“Well, I’ll be handling the case from here on out, so if you hear anything from Leon, please do let me know.”

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  “Did Leon seem to be in a normal state of mind when he left work Tuesday?”

  “Yeah, I guess. We’d talked about his case, about court in the morning, and that was it. He doesn’t talk a lot about his personal life, so I can’t say there was any change there.”

  Grace nearly snorted but held it back. Seems this guy really was a loner based on his coworkers description. “Had he said anything about going away?”

  “No, and he would have since he’d had court.”

  “True.” Grace wrote random notes down to keep herself focused. “Does Leon only have his sister or is they any other family?”

  “I think he’s got a cousin or two, but other than that, I don’t know. Like I said, he never much talked about his personal life.”

  Grace sighed. She wrapped up the call, leaving her name and number with Harvey. She called Leon’s sister next, and luckily, she answered.

  “Hello?”

  “I’m looking for Linda Gross.”

  “This is she.”

  “I’m Detective Grace Halling from the Sheriff’s Department. I’m calling in regards to your brother, Leon.”

  “Oh my God, is everything okay?”

  Grace’s stomach clenched. She should have opened that conversation differently, although there wasn’t really any good way to start this conversation. “We received a call earlier this morning from one of the partners at the firm concerned for his welfare. Have you heard from your brother in the last few weeks?”

  “No, but we don’t talk very often. We’re not exactly close.”

  Grace’s lips thinned. “When was the last time you talked to him?”

  “September, I think. For his birthday?”

  Jesus. Grace wrote the date down. “Have you exchanged emails, texts, anything else with him since then?”

  “No, like I said, we don’t talk much. Often we only talk on birthdays and Christmas.”

  “Okay. Do you know if he had any friends that I could talk with?”

  “What’s wrong with Leon? Why are you’re calling?”

  Sighing, Grace wrinkled her nose. “The partner who called in today was asking for a welfare check on your brother because he hasn’t been to work since Tuesday before last. When our officers performed the welfare check this morning, your brother was not at the house. His vehicle was there, but he wasn’t.”

  Linda’s voice trembled when she drew in a deep breath.

  “I’m so sorry to have to tell you like this, ma’am. We’re just starting our investigation and will be putting our full effort into finding your brother, though at this time, we don’t suspect foul play.”

  “I knew I might get this call someday.”

  Grace froze at that. “Why would you say that?”

  Linda paused, dragging in a deep breath. “Leon has always struggled with depression, since as far back as I can remember. I always thought he was bipolar, but he never went and got diagnosed or saw a therapist. Anyway, I just always assumed I’d get a call someday that he was dead and that would be it.”

  “Ms. Gross, we haven’t found your brother at this time. He’s only been reported missing. We plan on thoroughly investigating and not stopping until we find him.”

  “I know. I just…let me know what I can do to help, Detective.”

  “When Leon struggled with depression, he was suicidal?”

  “Yes. He has three previous attempts, though I don’t think he’s had one in fifteen years.”

  Grace’s stomach tightened. She hated finding people dead. She always wanted to find them living, and typically held on hope that she would until the inevitable came. “How did he try to kill himself in the past?”

  “The first time he slashed his wrists. The second time he tried to crash his car, but the airbag and seatbelt saved him—ironically. The third time he tried to shoot himself in the head, but at the last minute he moved his hand and so it grazed his skull instead of doing any more damage.”

  “Does he have a scar then?”

  “Yes. It’s along the side of his head, the right side. It’s barely visible, though.”

  “That’s helpful to know. Did he have any tattoos or piercings?”

  “No.”

  “All right.” Grace made a few notes on the paper in front of her. “Did he ever have in patient hospitalization for mental health?”

  “Only on the last attempt, and it was not helpful for him.”

  Things like that always depended on the hospital. Grace would have to try and pull the past reports and see what was written up and what she could glean from them. “We’re going to do our best to find your brother, Ms. Gross. I promise you that.”

  “Thank you.”

  Finally off the phone, Grace pulled the previous reports about Leon Gross and skimmed them over. Linda had been fairly detailed and correct in what had happened, but it had been fifteen years since the last attempt. She bit into another dried peach as her stomach rumbled loud enough that the neighboring detective glared at her. Her next step was going to be to collect Kline and go through Leon’s apartment and see if she could figure out where he was. The coming weekend had just taken a turn.

  Colliding Cases

  It was quiet in the apartment. Grace heard Kline rustling through the living room while she’d volunteered to take the bedroom. She half-expected the apartment to be clean and pristine, but this guy was a bit of a slob. Clothes were strewn about on the floor and on half the bed he clearly didn’t use. With her gloves on her hands, Grace rummaged through the closet, which was another mess.

  The shelves inside it were lined with crap that looked like it hadn’t been touched in months. A thick layer of dust coated everything. The dry cleaning he’d picked up the week before he’d gone missing was laid on top still wrapped up in the plastic it came in, completely untouched. The closet had a few more suits hanging in it, but Grace’s best guess was they weren’t ones he typically liked to wear.

