“Diego?”

  “Yes,” he answered.

  “I’m Detective Halling. This is Detective Delwin. We want to talk to you about the kid you found four years ago.”

  Diego nodded. “I assumed as much, come in.”

  The house wasn’t in much better shape than Diego. He led them into the small entryway, through a living room that had two chairs, a television, and an insane amount of beer bottles. Most of which, Grace assumed, were empty. They went into a small office, where Diego sat in the chair at the desk. The room was barely big enough for the three of them, but there was even less room with the amount of papers stacked literally everywhere: the floor, the chairs, the desk top, the singular bookshelf, the filing cabinet. Grace wondered briefly if the cabinet was filled as well.

  “What do you want to know?” Diego asked.

  Grace swallowed. “I just received this case and am starting to work through all the witnesses and reports we already have, but I wanted to get a sense of what happened for myself. First, can you tell us exactly where you found him?”

  Diego nodded. He pulled out a map, which was a surprise to Grace, and pointed on it. She glanced at Paige before stepping forward and leaning over the desk to see where he pointed. Sure enough, it was right behind the newer strip mall in town, behind one of the big box stores. There was nothing but woods behind those buildings except for the pass through street and the Hay Barn. Grace made a mental note of it.

  “All right, can you tell us a little bit about what happened that night?”

  “I guess.” He rubbed a hand over his eyes like they had just woken him up from a deep sleep. “I was driving that night, and I stopped by the side of the road out back between jobs to take a piss. In the middle of that, I saw something weird right by the edge of the forest, so I walked down to see what it was, and I found the kid.”

  “How was he laying?” Grace pulled out her notebook. These were all questions not present in the reports she had.

  Diego groaned. “Uhh…on his back. His head was turned toward the forest. He was completely naked except for this ring he hand on his finger.”

  “Ring?” Grace’s eyes widened. That had been nowhere in previous reports, and it seemed like information that should be.

  Nodding, Diego pointed to his left pointer finger. “Yeah, it was big and bulky. Had a giant red gemstone in it.”

  “Like a school ring?” Paige interjected.

  Diego shrugged. “I don’t know. I didn’t spend much time looking at it. I went back to my car, grabbed my cellphone, and called the cops.”

  Grace backtracked slightly. “All right, so you found him naked on the ground. What else do you remember?”

  “He didn’t look good. Like it looked like he had the shit beat of him. His face was all swollen and bloody. His chest looked just as bad. Blood everywhere.”

  Grace wrote everything down as if she was getting the information for the first time. She’d seen the initial damage report to Joseph’s body, which had included a couple stab wounds to his chest, neck and head, with a short knife, like a pocket knife, which explained a lot of the blood Diego was describing.

  “So you called the cops, then what?” Grace asked, trying to get him to continue.

  “I dunno. I waited for them to show up. Talked to them, told them I didn’t know nothing, and then they sent me home.”

  Grace stopped at that. “Did anyone come talk to you after that?”

  Diego shook his head.

  Inwardly cursing, Grace could have beat someone bad. All the detectives before her had fucked up the case. Joseph hadn’t even stood a chance, and the fact no one had figured out nothing had been done on his case since was a travesty.

  “Okay, so the ring, what did it look like?”

  “I don’t know, lady. I didn’t look that close. Give me a break, it was four years ago.”

  “I know it was four years ago.” Grace softened her tone and shot Paige a look of frustration. “But Joseph is still in ICU from the beating he took that day, and we still don’t know who he is. I’m trying to figure that out so at least someone in his family can come see him.”

  Diego paled. His fingers rubbed together before he shifted in his seat and rubbed his palms over his thighs. “I don’t know anything else. I did what I had to do. I saved the kid’s life, for Christ’s sake. Can’t you just let a good man off the hook?”

  Grace stiffened and let there be a pause of silence before she asked her next question. Grace changed the subject, hoping it would help ease Diego’s anxiety a bit. She wasn’t after him, she just wanted to know more about Joseph to try and figure out who he was. “Do you remember or have record of what calls you were going to that night?”

  “I have the records here, somewhere.” He indicated the room, and Grace knew she never stood a chance of finding those names.

  “Okay. If you think of anything else, especially about that ring, give me a call, please. I’m going to be doing my best to find out who Joseph is and find his family. I’m sure they’ve been missing him for the past four years.”

  Once again, Diego paled, but he took the card Grace offered him and refused to look her in the eye. Paige and Grace got into the cruiser, saying nothing until they returned to the station. “Think it’s a school ring?”

  “Good bet with it being a kid that age. I don’t know many boys who walk around wearing rings on their left pointer finger that isn’t a school ring.”

  “I’ll check it out.” Grace rubbed her lips together as they walked inside. They said not another word as they went to their respective desks and sat down. As soon as Grace pulled up her computer system, she couldn’t help but think about Paige’s words. If Paige couldn’t have her—whatever the hell that meant. Grace had never given any implication she was interested in Paige. Ever. And she wasn’t about to start then, but she maintained, dating Crystal—or anyone for that matter—because of some reason other than interest in them was disaster waiting to happen.

