When Peter came home, she could hear him ask Grace why she was sleeping on the couch. She couldn’t make out Grace’s response, but she did catch him telling Grace that Amya wasn’t wrong. Poor kid didn’t need to be in the middle of it, which she was pretty sure was what Grace told him, since he walked down the hall and closed the door to his room with a loud click.

  Amya laid still for hours, finally glancing at the clock on the nightstand. It was two in the morning. She should have known it was late since Peter wasn’t off work until after midnight. She’d laid in the bed alone with the door locked for hours. Drawing in a shuddering breath, she closed her eyes and begged for sleep to come and take her away. She just needed to not think, to not feel, to not worry about what might happen if Grace and she couldn’t talk this one out.

  With her heart in shambles, her mind whirring up a storm, Amya closed her eyes and pushed everything to the side. She said a prayer, drew in deep mediating breaths, and got out of bed. She stripped her clothes and pulled on pajamas before heading to the door. Her hand hovered over the handle for a brief second before she flicked the lock and opened it a crack. The rest of the decision would be Grace’s.

  The dogs walked through, finally allowed in the room. Roslin curled on the floor, too old to jump on the bed anymore, and Izzy curled on the bottom corner that she always claimed as hers. Amya patted her head as she got under the covers again and sighed. The ball was in Grace’s court now. Grace had to make the next move.

  The Loner

  Grace got to the office late Friday morning, and her back ached after sleeping on the couch all night. At some point, Amya must have unlocked the door, which had been enough for Grace to go get dressed in the morning. They hadn’t spoken. Amya stayed home with both Peter and Kit, and Grace had driven around town in the newly fallen snow, trying to figure out where they’d gone wrong.

  Their argument played over and over in her head until she just had to leave the house to get some of her thoughts straight, though that hadn’t been very successful. But she also knew that if she walked into work and Paige picked up on the fact that she and Amya had fought, she would push boundaries even more.

  Grabbing Abrams from Homicide, they got into Grace’s cruiser. It wouldn’t take them too long to do what she wanted that morning, but it would at least keep her out of Paige’s hair while still getting her job done. Kline was watching the tips to see if any more came in that were relevant and would jump on calling Grace if there was one.

  Abrams sat quietly in the seat next to her, his hard exterior not swaying Grace much more than it had the first day she’d met him. She drove through the slush filled streets to the other side of town where Kadence lived. They’d interviewed her once, but Grace wanted to double-check everything. She had a list of homes from immediate family members that she was planning on doing a door-to-door search and see if anyone had seen Andrew in the last week and a half since his disappearance.

  When she got to the first apartment complex, Link stepped out of the cruiser without a word. He wasn’t normally chatty, but they did at least have a comfortable relationship where they would talk, but today he seemed off. Grace thought about asking him what was wrong but avoided the entire topic instead. If he wasn’t going to share what his issues were, then she wasn’t going to share hers.

  They went separate directions from Kadence’s apartment. Knocking on the first three doors got Grace nothing. The fourth door got her an answer at least. She flashed her badge, planted a smile on her face, and straightened her shoulders.

  “Hi, I’m Detective Halling with Missing Persons. I was wondering if I could ask you a few questions about an ongoing investigation.”

  The small woman nodded.

  “Have you seen anyone around here with a baby recently?”

  “Like baby Andrew?”

  Grace gave a sharp nod. “Yes, like baby Andrew.”

  The woman bit her lower lip and looked around the other apartments. “No. No one who shouldn’t have a baby, anyway.”

  “Have you seen any strange people coming and going from apartments lately?”

  “No. Everything has been fairly normal.”

  “Fairly?”

  The woman shrugged. “It’s been normal.”

  “All right.”

  Anyone she got hold of at Kadence’s complex pretty much gave her the same story. There’d been no sign of a baby being in Kadence’s apartment either when they’d interviewed her, so Grace felt fairly confident crossing her name off the suspect list, or at least putting it way down to the bottom.

  She and Link rendezvoused at the cruiser, Grace leaning against the door. “Find anything?”

  “Nope.”

  “Me either. To Jonas’?”

  “Yup.”

  He got into the cruiser just as Grace did. This was the part of detective work that wasn’t as much fun as chasing the bad guy, but at least it got her away from her desk and walking, which was something she enjoyed.

  “Did you have a good Thanksgiving outside of getting called in?”

  Link gave a small shrug. “Could have been better eating with the family instead of being stuck at a scene, but the food was good.”

  “Better than the leftovers I heated up in the microwave.”

  “No doubt.” His tone was dry.

  Grace had to sigh. She didn’t need to be best friends with the man, but some camaraderie that day would be a very welcome distraction from Amya and the jealousy that seemed to always find a wedge between them. Grace hadn’t actually eaten dinner the night before. The last thing she’d eaten had been breakfast, and her stomach was currently telling her that had been a mistake. But she couldn’t bring herself to stomach food or think about anything other than the argument.

  “Do we have the full autopsy report yet?”

