The Last Echo by Kimberly Derting

Author:Kimberly Derting
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Harper Collins, Inc.
Published: 2012-04-17T04:00:00+00:00

“How did you know?” Rafe asked as they took a table in the back. He dropped into the chair and stretched his legs out in front of him.

Violet’s drink was too hot, and she took a small, careful sip before setting it on the table. “I saw her photo . . . well, a really grainy photo in yesterday’s paper after I was here. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t be sure it was her until I came back to look at the corkboard.” She frowned. “I’m almost sorry it was her. Did you see his face? I hate knowing them. I hate knowing who they were. I mean, are,” she corrected quickly. Casey Atkins wasn’t dead. Not yet anyway. “But you know what this means, don’t you?”

“That you were right?”

“No,” she said uncertainly. “Well, yeah, I guess so. But that’s not what I’m talking about.”

Rafe took a swig of his coffee, hiding his grin behind his cup. “I thought that’s what girls liked to hear . . . that they’re right.”

Violet threw her napkin at him. “You’re ridiculous, you know that? No, it means that Antonia Cornett and Casey Atkins might have known each other. At the very least, they have this place in common.” Suspiciously, she glanced at everyone in the café around them. There was a couple, their heads bent together over the table until they were practically touching as they whispered quietly to each other. At another table was a group of girls that reminded Violet of her friends. They were animated and loud and they talked over one another, and then laughed even louder at their own jokes. “He might have found both of them here.”

Violet half-expected Rafe to make fun of her, to tease her about going all Nancy Drew on him, but when she looked back at him, she saw that he was thinking the same thing she was, his gaze appraising everyone.

“We have to tell Sara,” Violet whispered.

Rafe gave a sharp, determined nod, and then he downed the rest of his coffee and slammed his cup on the table. “You’re right. She needs to know this. It could be something. I’ll tell her when I get back to the Center.” He stood quickly.

Violet jumped up too. “No way, I’m coming with you,” she insisted, reaching out to stop him. She was the one who’d figured it out; she didn’t want to be left out.

She’d gotten used to the quick burst of static that erupted between them whenever they touched, but this time, when her fingers clasped around his wrist, the sensation jolted her, both physically and emotionally. She felt the ground shift, not literally, but the effect was just as unsteadying. She jerked her hand back, squeezing her fist into a tight ball.

Rafe must have felt it too, because his eyes flashed, finding hers and holding them with dark warning.

Neither of them spoke; they just watched each other warily for several long moments.

Finally a slow grin spread over his face. “Well, that was awkward.

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