  Law books covered a shelf in the corner of the bedroom. None of it was fiction. Grace sneered at the options. She loved a good book herself but not a law book. She pulled a few of them out and checked them over but didn’t find anything interesting. The computer sat on his nightstand, not a desk in sight in the entire small one bedroom apartment.

  She opened the computer but found it locked and requiring a password, so she’d have to hand that off to someone else unless she found the password somewhere in the apartment. Sighing, Grace stacked it with the stuff they were taking. She almost missed it, but his cellphone was tucked into the messy comforter. Kneeling on the bed with one knee, Grace plucked it and tried to power it on but got nowhere. The battery was completely dead, which shouldn’t surprise her.

  Closing her eyes briefly, Grace stacked that on top of the laptop. It was going to be a long search through the apartment. Thus far, Grace had found absolutely no sign of where Leon might have gone or even what he’d been thinking. She found remnants of his work in his bedroom, in his bathroom—which had been odd. He hadn’t taken anything with him. No suitcases that she could tell since there was a full set stashed into the back of the closet. No toiletries since the travel sized ones and full sized ones were still in the drawers in the vanity.

  Sighing, Grace wiped the back of her wrist against her brow. The apartment was still warm because he’d left the heat on above eighty. If he’d been planning to leave and go on a trip, one would think he’d turn that down to lower his electric bill at the very least, but then again, lawyers made a whole lot more money than she did. Maybe they didn’t care about those kinds of things.

  She had her lips pressed hard together when Kline stepped into the room, her graying red hair and baby blue eyes catching Grace’s attention. “Find anything?”

  “Not a thing. You?”

  “He’s messy?”

  Grace snorted. “Yeah, at least recently. Who knows if he was always like that.”

  Kline shrugged. “Find anything on the computer?”

  “It’s locked. Phone is dead. I’ll have to drop both off when we get to the station and wait them out.”

  “Wonderful,” Kline murmured. “The fridge is full. Pantry is full—mostly.”

  “Mostly?”

  “Looks like he ate a lot of those pre-made meals. The ones you buy and they ship all the ingredients to you and you cook it in thirty minutes or less.”

  “That’s a thing?” Grace asked.

  “Yeah. Where do you live? Under a rock?”

  “Sometimes,” Grace muttered. She and Amya always switched off who cooked until recently. Amya had done the cooking, and when Grace had been home for it, more often than not, she’d order out. Never before would she have thought about dropping that amount of cash on food, but if it was cheaper than eating out, it might actually be a good bet for her own house.

  “Did he take anything with him?”

  “Not that I can tell. He picked up dry cleaning the Monday before the last sighting. It hasn’t been touched.”

  “This guy is weird.”

  “He looks consumed by work and not much else.”

  “I’d agree with you there,” Kline answered. “Work everywhere but not one sense of what he does other than work.”

  “Right? No hobbies. He’s got a television, but it’s not even plugged in.”

  “I’ll be curious to see what’s on his computer, especially his search history.”

  “Yeah.” Grace stretched her back. It had been a long few weeks, and sleeping on the couch was the tip of the iceberg for her. If she and Amya didn’t talk soon, she wasn’t sure she could take another night on the couch. Sighing, Grace stretched her triceps next. Kline didn’t seem phased, which was good.

  “Should we search his office next?”

  “Yeah, after a little door-to-door. See if anyone saw him leave.”

  “Didn’t the uniforms do that?”

  Grace lifted her shoulders and dropped them. “Yeah, but does a second pass really hurt?”

  “Probably not.”

  They finished up their search of the apartment, still coming up empty handed. Grace put the electronics in her cruiser before going back to join Kline in the door-to-door. She knocked and knocked and knocked, finding no one home who knew the good lawyer. He apparently came and went and that was it. She did learn he never came and went with anyone, which she supposed was a good thing, but it was also bad. She had no one to contact next to ask about him.

  Soon enough, Grace found her way to the lawyer’s office. Kline stood slightly behind her as they walked in and spoke with the secretary. They were shown to Leon’s office, which was far cleaner than his apartment. Things weren’t exactly orderly, especially on his desk, but everything else was clean. Grace pulled open some of the drawers, another lawyer—Kenneth Judberry—standing right by to watch them as they worked and to protect any information they might potentially and accidentally see.

  Grace decided to begin the second part of their investigation while they were there. “You worked closely with Leon, right?”

  “I’m a junior associate, so yes, I worked closely with him.”

  Grace nodded to herself. “Were you working on any particularly distressing cases?”

  Kenneth shook his head. “No, nothing out of the norm. We don’t take high profile cases or anything that would be upsetting. We’re not that kind of law firm.”

  “Did he have too many cases piled on him at once?”

  “Leon is one of our best partners. He can handle anything thrown at him with quick efficiency. We all love him around here.”

  “Is he a good boss?”

  “For the most part. He’s a bit rough around the edges, and you don’t really want to piss him off, but it takes a lot to actually piss him off.”

  Grace made sure she was going to remember absolutely everything Kenneth was saying because she knew the request of Leon’s work computer was not going to go over well.

