and start making some
sort of plans. Plans. Yeah. How did you make plans when you weren’t sure what
you were dealing with? She rubbed her sore arm. And when you weren’t sure what
you were turning into.
    She hadn’t even reached the corner before a gray sedan
pulled up to the curb. “Need a ride?”
    Paige sighed and looked inside where the state profiler was
sitting behind the wheel. “I don’t need a psych eval.”
    He grinned at her. “That’s the problem with my job—everyone
assumes I’m trying to profile them. I was just offering a ride home.”
    “I can walk.”
    “Yeah, you can. But I can offer you a ride without saying
anything stupid while trying to make pointless reassurances.”
    “Can you promise to not talk at all?” Paige asked.
    “Deal.”
    Paige studied the man. He was older, someone with a weary
and worn expression who looked like he’d come up through the ranks. And hopefully
he could keep a promise because Paige really didn’t want to walk. She pulled
the car door open and got in. “I left my car at Brady’s place.”
    “Do you want to go there? I could just take you home.”
    “I’m fine to drive.”
    “I never