The Eyes Tell No Lies (5 page)

Detective Christoph Crow, Grace Crow, aw hell.
Arie suddenly gasped as she made the connection in her head.

“What?” Cris asked as he watched Arie cover her mouth with her hands and look at him.

“I got a peek at the name of the person’s eyes I received when no one was looking.
The name on the paper was Grace Crow
—
I have your sister’s eyes. Why didn’t I make the connection before?” Arie said as
she looked at him with wide eyes.

“This is too many coincidences, it’s like the universe is conspiring for us to come
together,” Cris said, breaking the silence after a few moments.

“Here we go again, you and your conspiracy theories. I cannot remember how many times
you came up with a way the universe has conspired against us,” Arie said as she let
out a snort and looked at him.

Cris used conspiracy theories to explain everything
he
didn’t have an answer for. Whether it was the weather changing on him out of nowhere
and ruining his plans because of it. A flat tire in the middle of nowhere causing
him to bump into someone who he needed or they needed him. His mother and sister
would tell him it was because of his ancestors, but he was having none of that. So
instead he explained it by saying it was all a conspiracy theory from the universe.

She quickly snapped out of her thoughts and focused on Cris. She knew he had to be
hurting just as she was when her parents
had
died. He had helped her come out of the shock of her parents’ death and she felt
as though it was time for her to help him.

“What was the last thing Grace said you?” Arie asked.

Christoph had asked her some of the same questions to snap her out of the shock of
her parent
s’
death. He came over each day and asked her questions no one else had ever thought
to ask her. Not only did he ask the questions he answered his own questions. They
shared their secrets, their most personal thoughts and fears. Arie didn’t know what
it was about the stranger, but it felt as though she could tell him anything and she
knew he felt the same way.

“Grace told me she thought she found him and was about to break the biggest case in
history. She was so excited when she told me this but we were short on time and she
wasn’t able to tell me what she was talking about,” Cris said.

“What do you think she was talking about?” Arie asked.

“It had to be a case she was working on, a high profile one. And the only high profile
case right now is the Daytime Killer,” Cris answered.

As they talked more about Grace’s last words to Cris, they realized Grace must have
figured
out who the Daytime kill
er was just before she was killed
.

Cris
and
Arie
decided to retrace
Grace
’s footsteps and start their own investigation together. To figure out who was the
Daytime killer and help free
Grace
’s restless soul.

The next morning Cris
held the door open for
Arie
as she walked into Grandma Jean
’
s Waffle House
,
w
here the best waffles were made
,
and held wonderful memories of her and her father. Jack,
Arie’s
father
,
would bring her here after one of his business trips. When she was younger she would
count down the days on a calenda
r until her father came home.
It was the only time she was able to be a carefree child
,
free of her mother for a few hours. After the best pancakes
,
they would head over to her father’s boat and sail the day away. She lived for those
moments when she was able to escape her mother’s hatred and live
as
a child was supposed to. This place represented all the wonderful times she had
as a child and it hadn’t changed one bit.

The day before her accident was the last day she had been to Grandma Jean
’
s Waffle House.
Arie
felt if she wasn’t able to sail why temp herself with the smell of the ocean or the
cool breeze
cascading
over her body as the waves blew in. Or hear the sounds of the rollerblades hitting
the black marble tile floor if she couldn’t see the waitresses do their tricks. Let
alone challenge her father to a game of air hockey in the arcade behind the red booths
that
were pushed up against the walls. There were no tables and chairs
,
just the booths so the waitresses could have room for the tricks they performed on
their skates.

The walls were still filled with black-red-and white tiles in the shape of triangles.

Cris
followed behind
Arie
to the back booth
s.
The waitress quickly approach them with their menus and water in hand.

“Hi, I am Joycelyn and I will be you server today.
Let me know when you guys are ready to order
,
”
t
he waitress said before turning around and topping
off the coffee for
the couple in front of them.

“It
’
s hard
,
isn’t it
?
”
Arie
said in more of a statement than question as she looked across the table at
Cris
.

“What
’
s hard
?” Cris
lifted his head up from behind the menu and asked.

“Losing someone close to you and not being able to say
good—
bye to them. Feeling like apart of you is missing now
,
”
Arie
answered
with a sadness to her voice that matched the look in her eyes
.

She didn’t know why she told him that other than for some reason she felt close to
him. Like she could be herself and he wouldn’t judge or belittle her at all. It
was
as if
he saw the true her without trying too hard. His eyes were so kind and open they
had her wanting to spill
her soul
and tell him about her childhood. Something she never wanted to talk to anyone about
,
including her therapist
,
but somehow the person who was sitting across from her
h
ad her wanting to tell him everything
:
the good, bad, and ugly
,
which wasn’t good.
She wanted to tell him her deepest
,
darkest secrets.
How she could see and hear ghost
s,
besides
his sister
,
ever since she was a little girl and how they would knock on her bed or some other
kind of hard surface
,
a
lerting her that they were there and wanted to talk
.
O
ther times they were just there to protect her from the darkness she found herself
drowning in.

No, you can’t tell him, he would think you’re crazy and probably admit you into a
mental institution. He didn’t even believe his own sister, what makes you think he
would believe you?

“Yes, and feeling guilty that it was them instead of you. Feeling guilty when you
laugh at something and su
ddenly remember your loss,” Cris
said as he closed his eyes and sat back in his seat.

