Things We Hide From the Light

Since Lina’s job involves moving often from place to place in pursuit of stolen property, Lina sizes up Nash and his “hunky” physique as perfect for her “enjoy ’em and leave ’em” lifestyle (14). As she settles into her new digs, she feels a familiar restlessness. Knockemout is a quaint but boring little town. Maybe Nash will be a distraction. Lina does not tell Nash that she is actually in town to recover a vintage Porsche most likely stolen by the same thugs who nearly killed him.

Lina is grateful to Knox, Nash’s brother and her ex-lover, who rescued her from the town’s roach-infested motel and moved her to this apartment complex, which Knox owns. He purchased the complex with money from a state lottery jackpot he won some years back. Knox stops by long enough to assure Lina that a bed will be delivered that afternoon and then invites her to Sunday dinner with his fiancée Naomi and the precocious 12-year-old Waylay, Naomi’s niece. Since Waylay’s mother Tina is behind bars for a long time, Knox and Naomi have adopted Waylay.

On the way to work the following morning, Nash wrestles with fragmentary memories of the shooting: “All I knew was that I should have died” (28). When he drives past the spot where he was shot, he feels the familiar signs of an anxiety attack. He pulls over. He hears a whimpering and decides, drawing his side arm, to investigate. He discovers a shivering dog hunkering in a drain pipe. The dog got in, but now cannot get back out through the opening. As he ponders what to do, Lina, out for a run, stops to help. Nash is mesmerized by Lina’s sweaty body and fantasizes about kissing her: “What I felt teetered on the line of uncontrollably craving” (34).

Together, the two rescue the frightened stray from the pipe. As they struggle to get the dog out, Nash cannot help but notice Lina’s “perfect curves” (40). Once the dog is out, Lina asks Nash, “so, hotshot, what’s the plan?” (41).

Nash and Lina return to Nash’s apartment to give the dog, whom they name Piper, a much-needed bath. Lina looks about the minimally-furnished apartment and decides it resembles a “vacant hotel room” (45). Muddy from the rescue, Nash removes his shirt, and Lina cannot help but appreciate his chiseled chest. While Nash cleans up, Lina notices a stack of file folders on his desk, among them one labeled “HUGO, DUNCAN.” Nash interrupts before she can look at the file.

Cleaning the dog is quite an effort. Nash invites Lina to stay for breakfast and coffee. Lina tries to maintain her composure despite her attraction, a “wild mix of anticipation, adrenaline, and fear” (52). Lina receives a call from her boss telling her about a job opening that would be more money, but also more travel and more risk. Lina demurs. She is getting tired of “shitty motels and endless hours of surveillance” (54).

Nash adjusts to his new responsibilities—he hopes temporary—for keeping a “scruffy, anxiety-ridden mutt” (54). He congratulates himself for making another day without resorting to his pain pills. Aware of his downward spiral since the shooting, he thinks about his “leggy” neighbor. He takes a shower, indulging an elaborate fantasy of making love to Lina as he masturbates: “I could almost hear her breathe my name” (59). As he climaxes, he slams his free hand against the shower wall, yells “yes, Angel” (61), and switches the shower water to cold.

Lina cannot help but hear Nash in the shower through the thin apartment walls.

Lina goes to the public library and there meets Sloane, a “sexy” platinum-blonde librarian. She checks out a stack of murder mysteries to pass the time in Knockemout along with information on local property databases. As she exits, she runs into Nolan Graham, who knows her from previous investigations. He guesses why she is in town: Duncan Hugo, the car theft ring, and his power play against his own father.

Lina, with Nolan in tow, crosses the street to the police station where they meet Nash. Lina is distracted by Nash’s sex appeal. Nolan, who has been assigned to shadow Nash in the event that Duncan Hugo tries again to eliminate the police chief, tells Nash that Lina is an insurance investigator. When Nash calls Lina “Angel,” Lina realizes his shower fantasy involved her.

Lina goes to Knox’s rambling rustic home for dinner with his family. She can tell her ex-boyfriend is “happier than he’s ever been” (75). The dinner chat centers on the approaching wedding. Lina bonds with Naomi and young Waylay and is invited to be part of the wedding. Nash arrives with Piper and shares the story of how they rescued the dog from the storm drain.

Nash, enjoying all the chaos of his brother’s dinner party, cannot entirely ignore his “burn of attraction” (87) for Lina. Her elegant makeup, her clingy outfit, her easy smile, and dangling earrings all distract him.

Waylay invites Uncle Nash to come to her school on Career Day, maybe “do something cool like shoot one of the annoying boys with a Taser” (91). Dinner conversation reveals that Lina and Nolan once had a “sweaty, naked forty-eight-hour fling in a Memphis hotel” (94). The coincidence bothers Nash, but he finds the image erotic. He brushes against her, and she feels the bulge of his erection.

Later, when he asks Lina what she is doing back in Knockemout, she retorts that what she is doing in town is none of his business, and then leaves, upset by Nash’s interrogation.

Knox tells his brother that Lina is less insurance adjuster than bounty hunter, who specializes in recovering valuable stolen property. This intrigues Nash, who is now certain there is a connection between Lina’s presence and the car theft ring that nearly cost him his life. Knox assures his brother that Lina is one of the good ones: “Fix things with her and then leave her alone” (99).