  Third Denial

  Grace picked Kit up at school that day on her way home from work. Kit shoved a duffel bag into the trunk of the cruiser before hopping in the front seat. Grace waved at Peggy as she drove off with Kit in tow. They’d canceled the afternoon program that day, knowing the kids wanted to get gone for spring break.

  “Amya’s cooking,” Grace stated.

  “Good, because you suck at it.”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace smirked. “Thanks, kid. Love the compliment.”

  Kit shrugged. “Can Annabelle come tonight?”

  “I guess, but no staying the night.”

  “I know the rules,” Kit mocked.

  Grace wondered how much longer Kit was going to keep the attitude and verbal assaults up in her life. It was so clear she was desperate for attention and desperate for someone to love her for who she was. She craved it, which was why she kept coming back to Grace’s and Amya’s, but the attitude was beyond repelling.

  “I’ll text her to come over.”

  “Tell Amya, too,” Grace added as she drove toward their house. They lived on the other side of town from Kit’s school, which had been decently annoying when Kit lived there and they insisted on dropping her off and picking her up every day. It took far more time than it should have to keep up with it, but they didn’t trust Kit to come home by the public bus system, not to mention after checking routes, it would have taken her over an hour to use it to get a mile from their house and having to walk the rest. The public bus system was a joke.

  As soon as Grace pulled into the driveway, she let out a breath. She needed the break the weekend would afford her. The interview earlier that day had been good, but she still had to shift through the information, and the ring she wanted to research before she brought it up again.

  Stepping inside, Izzy ran straight for Kit, licking all over and trying to jump up onto her. Kit pushed her off like she didn’t like it, but they all knew better. Izzy was Kit’s dog, obsessed with her and wouldn’t leave her side any time Kit was in the house. Kit didn’t hesitate as she walked to the guest room and dropped her bag in it.

  Grace walked right up to Amya, who had clearly just gotten home from her own shift and stood at the stove starting dinner, and kissed her on the cheek. “Kit text you?”

  “No.”

  “Figures. Annabelle is coming, too.”

  “Okay. There should be plenty.”

  Grace wrapped her arms around Amya’s shoulders and hugged her against her front before kissing once more into her cheek. “I was cleared for duty today.”

  “Really? That was fast.”

  “It was. Who knows. Humbard let me go out today.”

  “Good.” Amya turned and kissed Grace’s lips.

  Grace sighed. “What’s for dinner?”

  “Enchiladas. I needed something easy.”

  “They’re easy, and they’re good.” Grace moved away to grab some water to drink. “You’ll never guess what Paige dragged me to do today.”

  “What?”

  “Well, Humbard has us working in pairs because of this whole IAB investigation, right? So Paige came with me for my interview this afternoon. But first she dragged me down to Crystal’s classroom to ask her out.”

  “What?” Amya turned, her eyes wide. “How does she even know Crystal?”

  “Oh God, I forgot to tell you the whole story! Paige and I went out for drinks while you were gone, and Crystal was there with a date. It was bad, she needed rescuing. Anyway, we rescued, and they hooked up that night. Paige has been begging me for Crystal’s number ever since.”

  “And you haven’t given it?”

  “No, not without Crystal’s permission.”

  “And you, of course, didn’t ask Crystal if she wanted her number handed out.” Amya’s tone was full of attitude.

  Grace froze, caught. She shook her head. “It never came up.”

  “You avoided.” Amya pointed a finger at her. “What if Crystal wanted to go on another date with Paige?”

  “It wasn’t a date. Didn’t you hear me? They hooked up.”

  “So? What if she wanted a proper date?”

  “Jesus.” Grace put her glass down a little too heavily on the counter. “This is ridiculous.”

  “No, it’s not. Why didn’t you ask Crystal?”

  Grace fisted her hands and put them on her hips. “Because they would be horrible together.”

  “That’s your opinion. A lot of people could say the same about us.”

  “No, they wouldn’t.”

  “Not now but in the beginning, well, maybe even now. We have a lot of major differences, Grace, and those aren’t easy things to navigate, but they can be navigated.”

  “Things like what? We’re perfect for each other.”

  Amya’s eyes widened, and she shook her head slowly. She bent down and slid the casserole dishes into the oven before straightening and pegging Grace with a look. Grace knew she had just stepped in some kind of shit.

  “Grace, you are a staunch disbeliever in God, and not only that, but you repel any kind of conversation about God, Jesus, faith, or religion. You want absolutely nothing to do with it.”

  “So?” She knew where the conversation was going, and she also knew Amya had a point. She just didn’t want to admit it.

  Amya rolled her eyes. “I’m a chaplain. Religion, God, faith—that is my life.”

  “I thought I was your life.”

  Laughing, Amya stepped in closer, putting her arms around Grace’s waist and pulling her in. “You’re a dork, but I love you.”

  “My point still stands. They would be awful for each other.”

  “As does my point, sometimes love is weird, and you fall in love with people you least expect. I’d think you could attest to that.”

