She wanted to know where that ring was, wanted the specific details on it that she didn’t already have. It would make her job much easier if she could find it. Sighing, Grace typed up her questions, memorized them and the order she wanted to ask them in, and then she stood up after hitting print and stretched her back.

  Paige must have caught sight of her because she shifted, her feet flat on the floor as she leaned forward like she was ready to spring the joint. Snorting and chuckling, Grace nodded at Paige in acknowledgement that it was time to leave. Paige didn’t hesitate as she stood and grabbed her light jacket off the back of her chair and swung it over her shoulders.

  Grace did the same and went to grab her papers while Paige went to tell Humbard where they were going. They had worked together so much in the past year they were able to do it without talking sometimes. It was a good feeling until Grace remembered Amya’s jealousy, Paige’s inability to keep boundaries, and it all came crashing down around her. She should have waited for Kline to be able to join her instead of asking Paige.

  Shoving that bit of guilt to the side, they went out to Paige’s cruiser and got in. Like always, Paige would drive and Grace would work on memorizing her questions while Paige tried to talk her through them so they could be on the same page when the interview started up.

  When they pulled up outside of Diego’s small house, Grace was surprised to see a few more cars parked outside. She wasn’t sure he could have fit them on his property, but somehow, he did. They were parked haphazardly on his front lawn. She had no idea how much money he actually earned from his business, but she assumed from the way things were looking, he wasn’t doing too great at it.

  It might have been a flourishing business at one point, but it didn’t seem like it was then. The cars he had were older vehicles, they weren’t kept super clean. As she walked through the field of them and peeked through some of the windows on her way to the house itself, she noted trash littering the inside of some of them, broken windows that had at one point been taped over with plastic to keep the inside nice and clean but hadn’t been kept up or fixed because the tape had come off and the plastic flapped in the light breeze.

  “You think he’s still even in business?” Grace muttered to Paige as they got to the front door.

  Paige shot her a discerning look. “You didn’t dig into that to find out before dragging me all the way out here?”

  Shrugging, Grace rapped her knuckles against the door. “Slipped my mind.”

  “You’re better than that, Grace. What’s going on?”

  “Got shit going on is what.” She knocked again when there was no answer. “Diego, open up. It’s Detective Halling and Detective Delwin again. We had a follow up question to ask.”

  Paige shook her head. “You don’t just forget shit.”

  Grace turned full on to Paige and glared at her. “Yes, I do, and I did. I’ll look when we get back to see how his finances and business is going. I also didn’t really have too much of a reason to look because he’s only a witness.”

  “Grace! Haven’t I taught you anything? No one is ever only a witness.”

  Rolling her eyes, Grace moved to pound her fist against the door again, but it cracked open in the slightest. Diego popped his head out and winced at the light from the open door coming in. He rubbed his head and his eyes, the scent of stale alcohol swimming off him in waves made Grace’s stomach churn.

  “Diego, glad you could wake up to join us,” Grace commented. “We’ve got a few more questions for you.”

  “Yeah.” His voice was gruff like he really had just woken up. She was pretty sure he hadn’t wanted to talk to them again but also pretty sure he truly had been asleep or at least passed out in some drunken state.

  “We coming in or are you coming out?” Paige interjected, her lack of patience getting the best of her.

  Grace also knew Paige was trying to play the one who kept him on his toes so Grace could play the role of getting closer to him. It was a dance the two of them had done so many times Grace had lost count. They worked together like a well-oiled machine.

  “Come in,” he grumbled and rubbed his head again before opening the door wider.

  He took them down the hall to the room filled with papers that looked as though the stacks they were in would fall over to join the rest of their friends on the floor. Even if he wasn’t in financial distress, how he kept anything straight in there was beyond her.

  “I wanted to run through what happened that night four years ago once again.”

  “How many times are you going to make me do this?”

  Grace sent Paige a look of curiosity. “Until we figure out who Joseph is. Please. This is to help a young boy find his family.”