  “ME said we should have it back by this afternoon.”

  “Good. I’m interested to see what’s in it.”

  “From the prelim…not much.”

  Grace shrugged. “You never know what you might find.”

  “That’s true. Did you get hold of that third person who Felicia was calling and texting?”

  “No. The number is no longer active, and she’s in Johnson county, so I’ll have to convince them to make a stopover or Delwin to let me go.”

  Link snorted at that. “She keeps you on a short leash.”

  “You have no idea,” Grace muttered.

  They finished up the door-to-door by Jonas’ and his parents with no new information. There was still no sign of Andrew anywhere. All Grace could hope was that since it was proven when infants were taken from the home they were generally cared for that he was still alive somewhere, but with the list of who might have taken him narrowing, her hopes thinned.

  She pulled onto the road by Felicia’s parents’ house. They had talked to them several times, Grace talking to the mother so many times she honestly couldn’t count them all. They’d done the door-to-door once already within a day or two of Andrew’s disappearance and Felicia’s murder, but it wasn’t that hard to hide a baby and bring him home when things calmed down a bit. Luckily, no one was home.

  Grace parked down the road from the house, eyeing the driveway. Link walked across the street to knock on doors there while Grace stayed on the side with Felicia’s parents’ house. The first two houses netted her nothing, but at least the residents were home. When she got to the third, she found no one there, and then she came across Felicia’s parents’ house.

  Stepping up to the door, she knocked to prove her suspicion the house was empty. It was a single story ranch-style house, so this would actually work to her benefit. She stepped to the front window and peered inside, her hands coming up to block the sunlight from the reflection so she could see better.

  The house was messy, which it hadn’t been when they’d interviewed them the first time, but that didn’t bother Grace. It wasn’t a disaster. It looked like a normal amount of mess after a holiday or after having such a traumatic event happen.

  Walking around to the side of the house, Grace got up on her toes to peek in through the side windows. The blinds were drawn, thankfully in a bedroom, but it sported nothing but a bed in the corner and a dresser and some dated decorations on the walls. The next window was definitely the bathroom, and Grace couldn’t see anything in there.

  The third window at the back of the house was another bedroom, this one had a small fold-up crib in the corner. Something tugged inside her, and Grace looked around the room even more. There were diapers stashed in the corner, a changing station. This was set up for someone who had a baby. It didn’t prove they had Andrew, but it was definitely a good lead to go on.

  Stepping away from the window, Grace jumped when she came face-to-face with Link. He raised one gray, bushy eyebrow at her. “Done snooping?”

  “They’ve got a crib in there and a changing station.”

  “Does it look used?”

  “No?” She furrowed her brow and rubbed a hand against the back of her neck.

  “Is that a question?”

  “It could be used or not. It’s not messy if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Rest of the house is.”

  “True.” Grace put her fists on her hips. “Find anything with the neighbors?”

  “Nothing, and one in particular who has been watching like a hawk because she feels so bad for them.”

  Grace rolled her eyes. “So our regular nosy neighbor.”

  “You got it.”

  Link glanced in the window before they walked toward the cruiser. Grace got into the driver’s seat, realizing she’d forgotten her phone in the car when it buzzed in the cup holder as soon as she opened the door. Grabbing for it, she stopped short when she saw Paige’s name on it. She didn’t answer.

  When they were settled inside, she started the engine to try and get the car warm again. Winter hadn’t hit full force yet, but she knew it was coming. She could feel it in her bones. “When do you want to interview them again?”

  “This afternoon if they show back up at home.”

  “Want to stick a uniform on it?” Grace asked.

  “I can have one drive by to see when they get home and then call me.”

  “Sounds good.” Grace stared down at her phone. “I’ve got to call her back.”

  “Who?”

  “Delwin.”

  “So call her.”

  Sighing, Grace put the phone up to her ear. “Hey, what’s up?”

  “Where have you been?”

  “Canvassing. What’s going on?”

  “New case.”

  “You’re kidding me.”

  “Nope. Everyone else has two cases already. I’ve held off on it as long as I can. You’re up, Halling.”

  “Fuck,” Grace muttered, hopefully quiet enough neither Paige nor Link heard. A glance at Link told her she’d at least been loud enough for him. “I’ll be back in twenty.”

  “Make it quick.”

  Hanging up, Grace shoved the cruiser into drive. “I’ve got another case.”

  “Another case?” Link turned to her surprised. “You get more than one?”

  “When it’s busy, which is during the holidays, yes. The most I’ve had at once is three.”

  “That’s insane.”

  “Why? Do you only get one?”

  “Unless it runs cold.”

  “This one is about to,” Grace reminded him. “Unless we find some leads soon, they’ll hand it over to the FBI to continue the investigation, working with us, of course.”

  “Of course,” he echoed. “I’ll email you over the autopsy report when it comes in, but we should look at it sooner rather than later.”

  “Agreed. Want to work tomorrow?”

