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As Jim followed behind Sissy&039;s mother, he was out-of-body overwhelmed In a dim corner of his mind, he knew he had to keep tabs on Veck, but this opportunity was not going to sain anyti the corner at the head of the stairs, the volu from the subtle creak of the carpeted floor beneath his boots to the soft talk down below in the foyer to his own breath in the back of his throat, it all seemed to scream in his ears
Abruptly, Veck appeared behind them and made some kind of an I&039;uy - and proot he was even there
"Sissy&039;s rooht, and when Mrs Barten hesitated at the closed door, Jim raised his hand to put it on her shoulderand then couldn&039;t quite o in alone?" he asked
Mrs Barten opened her mouth But then just nodded "I haven&039;t been in there sincethat night It&039;s the way she left it"
At that , and there was visible relief in Sissy&039;s et that Feel free to open the drawers and the closet, but if you have to take so, will you let me knohat it is?"
"Absolutely," Veck answered
As she hurried across the landing and disappeared into what he assumed was the master bedroom, Jim cracked the door
Ohthe scent
Slipping inside, he closed his eyes and tried not to feel like a letch as he breathed in deep Perfume Body lotion Dryer sheets
It wasextraordinary
And he did not belong in this roos that shouldn&039;t even be passing thoughts in a room like this - and the representations of those evil deeds were in the ink that covered his back Plus he had weapons on him And then there was that shit he&039;d pulled with the deht before
He felt like a stain
As Veck did his own recon, Jim opened his lids, and went over to the built-in desk by the frontThe flat stretch and shelving were painted white, but the chair was a blue to ha with braided fringe Bedspread was a quilt made from different strips of blue and white fabric Handmade Had to be
The books that were lined up were orderly and girlie She liked Jane Austen, but there was also a whole shelf of Gossip Girls - probably left over from when she was thirteen Couple of 4-H ribbons, red and blue Track trophies
On the desk there was an Apple laptop along with two textbooks, one on calculus and the other onadvanced trigonoht well be sazine Cosmopolitan - from this month
Okaaaay, the cover with the word ORGASM in seventy-four-point hot-pink print didn&039;t exactly jibe with the rest of this land of innocence and schoolworkbut then, she&039;d been growing up, hadn&039;t she
Pivoting, he all but ran into the foot of the twin bed
Shit, now he knehy her mother didn&039;t come in here That blue quilt was pulled back and the pillows still dented as if Sissy had just been napping
"I&039; to take off," Veck said Whichthey&039;d been in the room
"See you soon," Jier that"
When he was left to his own devices, Jim&039;s hand shook as he reached out to touch the sheets Brushing what had touched her skin, he thought about Devina and what that deirland her fa If they wanted him focused on the war, this was exactly where he needed to be This was oing to lie in this bed again She was not going to finish whatever article she&039;d been reading And nonumbers Ever But he could at least find her a better place to wait for her parents&039; and her sister&039;s passings so they could all be reunited for eternity
And then he could make Devina pay a thousand times over
On the bedside table, there was a white alarazine - In Touch this time - and the re that even though she was in college, she came back on a lot of weekends, and a peek into the closet confirmed this Given the number of blouses and pants and skirts and dresses, it didn&039;t look like the thing had been mined for favorites, but instead was on the ready Plenty of shoes on the floor
He left the bureau&039;s drawers alone, because he wasn&039;t sure which one held herunderthings, as it were Probably either of the top two, but he was not running the risk of guessing wrong He was a voyeur here already, because he&039;d co that helped hi on earth that could do that Instead, he&039;d just wanted tobe close to her