  “Fine, fine.” He waved a hand at her. “But I’m drunk, so who knows what I’m going to remember.”

  One more look at Paige told her they had an understanding. Grace let out a breath and knelt down so she was closer to Diego’s level as he sat in the tattered old chair. She moved into a squat, sitting on her toes while Paige stayed by the doorway and kept an eye out for whatever might be happening outside of Grace’s view.

  “What do you remember from that night?”

  “I don’t know. I was driving like normal. I went to take a smoke break and I stopped behind the buildings so no one would see me.”

  Grace shot Paige a raised eyebrow and focused on Diego. “What were you smoking? And before you answer that, I’m not going to arrest you for something you did four years ago.”

  He nodded. “Pot.”

  “Thanks for being honest.” Grace gave him a soft smile to try and entice him out of his shell. “So you stopped out back of the buildings, and then what?”

  “I heard something funny, some groaning, so I went down to see what was going on, and I found the kid there. I called the cops, they came, that was it.”

  “Okay, so walk me through it.”

  Diego rolled his eyes and let out a huff. “I just did, lady.”

  “Answer her question,” Paige grumbled from the corner.

  Grace glanced up at Diego then to Paige. “One more time, I promise.”

  He sighed. “I parked my car out back of the buildings to have a smoke break. I was minding my own business when I saw the kid laying there down by the woods, so I walked down because I thought it looked funny and saw him there.”

  “What did he have on him?”

  “He was naked.” Diego’s eyes got wide as he stared directly into Grace’s gaze before he looked down at his shoes and then off to the floor somewhere to his left, then back to his right.

  Grace bit her lip. “You said before he had a ring on him.”

  Diego nodded but didn’t respond verbally.

  “What did the ring look like?”

  “It had a red stone on it.”

  “Do you have the ring?”

  He froze. His entire body tensed from his toes to his head. His jaw worked back and forth as his gaze didn’t raise to meet hers. “No.”

  Grace nodded. “Any idea where it’s at?”

  Once again, he refused to look at her as he shook his head and gnawed on his lower lip. Grace patted his knee. “Did you see if he still had it on when the ambulance came?”

  “Don’t remember,” he muttered, his voice so quiet, Grace almost missed it, and she knew Paige hadn’t heard him.

  “All right. Thanks, Diego. If you remember something, you give me a call, okay?”

  He nodded as she handed him her card again to make sure he had it. When she stood up, Grace cocked her head at Paige with a smirk on her lips.

  “I’ll see you around, Diego.”

  He didn’t answer. The two of them walked out of the house and to the cruiser. As Grace moved to grab the door, Paige pushed it shut and leaned in closer to Grace. Grace’s heart ratcheted up a notch as Paige came closer, her breath brushing Grace’s cheek.

  “What was that about?” Paige’s voice was quiet but controlled and firm.

  “He’s lying.” Grace pressed her lips together, moving her gaze up to Paige’s green eyes. “He knows where the ring is.”

  “You didn’t press him for it. I thought you wanted that answer.”

  “Maybe next time, when he’s not so drunk.” Grace’s chest rose and fell unevenly as Paige moved impossibly closer to her. If Grace didn’t know better, she’d think their conversation was a whole lot more intimate than it was. Whatever was happening made her uncomfortable. She swallowed hard as she grasped for an out. “Wanna talk it out over lunch?”

  “Would love to.” Paige grinned and pushed away from the cruiser, giving Grace space.

  As soon as Paige walked around the front of the car, Grace let out a breath and rubbed her sweaty palm on her slacks. It had been a long time since Paige had pulled something like that. They’d almost gotten back into their normal rhythm before that moment, but Grace felt has if she’d been tossed right back into last December when Paige hadn’t let up either.

  Slipping into the cruiser, she tensed her shoulders and tried to relax the stress in her jaw. “Diner?”

