the trail had gone cold. I just didn’t want to accept the truth. They’re probably right. Shane’s...long gone.” Her almond-shaped eyes held so much pain.
“I know why your parents didn’t leave the area after they divorced. They never gave up hope of finding him, especially your mother,” Brody said, leaning forward. Everyone in town had held out the same hope Shane would be found. Hope that had fizzled and died as the weeks ticked by. “And neither did you.”
“Seemed like a good enough reason to stay in the beginning.”
“There’s no reason to give up now.”
“Do you know how slim the chances of solving a cold case are? I do.” When she looked up, he saw more than hurt in her eyes. He saw fear. He already noted that she’d positioned herself in the corner with her back against the wall, insuring she could see all the possible entry points. And didn’t that move take a page out of his own book?
“Except the case isn’t cold anymore. He struck again. We know he’s in the area.”
“Do you have any idea how that new deputy looked at me when I reported the crime and he pulled me up in the system? No one believes me.” Tears welled in her eyes, threatening to fall.
“I do.” Brody meant those two words.
“He could be anywhere by now.”
“And so could you. But you’re not. You’re here. And so is he.” Brody needed the conversation to switch tracks. Give her a chance to settle down. It was understandable that her emotions were on a roller coaster. Her need to find her brother battled with the fear she never would. “What about after college? You disappeared. I heard that you swore you’d never set foot in Mason Ridge again. What happened?”
“I did. I moved to Chicago and got a job at a radio station. I came home three years ago because of my mom’s health. She took a turn.”
“I didn’t know.” Again he suppressed the urge to reach across the table and comfort Rebecca, dismissing it as an old habit that didn’t want to die.
“I had no way to reach you while you were overseas. Doubt I could’ve found the right words, anyway.”
Brody understood the sentiment. How many times had he thought about looking her up on social media over the years but hadn’t? Dozens? Hundreds? “Is it her heart again?”
Rebecca nodded. The sadness in her eyes punctuated what had to be another difficult time for the Hughes family.
“What’d the doctor say?”
“That she isn’t doing well. They’re doing everything they can, but she’s refusing to try a new medication that will help her. Says she’s afraid of being allergic to it, which is just an excuse.” She shrugged. “I always stop by and see her after I get groceries on Fridays. I couldn’t go today, after what happened this morning. I called to let her know and prayed that she didn’t pick up on anything in my voice. She shouldn’t see me like this. It’ll just make her worry even more.”
“I’m truly sorry about your mom.” And so many more things he wasn’t quite ready to put into words. His own mother had freely walked away from his family after getting folks to hand over their hard-earned money under the guise of making an investment in Mason Ridge’s future. She had no idea what it was like to stick around.
“Thank you.” The earnestness in her expression ripped at his insides. “I can’t help but feel that trying to reopen Shane’s case is hopeless. The task force took all the facts into account fifteen years ago when they investigated his disappearance. All the leads from the case are freezing cold by now. My brother is still missing, probably dead. We’re right where we started, except now this jerk’s back as some twisted anniversary present to me.” Tears streamed down her cheeks.
Brody reached across the table and thumbed them away, ignoring the sensations zinging through his hand from making contact with her skin and the warning bells sounding off inside his head.
She glanced at him and then cast her gaze intently on the table, drawing circles with her index finger. “It’s all my fault. If I hadn’t told him to sit down and wait for me by the willow tree so I could finish the mission he’d still be alive today.”
“Don’t do that to yourself. None of this is your fault.”
Her shoulders slumped forward. “What else can we do?”
Yeah, her stress indicator was the same. And Brody wanted to make it better.
“I’ll figure out a way to get a copy of the file so I can review the list of suspects again. I have a friend in Records and she owes me a favor. Fresh eyes can be a big help and might give us more clues.” Brody rubbed the stubble on his chin.
“With the festival going on this guy could blend in again, couldn’t he?”
“Yeah. We have to look at everything differently this time. He might be someone local who hides behind the festival. Maybe he knew that was the first place law enforcement would look.”
“You’re right. He could be a normal person, a banker or store clerk.” A spark lit behind her eyes, and under different circumstances it’d be sexy as hell.
“It’s likely. He could be married and involved in a church or youth group. He might be a bus driver or substitute teacher. It’s very well possible he could work with kids or in a job where he has access to families. We have to consider everyone. Those are great places to start.”
“I just focused on what the sheriff had said before, him being transient. None of these options occurred to me.” She shuddered.
Brody sipped his coffee. “It’s not a bad thing that you don’t think like a criminal.”
“If we need help, Charles Alcorn offered,” she said.
“A man in his position would be a good resource to have on our side.” Brody leaned forward. “So this is how it’s going to go. I follow you. Everywhere. You got a date, I’m right behind you.” The thought of sitting outside her house while another man was inside doing God knows what with her sat in his stomach like bad steak. And yet, they were both grown adults. It shouldn’t bother him. Wasn’t as if he’d been chaste, either.
“I’m not dating.”
Brody suppressed the flicker of happiness those words gave him. He had no right to care.
“And I don’t want to stop you from doing...whatever,” she added quickly.
Why did the way she said that knife him?
“Don’t worry about my personal life. I’m here to do a job. That’s all I care about right now.” Why was that more of a reminder for him than for her?
Working with her was going to be more difficult than he’d originally thought. And not because errant sexual thoughts crossed his mind every time he got close enough to smell her shampoo. It was citrus and flowery. Being with her brought up their painful past, but they’d shared a lot of good memories, too. Like their first kiss. They’d skipped the Friday afternoon pep rally junior year and headed down to the lake in the old Mustang he’d bought and fixed up using money from his after-school job at his dad’s garage.