  “I’m on call anyway, so it won’t hurt.”

  Grace snorted. She always worked weekends, and whether or not he was going to join in, she had no doubt she’d find herself at the office, going through files and doing more for her investigation. Though, she wasn’t going to tell him that. The drive back to the station was mostly quiet. They tossed ideas around about who else Felicia might have connections to but hadn’t come up with anyone who skyrocketed to the top of their list. It seemed as though the case for Andrew was going cold faster than the winter coming in.

  ###

  Kline was waiting for her when she walked in. Grace gave her an odd look and a glance toward Paige’s office door, which was shut with the lights off. “Where’s Delwin?”

  “Out.”

  “Really?”

  “Said she couldn’t wait for you. I’m giving you the update.”

  “Anyone working with me?”

  Kline cocked her head to the side. “I am.”

  “Nice.” Grace smiled. “What have we got?”

  “We got a call in from a law firm about one of their employees. He hasn’t shown up to work in over a week and they are concerned. They did a wellness check this morning, managed to get a good look inside the house, but there didn’t seem to be anyone there. Mail piled up for over a week.”

  “All right.” Dropping her stuff onto her desk, Grace took the file Kline handed over. In it was a driver’s license photo of a heavier set man, bald, with bright blue eyes. He had on a suit and tie in the picture—he definitely fit the profile so far of someone working in a law office. “So he hasn’t been seen since when, exactly?”

  “Tuesday the week before Thanksgiving.”

  “That’s way more than a week, Kline.”

  She shrugged. “They didn’t have office hours yesterday or today, and one of the other lawyers seemed concerned, tried to call him, he didn’t answer, went to his house and it was the same, so they called us.”

  Scratching her head, Grace stared down at the picture. “So he’s a lawyer?”

  “One of the partners at the firm.”

  “Wonderful.” Grace slid into her chair and booted up her computer. “Family?”

  “None in town from what we can tell so far. I just managed to run the basics on him before you got back.”

  “Thanks.” Grace turned to her computer. “Let me get a bit more information and I’ll make a few calls and see what we come up with.”

  Kline nodded sharply. “I’ll be working on my missing teen.”

  “Catch up with you in a bit, then.”

  Focusing entirely on her computer screen, Grace ran through a few more searches that Kline hadn’t managed to get done. She pulled phone records that she could get hold of, listened to the call in for the wellness check, and figured out where Leon Gross lived. She’d check the house herself, just to be sure the uniforms hadn’t missed anything. And they hadn’t talked to the caller except to report back about the initial wellness check. She’d have to do that too.

  Grace wrote down names and addresses in her notebook that she wanted to check out. She’d take Kline with her for this first round, especially since she had no idea what she was going to run into yet. Once she had her list compiled, she picked up the phone on her desk and called Leon’s cell phone and house number. The cell went straight to voicemail, and the house rang until it went to a full message system.

  She started on the family next. Kline was right, he didn’t have anyone in town, but she did manage to track down a sister, which would be a good starting point. Her first call, however, was to the two hospitals in town. The first one answered right away. Finally getting the right person on the phone, she sighed and pulled open her drawer and her stash of snacks. Picking the dried peaches, she munched while she waited for the person to pick up.

  “This is Jessica Lewis.”

  “Hi, I’m Detective Grace Halling. I work in missing persons. I was wondering if you had any John Does come in or if you had a patient there by the name Leon Gross. Either in the last few days or the last week and a half. Any time up to Monday before Thanksgiving.”

  Clicking echoed through the line. “No one here by that name, but we did have one John Doe come in just three days ago. He was released, it seems, AMA, two days ago.”

  “I’m looking for a man who is six foot three inches, about two-hundred-thirty pounds. White, bald, with blue eyes. There are no tattoos on his body that I’m aware of, and no scars known at this time.”

  “Hmm.” Some more clicking. “Doesn’t seem to match the description of the individual we had here.”

  “All right. Will you please keep a look out for Leon Gross and anyone matching his description should he come in?”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Thanks.”

  The second hospital was the same. No one of that description or name was a patient there. Grace’s head was hurting, her back gave a few sharp pangs to remind her she’d slept on the couch all night. Her next call was to the initial caller.

  “Hello?”

  “Is this Harvey Rowe?”

  “Yes.”

  “I’m Detective Grace Halling. You called this morning about your friend, Leon Gross.”

  “He’s not really my friend.” Harvey corrected. “We work together. Leon doesn’t exactly have friends.”

  “Oh?”

  “He’s a bit of a loner.”

  “Ah. When was the last time you saw him?”

  “Tuesday night, the Tuesday before last. We were both leaving the office late. He had court the next day, so when he didn’t come into the office, we all assumed he was there. It wasn’t until the client called in a panic we realized he wasn’t. He never showed back up after that.”

  “Why did you wait so long to call it in?”

  Harvey paused. “We thought his sister would call it in.

  “And she didn’t?”

  “Don’t know. I got tired of waiting and called.”