  “Where else?” Paige chuckled.

  Grace didn’t answer as Paige drove.

  ###

  As they sat down at the table near the front of the diner, Grace felt more at ease. She was back on level footing with Paige, who kept her distance, thankfully, since they left Diego’s. With Sally already taken their orders, Grace shifted in her seat and glanced toward the front door and the back door before she fully settled in for their meal.

  “So, why didn’t you press him for the ring? Really.”

  Grace pursed her lips. “He was so drunk and high, I don’t think he could tell me anyway.”

  “Sometimes that’s the best time to get information from people.”

  Shrugging, Grace lifted her orange juice to her lips. “Sometimes, but it’s also not reliable, and I’d rather be chasing actual information rather than ghosts. This whole case is ghosts. I want something concrete.”

  “I get that.” Paige sipped her coffee. “So the different stories? What do you make of that?”

  “Is this twenty questions?” Grace set her drink down and drew in a deep breath. “Normally I’m the one asking you these things.”

  “Maybe I want to see if you’ve learned anything in the past year.”

  “Whatever.” Grace rolled her eyes. “It could be nothing. If he was high that night four years ago, he probably just remembers it different. Or he was lying then to cover the pot use. It was four years ago.”

  “Or…?”

  “Or there could be something to it. He was definitely lying about the ring. Lying about what he did with it, I have no idea, but he did not want to talk about it. I’m betting he didn’t want to tell me originally and it slipped.” A sharp movement caught Grace’s attention. Turning toward the front door, she heard the boisterous laugh that sent shivers up her spine. She hadn’t heard that laugh in months.

  She stared at the front door to the diner before she saw them. They were at the low counter that lined the front with seven stools bolted into the floor. Peter, in all his glory, sat at the stool closest the cash register. His brown hair at least looked clean as it was fluffy atop his head, but his cheeks were red with intoxication, and the boy—yes, Grace deemed him that—Peter hung his arms over to plant kisses on his lips looked just as drunk.

  Her watch told her it was barely past one in the afternoon. Grabbing for her phone, she went to text Amya but stopped herself. Amya had handled getting him from the jail, which this was most definitely a complete violation of his release. Grace could handle this situation easily enough. Paige’s hand on hers shocked her back to reality.

  “What’s going on?” Paige asked, concern lacing every bit of her tone. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “No, just a very troubled kid who has gone too far down the rabbit hole. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll be right back.”

  Pushing to stand, Grace squared off her shoulders, prepared her speech in her head, and stalked toward Peter and the boy. When she reached them, the joviality in Peter’s demeanor skittered away. He turned to stare up at her and looked like a lost puppy.

  “Peter,” Grace stared.

  “Hey there!” The boy dared to speak, his tone happy. “I’m Dick.”

  The name registered immediately. He was the boy Peter had been interested in and was dating in seminary, the boy he’d gone to the club with, the boy he’d been involved with when he’d gotten his first DWI out there that he had refused to tell them about. Grace didn’t even bother to give him any of her attention.

  “You, one, should not be here at all, and two, should not be drunk. You’re violating the terms of your release.”

  “Release?” Dick asked, turning to Peter. “What release?”

  Peter let out a heavy sigh but didn’t move his gaze from Grace. “We were having a little fun.”

  “You can give me every excuse in the damn book all you want, Peter. Trust me when I say I have heard them before. ‘Lying lips are an abomination.’” She put her hands on her hips and glared.

  Peter’s eyes narrowed. Dick reached out and gripped Grace’s hand. She flipped her right hand over his and twisted his wrist to bend it at a painful angle with a glare. He cried out when she dropped his hand and shook his wrist out to get rid of the pain.

  Peter put a hand on Dick’s thigh. “She doesn’t like to be touched.”

  “Who is she even?”

  Grace snorted. “Nice to know we can be a place for you to run but not a home for you to share.”

  “That’s not how it is, Grace.”

