“Good work, Bob,” I said, “being able to work with Overton will help us out. They have access to a helicopter, for one thing. And if a third kid goes missing, we can call it a string of disappearances and bring in the feds. They’d take jurisdiction from us, but they have the resources to locate—whatever is left of them.” I cleared my throat.
“So the burner was still active three days after Becky Simms went missing. Usually those phones would be long gone in a dumpster by then. Are we dealing with stupid people? That phone is evidence,” Carl said. I nodded.
“It’s probably been trashed by now, but it shows they’re slipping up. Not cycling through disposable phones as fast as they should to cover their tracks. Maybe not wanting to go buy another one for money reasons or because of getting caught on camera,” I said. “Vance, have we heard from Max about facial recognition on that video.”
“You have to email it to me first, chief,” she said, snark riding the edge of her voice. I took out my phone, sent the video footage to her and nodded my head.
“There,” I said, “see what he can do.”
15
Laura
“No! Don’t heat treat it again! You’re gonna open up the grain. That fuckin’ blade is gonna be like Swiss cheese if you keep it up—” my dad hollered at the screen. I chuckled.
“I’m glad we found a show we could agree on, but watch your blood pressure. It’s not like you’re the one competing for ten grand,” I said, indicating the blacksmith competition show we’d started binging at his dialysis appointment earlier.
I had him kicked back in a recliner watching the second season while my mom went to her book club. I’d been to the gym earlier and gotten a full workout—it felt so good to do more than grabbing a half hour to train when I was already exhausted like most days.
There was a ton of work to do on the Simms case, but Brody had insisted I take the day off. I’d worked ten days of twelve-hour shifts and he didn’t want me to burn out. He didn’t know my stamina yet, and I was nowhere near burnout, but I shrugged and accepted that I wasn’t on the schedule for the day. It was a nice break, especially since my boss had been avoiding me like the plague since the bar incident. It wasn’t like I had initiated it. I knew he had been enjoying himself since I felt a rod against my belly that was unmistakable—the man was hung like a racehorse and wanted me fiercely. His hungry, raw kisses had lit a fire in me, and I had responded with equal passion. I wasn’t ashamed of that at all. Maybe I should’ve shoved him off of me, but we were both adults, and we wanted what we wanted.
We both got carried away. In a public venue which could, if caught, result in termination of our employment and a misdemeanor charge. But that was beside the point. The point was, we had chosen to cross a line, and then he skittered back across to the safe side and proceeded to act like I had pranced around in my underwear and tried to seduce him or something. I knew he had flirted with me, we’d flirted with each other—light and fun at first and then heavy with desire. So whatever his hang up was, it was on my last nerve.
“I’m glad you’re over your Ancient Aliens kick. How’d you find this new show?”
“It’s not new. Brody says it’s been on like six seasons.”
“Brody?” I asked, bewildered.
“Yeah, the other day when Damon was supposed to take me to dialysis but he had cycle training at the station, Brody came and took me. Your mom was going to help out at the church with the craft fair, but she said she’d stay and take me instead. Brody insisted she go on and go. So he took me to the dialysis center and hung out and watched Forged in Fire with me. He thinks David Baker knows everything about weapons, but I like that Jay guy better myself, except he’s always bitching that the handle hurt his knuckles or something. I mean, don’t be a pussy. You’re testing swords.”
My dad chuckled. I managed to recover, but I wanted to blink in confusion for about an hour. Brody? Took my daddy to get kidney dialysis?
“You should’ve called me if Damon couldn’t make it,” I said. “I’m your daughter.”
“Yeah, but I didn’t want you taking time off a new job for me. Besides, that Brody thinks the world of you. He said you were the best cop he ever worked with and you were smarter than the rest of ‘em put together. I always thought that kid had a good head on his shoulders. He could’ve been a fireman if he’d put his mind to it,” my dad said.