“Emery.”
She waved him off. “It’s okay. I have it all memorized.”
That’s the kind of comment that scared the hell out of him. “I think you should sit down.”
She stilled and her arms fell to her sides. “How can I?”
Watching her now he could see the pain. Her body listed to one side and her mouth screwed up in a look of concentration. All the color had left her face and the easy banter disappeared. She hovered right on the edge. He sensed it as much as felt it.
“Okay.” He waited until she nodded to turn her attention to Keith. “You can wait in the hall. We’re fine.”
The other man dropped his camera into his pocket and eased back toward the door. In another few steps, he walked out, closing the door behind him. That left Wren alone with Emery, who had turned into a little ball of energy. She whirled here and raced over to there. By the time she collected more papers and they filled each fist again she’d touched almost every corner of the floor.
He was about to call out her name again when she stopped. Just powered down in the middle of the room. Stood there with drawn cheeks and a wall of desperation thumping off her.
She shook her head. “I don’t know where to start.”
He had no idea what the right answer was, but dragging her body and mind through this exercise over and over had to be terrible for her. A person could only take so much. She hunted evil and tried to bring answers to victims. She stood as a survivor amid the mess.
But the bigger problem was getting her out of there. There was a possibility the person who broke in still waited nearby. He could be listening in. Wren needed the place searched, the police called in and new alarm equipment installed, and all without talking about Tiffany and potentially drawing the wrong people out into the open before he could put the proper protections in place.
She would balk at all of that. That left him few options, none of them particularly new to him. None dangerous to her, but all came with a heavy dose of asshole behavior on his part. Weighing her safety against her temper, he decided to take the risk.
“With wine.” He used a lighter tone, hoping to bring back some of the life in her eyes.
She shook her head, her eyes narrowed in confusion. “Are you a big drinker?”
“Not particularly, but I can tell from the collection that you like it.” He nodded at the two wine racks on the table behind her couch. Both full. “White or red?”
She followed his gaze then went back to staring at him. Her expression stayed blank, but she finally seemed to focus on him more than the chaos around her. “Red.”
“Sit.” He had to work fast. Get her relaxed and move in.
She started to ease down then shot back up again. “I don’t really want to touch anything.”
He couldn’t blame her, but that didn’t make his job any easier. “Then how are you going to look through—”
“I was going to beg you to do it.” She shook her head. “I know you have a lot of the files. With your help I think we could figure it out.”
“Ah.” That sounded like trust to him, which made what he planned to do even shittier. “You only have to ask.”
“I think I just did.”
“Good enough.” He moved around behind her and started massaging her shoulders. Rubbed along her tight muscles and down to her biceps before traveling up again.
Her head fell forward on a groan. “That’s one of your hidden superpowers.”
“I decided it was time to let you in on my secret.”
“Your hands feel so good.”
“Good.” He made a mental note to give her a massage again when he wasn’t in the middle of manipulating her.
She said something he couldn’t hear and he asked her to repeat it. The second time the words came louder. “I blew it.”
His hands stilled on her neck. “Meaning?”
“I made it known I was looking for you. Searched you out, mentioned you—well, the name Wren—on a message board that tracks missing people.”
The message board piece was news. Bad fucking news. “You did?”
“The senator, the police. A reporter I know.”
And now a reporter. Jesus, they needed to go through all of this at some point. Not today and not now. She needed to be out of there and away from the confusion that had descended on her life. But at some point they needed to talk about all she’d done to investigate his identity so that he could try to undo any of the potential damage. “That’s very enterprising of you.”
She pushed away from him and started pacing. Her balance seemed off and she mumbled to herself, breaking now and then to say something to him. “I can’t stop shaking.”
He saw the tremors move through her. Tense and on edge, waiting for attack. “You need to rest and I need to get you out of here.”