  “Did he have any friends in the office? Anyone he talked to more than someone else?”

  “Leon?” Kenneth snorted. “Leon didn’t have friends. He worked. That’s it. He didn’t have personal conversations with anyone. All he did was work.”

  “Not even watercooler gossip?”

  “Nope.”

  Grace raised an eyebrow in Kline’s direction, surprised in one way and not in the other. Everything they’d learned so far about Leon said he worked and only worked. “We’ll need to talk to some of the other associates and partners here.”

  “Everyone is willing to talk to you. They want to find Leon. He’s a good guy, thorough in his work and everything, but he’s a good guy.”

  Grace wasn’t going to mention that while he might be a good guy and the office seemed to like him for the most part, it still took them over a week to report him missing or really delve into why he was missing.

  “We’ll need to take his computer. Make sure he didn’t buy plane tickets or something on here.”

  “I’ll have to talk to the other partners about that.”

  “Please, do.”

  Kenneth nodded his head as he left the office.

  “What are you thinking?” Kline asked, finally breaking her silence.

  “I’m thinking Leon was all work and no play and maybe, just maybe, he got tired of it.”

  ###

  With everything for Leon with the experts and she was waiting to hear back, Grace walked down the long hallway toward Homicide. It was becoming a regular route for her to take. She was passing the Chaplain’s offices when she stopped short and stared at the door.

  Amya should be at the station and not at the jail that day, though that didn’t mean she wasn’t with someone in a session or something. Grace stood still, staring at the door, every muscle in her body frozen on the spot. People moved and walked around her, but she didn’t pay any attention as she stared at the closed door. Grace felt a world away from Amya and all she wanted was to be close.

  “Halling?”

  Grace spun around at the sound of her name right next to her ear. Link stood in front of her, his hand on her shoulder. She hadn’t even noticed. She cocked her head at him. “What’s up?”

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine.” Her voice was terse even though she didn’t mean it to be.

  “Are you sure? You’ve been staring at that door like you expect the devil to walk through it.”

  Grace’s lips quirked at his phrasing. “I didn’t realize how long I’d been staring. I was just coming to find you.”

  “Okay, but really, Grace, is something wrong?”

  “I’m fine. I promise.” Grace put on a brave face. “It’s something I can deal with later. Did you have any developments on the case?”

  “Yes, actually. One of the neighbors finally came back from vacation and one of the uniforms talked to her. She’s got an interesting story. Thought you might want to check it out with me.”

  “Oh. Um…sure.”

  “Grace, are you sure you’re okay?”

  “It’s been a tough week,” she finally admitted.

  Link pointed at the door. “Do you need to go talk to her?”

  “No. It can wait. I’m sure she’s with someone, anyway. It just reminded me that I need to talk to her sooner rather than later.”

  “I hear you on that one.” They walked together toward Homicide. “What’s the other case you ended up with?”

  “Missing lawyer. Absolutely no foul play suspected. Pretty sure he just ran off somewhere, but he hasn’t left many clues. I just dropped his tech off, so maybe by the time we get back, I’ll have a few more answers.”

  “Maybe you will.” Link’s lips curved upward at her. “And for what it’s worth, Halling, make sure you always make the time to talk with Amya. Don’t neglect it.”

  “I’m not avoiding it, just really don’t want to have that conversation at work.”

  Link snorted. “Oh, sometimes it’s unavoidable.”

  “Are you married to a cop, Sergeant Abrams?”

  “Worse.”

  “What can be worse than that?”

  “I’m married to an assistant district attorney.”

  “No way.”

  “Yes.” Link’s lips pulled tight. He grabbed his keys, and they made their way to the cruiser. “It’s been interesting in some ways, conflicting in other ways. We try very hard not to work the same cases and keep that as separate as possible, and never when I’m the lead on a case.”

  “I can’t imagine. At least Amya and I don’t have those issues.”

  “It’s a whole new layer.” He got into the driver’s seat. “But we also deal with issues at work sometimes when they come up even though we try not to.”

  “There’s just so many rules sometimes.” Grace sighed as she clicked her seatbelt into place.

  Link sent her a long look. “What do you mean?”

  “There’s rules to when and where we can talk, what I can and cannot do, and it’s frustrating sometimes.”

  “You’re talking about Delwin.”

  Grace’s jaw clenched, and she stared forward, not really wanting to look at him.

  Link snorted. “She transferred from Homicide because of a similar issue.”

  “What do you mean similar? I haven’t said anything.”

  “You didn’t need to, Grace. Spending this case with you, I can see what she’s doing and her having the power now to do it makes it worse.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she muttered, but she did know. She knew exactly what he was saying without saying it. Link drove in silence for a while, and when they came to a stop at a light, Grace sighed. “It’s making work miserable.”

  “You can always report it.”

  “Since when has reporting that gone well for anyone?”

  Link shrugged. “The other option is to transfer. The captain was talking about reworking our budget to bring on more people since our case numbers have been up all year.”

  “I love missing persons. The majority of missing persons cases are teenagers in a shitty spot.”