  Grace’s lips thinned. The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she wasn’t sure it would do any good to tell Amya, who had been jealous for the entire year she and Paige had worked together and it had reared its ugly head in a massive way last Christmas. But there would be fallout, she knew, and Amya would be dragged into it.

  “Except today Paige told me she asked Crystal out because if she couldn’t have me, Crystal was the next best option.”

  “What?” Everything in Amya’s body tensed, and Grace feared she should have kept it all to herself.

  “Yup. So…this is going to fail, and it will not be good for anyone.”

  “No, it won’t.”

  The knock on the door interrupted them. Amya leaned up on her toes and kissed Grace quickly on the lips before she headed for the door, but Kit was faster. She raced to it and opened it, revealing Annabelle. Amya waved out the window at Annabelle’s parents who had dropped her off. The girls started talking a mile a minute before Amya interrupted them.

  “Dinner will be ready in about fifteen minutes, so if you two would set the table.”

  Kit glared, but Annabelle smiled. They moved together as one. Grace got out of their way and walked around to stand next to Amya. “Peter?”

  “Who knows if he’ll be joining. I’ll go check, but I doubt it.”

  “It’d be good for him.”

  “It would, but I’m not going to push him do it.”

  While Amya disappeared, Grace slipped into their bedroom and changed out of her pantsuit and into far more comfortable clothes of a loose T-shirt and well-worn jeans. It was her standard uniform when she was at home relaxing.

  When they were all at the table, Peter excluded, and they had said the required prayer Amya had them do, Grace looked from one kid to the next. They were clearly still together in some form or fashion, Grace wasn’t quite sure, and she didn’t want to pry, but it was obvious there was an underlying sexual tension between them. Hence why Annabelle was not allowed to spend the night, which was a decision they maintained.

  “I think I’m going to go see Lauren and Clyde after the baby is born,” Amya added.

  “When’s that, again?”

  “August.”

  “Do they want you there?”

  Amya shrugged. “Clyde says he’s going to rehab after the baby is born, so I figure I can go help Lauren for a bit since she’ll be wrangling three kids at once.”

  “Might not be a bad idea.”

  “Is it a boy or a girl?” Annabelle asked.

  Amya shook her head. “I don’t think they know yet.”

  “I love babies.”

  Grace had to stop herself from snorting. She’d never been that kid. Not once. Babies were not her thing, in fact, kids weren’t so much her thing either, and she’d never really wanted any. Amya did, but that was a different story, one they often conflicted on.

  “What are you working on, Grace?”

  “Huh?” Grace looked over into Annabelle’s eyes. Kit shot Grace a look she didn’t quite understand, so Grace looked back to Annabelle.

  “What case do you have?”

  “Oh. I have a weird kind of reverse missing persons case. I have the kid—the missing—but I have no idea who he is.”

  “He can’t tell you?”

  Grace shook her head. “He’s in a coma.”

  She took a large bite of dinner to try and avoid any more questions. She wasn’t going to give them too much more information, but she wasn’t going to lie, the entire interview with Diego weighed on her mind heavily. She wanted the time to sit and pick it apart, and she really wanted to know what happened to the ring Joseph was supposedly wearing.

  Nowhere had it been mentioned. Not in the previous interviews or paperwork. Not even in the hospital intake. Grace froze. She turned to Amya then narrowed her gaze. Amya sent her a curious look back.

  “What?”

  “I just realized something.”

  “About your case?”

  “Uh huh.”

  Amya rolled her eyes. “Can you at least wait until we’re done eating to deal with it?”

  Grace chuckled. “I’ll do you one better and wait until Monday to deal with it.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes, I need the break after this week.” She turned to Annabelle and Kit. “What are you two going to be doing this week, since you have the whole week off?”

  “We still have homework,” Kit muttered.

  “And you’ll be doing that, right?” Amya added.

  “Yes.” Kit glared.

  “We thought we’d go to the movies. I just got my license last month, so I can drive.”

  Grace’s stomach twisted. They had been working on getting Kit’s license when she’d been pulled from their house and put back with her parents. Now her parents would have to sign all the paperwork, which Grace sincerely doubted they would, so Kit would likely have to wait until she was eighteen to be able to legally drive. Didn’t mean Grace couldn’t take her to an empty parking lot and teach her.

  Grace shot Amya a look to see how comfortable she was with that, but they both knew they treaded the line of being parents when they had no real authority. If Kit truly wanted to ride with Annabelle, there wasn’t much they could to do stop her, since they weren’t her legal guardians. Neither of them said anything about Annabelle driving. But the hole in Grace’s heart where it concerned Kit grew just a little bigger.

  ###

  She’d gone to bed Sunday night hopeful the morning would bring her good news and good ideas about the ring on Joseph’s finger. Grace had kept to her word and not done any work the entire weekend. She had managed to spend time with everyone, including Peter, and was rejuvenated for sure.

  What she hadn’t been expecting was to wake up to a phone call at three in the morning. The phone rang shrilly, and she grabbed it half-asleep while answering. “Hello?”

  “This is Officer Massey down at the county jail.”

  Grace’s heart sank, and suddenly, she was sitting upright in her bed. Amya still slept soundly next to her. “What’s going on?”