  “I will only speak to you when you are sober. You know how I feel about you being drunk, and I swear, Peter, the next time I see you drunk I will bring you in myself. You’re out of chances from me.” She got down into his face to make her point. “Don’t come home until you’re sober, and don’t come home with this idiot. I don’t like him.”

  “You don’t know him.”

  “Don’t need to know him. He went and got drunk with a drunk. That’s all I need to know.”

  “Wait, what?” Dick asked.

  Grace turned to look Dick dead in the eye, then. “Guess he keeps quite a few secrets from you. What happened, Peter?”

  Peter’s eyes went wide. With what, she couldn’t quite tell. It had a touch of fear in them, but it also held defiance, one thing she rarely ever saw from Peter. He always wanted to please her and Amya; he always wanted their approval, their love, their praise.

  “Tell me, what happened that you suddenly lie?”

  Peter’s lips pulled tight, his chin raised a notch. “What happened that you suddenly quote scripture?”

  Smirking, Grace winked. “I know more than you think. But seriously, don’t bother coming home if you’re not planning on sobering up any time soon. You’re not welcome if you’re going to continue to kill yourself slowly.”

  Without another word, Grace stood up and walked back to the table where Paige continued to sit. Their food was set before them, and Grace slid into the booth. She grabbed her orange juice and took a long and slow sip, and she glanced over at Peter and Dick, who still sat in shock.

  She watched them shake their heads when the owner asked for their orders. Peter tossed money onto the table, grabbed Dick by the hand, and stalked out of the diner. Grace let out a breath and downed the rest of her orange juice. When she glanced at Paige, she knew she was going to have to confess everything.

  “What the fuck was that?”

  Grace snorted. “Stupid decisions.”

  “No, seriously.”

  “That’s Peter.”

  “Your kid.”

  “Yeah. And he’s…he’s in a downward spiral. He was arrested for drunk driving, got released, and shows up here drunk. He wanted to be caught. There is no other fucking reason he would come here of all places. He knows this is where cops hang out.”

  “So you’re going to let him drive drunk to wherever?”

  “No.” Grace snorted and shook her head. She reached into her pocket and dropped a pair of keys onto the table. “I swiped his keys while I was at it.”

  “You sneaky bitch!” Paige snatched the keys up and stared at them. “Where the hell did you learn that?”

  Grace froze. “That’s a story for another day.”

  “No. Now.”

  Sighing, Grace took a bite of her semi-warm food. “I lived on the streets for a bit. You learn a lot when you have to survive.”

  “You stole shit?”

  “Yeah, you would have too.”

  “Why haven’t you ever told me before now?” Paige settled the keys back down and grabbed Grace’s hand. “You can trust me, you know.”

  Grace glanced at Paige’s fingers then moved her hand into her lap. “Sure. It just never came up, and it was so long ago, it’s not like I really talk about it to anyone.”

  “Does Amya know?”

  Tingles raced up Grace’s spine. She wasn’t sure if Amya knew, honestly. She’d told her about her childhood, but she couldn’t remember if she specifically shared how she had survived for the year she’d spent on the streets before Daniel Mason Brady had caught her stealing. She would have to remedy that. Shrugging, Grace shoved another forkful of food between her lips.

  “I need to interview Diego again in a very controlled environment, but I want a hell of a lot more information before I go into that interview.”

  “Way to avoid,” Paige commented.

  Grace shook her head and let out a sigh. “I need to concentrate on this case, Paige. Nothing else to it. I don’t have enough space in my head for Peter and his problems at the moment. Joseph deserves my attention, and I’m going to give it him.”

  She had hoped saying it out loud would help, but it didn’t. She could only think of Peter and Dick and their drunk asses trying to find a way home because she knew they wouldn’t walk back in there to confront her. She finished half her plate in silence before she dared ask Paige for the favor weighing on her mind. “Mind following me home so I can get the car back?”