Cris
kept his eyes closed as
Arie
spoke. Just the sound of her voice had him wanting to do unspeakable things to her.
Like reach across the table, pull her toward him until he could feel her hot breath
caressing his lip
s
, and kiss her senseless.
Stop thinking like that
,
you have to focus in order to find you sister
’
s killer and the person who has been
terrorizing the city for years.

“Yes,
that is exactly how I feel,” Arie said as she pick up a strand of her hair and began
to twirl it around her finger. “See that photo right there
?
T
hat is my mother, father, and I on my eighth birthday,”
Arie
said as she pointed at a picture tacked on the wall next to them.

When Cris
looked at the picture of
Arie
and her family on the wall
,
he knew something was off about the picture but didn’t want to say
any
thing
, he wasn’t sure if it was his place to or not
.

“Are you guys ready now?”
T
he waitress came back
just in time so Cris
wouldn’t have to comment on the picture.

“Sure
,
I would like the wheat waffles with whipped cream and strawberries on top and a side
of berries. Oh yeah
,
and an apple juice,”
Arie
ordered.

“Number one with extra sausage, a large orange juice, and the strongest coffee you
h
ave
,”
Cris
ordered as he handed the waitress hi
s
and
Arie’s
menus.

“While we’re waiting for the food
,
we need to come up with a pl
an for how we are going to back
track
Grace
’s steps
,
”
Arie said as she
looke
d at Cris
when the waitress left.

“Last night after I left your house
,
I searched
Grace
’s room and found some of the notes she had on the Daytime killer. I know there
are
some more notes at my mom’s house
,
but I couldn’t find them for some reason,”
Cris
said as he took a sip of his coffee the waitress had just placed in front of him.

“Just get me to your mother’s home and I can find it. You can tell your mother
Grace
is the reason I can see again and I wanted to thank you
r family
,”
Arie
said.

“You can ask my mom
if you
can see
Grace
’s room and I can volunteer to take you. That way we can search her room in private
without my mother suspecting anything.
I don’t want my mother to know anything more than she already
does until he is caught,” Cris
said just before the waitress placed their food in front of them.

Over an hour later they were pulling up to th
e front of Cris’s
mother’s driveway.
When
Cris
abruptly stopped the car
,
the items in
Arie’s
purse flew out onto the floor. Including something
Arie
didn’t
want Cris to see. As Cris
leaned over to help
Arie
pick up her items off the floor
,
he spotted
her
gun sticking out
of
the top of her purse.
Before she could stop him, Cris
leaned over and confiscated
it
.

“I am confiscating this until we get back to your house. You know I can take you
to jail for having this on you?”
Cris
said to
Arie
as he checked to see if the gun was loaded before locking it up in his glove box.

“No you cannot
. I
have a carrying permit for it
,
”
Arie
said as she tried to open the locked glove box to get her gun back.

“How do you have a carrying permit and you were blind up until two weeks ago?”
Cris
asked with a confused yet cautious look on his face.

“Here is my carrying permit right here and don’t worry about the how or the why.
Just know that I got one and I am an excellent shot
,
”
Arie
snapped as
she
angrily shoved
her carrying permit at him
.

He could hear the anger and frustration in her voice and didn’t know whether it was
because
he took her gun or the reference he made toward her blindness.
Cris
didn’t mean it the way it sounded
,
he just wanted to know how someone who was just blind could obtain a carrying permit
so easily
,
not the way she heard and took it. He didn’t want her to be pissed at him even though
he thought she looked beyond sexy when she was pissed. The way her right eyebrow
arched up, the corner of her mouth sli
ghtly lifted up, and how she clen
ched and unclenched her hands. On any other woman it would had looked ridiculous
but on her
,
it was the sexiest thing he ever saw. He had only known her for two days
,
if you didn
’t count the week
he spent with her after her parents
’
death
,
y
et it felt like he knew her or at the very least wanted to get to know her. He didn’t
know what it w
as about her that sent his mind
and body in
a frenzy and had his heart thump
ing.
There
was something about
Arie
that
made
him want more out of life
—
more
from
her.
Cris
shook his head to clear his thoughts when he heard
Arie
clearing her throat and saw her staring at him.

“Look I am
—
” Before he could finish his apology
,
Arie
lifted up her hand and cut of
f
his apology.

Arie
blew out an angered hot breath and began a deep breathing exercise trying to control
her anger.
She
ignored him.
She hated when people tended to assume something without asking or barged in on her
personal space.
Cris
did both in a matter of seconds
,
leaving her pissed off.
Arie
was annoyed with both
Cris
and her body.
Cris
because she felt as though he was stereotyping both her and blind people
,
not to mention
h
e implied that she would break the law
,
and she would never break the law. When he thought she was carrying a concealed
weapon without the proper training or paperwork
,
i
t felt like he was trying to control
her
. She knew it sounded strange
,
but it felt like one of those times her mother stopped her from having something.
Arie
felt chastised.

Her body betrayed her by responding to the sound of
Cris
’s voice. His voice was deep, raspy, and had so much determination and power behind
it.
It sent
Arie’s
body into a tingling frenzy, especially when it had so much
fervor
and anger behind
it
. His voice had been wrecking havoc on her body for months now.
After her father’s funeral, all she could focus on was the sound of the sexy detective
’s
voice. Just by the sound of his voice
,
she knew what kind of man he was
:
strong, powerful, in control yet not controlling, and determined. Since she was
blind, she learned to readapt to everything
,
and
figuring
out a person’s personality was one of them. With just the pitch of someone’s voice
or how
they
walked
,
she could determine whether they were weak, vulnerable, strong, funny, powerful,
and a host of other things.