Her stomach full of anxiety, Grace opened it and skimmed the file itself. It was a missing persons case. The description matched her kid almost perfectly except the age would put him closer fifteen at the time of his disappearance. He went missing from Johnson County, but when Grace moved even farther down the file she noted it was solved but there was no more information on it.

  She pursed her lips as she pulled up the Internet to run a search. Even if she hadn’t gotten the full file from Blake, who might not have known there was more to it, she could see if the news media had reported on anything. Searching for the name and the word “found,” Grace hit enter and let the computer do its work.

  It took only a few seconds before it popped up. Sure enough, the kid was found dead. Funeral had been a week later. Sighing, Grace shot an email back to Blake with a snarky “He ain’t Lazarus” and hit send. Amya would be impressed with that reference—Peter too if he was more with it.

  Grace went to look through the other case files she had received. When her back ached, she moved around in her chair to try and ease the pain, but it didn’t work. Blake sent her a response, and Grace chuckled at it. They could easily go on and on with emails all day if they were both stuck in the office.

  When she opened the email, it was a missing persons file. One that again matched her victim or her missing. But this one too had been solved, by Blake herself. Confused, Grace shook her head and wrote back, asking if Blake had amnesia. She was in the middle of chuckling to herself when Humbard called her name.

  “Halling.”

  “Yes, sir?”

  “Case.”

  Grace shot out of her chair and headed for his office. He leaned against his chair as he handed her a thin print out. “Seventy-eight-year-old man is missing, first name, Eduardo.”

  “I’ve got it. You put out an alert?”

  “As soon as you verify the information, I will.”

  Nodding, Grace turned on her toes and headed for her desk. She didn’t bother to clean everything up as she grabbed her stuff and walked to her cruiser. She was just about to leave the building when Paige caught up with her.

  “I’m coming.”

  “You’re what?”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “I gotta get out of here.”

  “So you’re coming with me on my case?”

  “Figured you could use a partner.”

  Grace let out a sigh and ignored Paige as she walked for her car. She got inside, Paige following dutifully. She wasn’t even going to argue with her this time around. She was driving, Paige would have to suck it up and deal with it. Grace was out of the parking lot before Paige said a word.

  “I like Crystal, you know.”

  “Jesus fucking Christ.”

  “Hey! You’re not supposed to say that.”

  “Say what?”

  “That.”

  “Why the hell not?” Grace ground her molars and stepped on the brake at a stoplight a little harder than necessary.

  Paige snorted. “Because you’re dating the chaplain.”

  “Just because she believes doesn’t mean I do. And she cusses.”

  “She what?” Paige’s eyes were wide.

  “Sure. Rarely, but she cusses.” Grace’s shoulders tightened, her chest constricting. She hadn’t anticipated the conversation taking this direction. Letting out a breath, Grace changed the topic back to the other one she didn’t want to talk about. “I don’t want to talk about you and Crystal.”

  “You should give me her number.”

  “Absolutely not.” Grace took a turn and headed toward the house for the daughter making the report. “Why the hell would you want that?”

  “I told you. I like Crystal.”

  “You like that she had sex with you the first night.”

  “No.” Paige crossed her arms. Grace shot her a look. “I like her for more than that.”

  “Whatever.”

  “No, not whatever.” Paige clenched her jaw. “Give me her number.”

  “I’m going to have to ask her first if she wants you to have her number.”

  Paige snorted in annoyance. “Fine.”

  As they arrived at the house, Grace let out a breath. Finally they had something to focus on other than the strange conversations the two of them had been having lately. She almost texted Crystal to warn her about Paige then decided not to. She wasn’t sure she wanted to see the answer on that one while she was in the middle of her initial interview.

  She didn’t even wait for Paige to be with it before she was out of the car and walking toward the front door. The townhome was sandwiched between two others. It was small enough Grace could see why someone who was elderly wanted to live there, but she wasn’t sure it would be something she’d ever want. She liked her space.

  Knocking on the door with a closed fist, Grace stepped back and waited. Paige caught up, her hands on her hips as she turned and looked around the neighborhood. “I don’t think I’ve ever been to this part of town.”

  “Lucky for you. This is my old turf.”

  “Really?”

  “Yeah.” Grace nodded to a house across the street. “Arrested a meth dealer there once. That is not a night I’d like to repeat. Ever.”

  “Why? What happened?”

  Saved by the door opening, Grace turned to the woman and gave her a small smile. “I’m Detective Grace Halling. This is my partner Detective Delwin. We’re here to talk about your father.”

  “Yes, come in. I’m Evangeline.”

  Grace didn't look at Paige as she walked into the small condo. It was decently furnished. Clearly an old person lived there. Grace could tell by the smell. They sat down on the couches, Paige next to her, and Evangeline across from them. Grace pulled out her notebook.

  "Do you know when your father went missing?"

  Evangeline bit her lip and shook her head, her eyes wide with fear. "I don't. I came to check on him this afternoon like I do every Wednesday, and he was gone. I come over Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for lunch, and then I'm here every weekend, too. I don't want to leave him alone if I can help it. He hasn't been the same since Mom died."

  Nodding, Grace wrote those days down on her pad. "He was here Monday, though, yes?"

  "He was. And I talked to him last night. My sister checks in when she can and said she talked to him this morning."

  Grace thinned her lips because Evangeline did know about when Eduardo had gone missing even though she said she didn’t. "Did she say if he said where he was?"

  "He had to be here. It's a landline."

  Grace's lips thinned. She had stupidly assumed cell phone, but she shouldn't have. Chiding herself, she wrote more information down. "Was you father upset about anything?"

  Evangeline shook her head. "I don't think so. He's been so happy lately. I don't know."

  "Does your father have any medical conditions we should be aware of?" Grace perched her pen over the paper, waiting for some kind of answer. Typically when the elderly went missing it was a sign of some impaired mental capacity. Not always, but she needed to know because it would affect how to approach him when he was found.

  "He's been forgetting things a lot lately. We were going to bring him in to the doctor but haven't been to the appointment yet."

  "All right. Do you have any idea where he might have gone?"

  "I don't know. His car is gone."

  "What kind of car does he drive?"

  "He's not supposed to drive."

  "Why is that?" Grace held in her sigh, but Evangeline was not very forthcoming with information, although Grace was pretty sure it wasn’t intentional.

  "His eyes are bad."

  Grace scratched that into her notebook. "All right. So what kind of car does he drive?"

  "A gray Volkswagen. It's newer. I don't remember the year, but it's a newer car."

  "Is it registered to him?"

  "Yeah. And it has my name on it."

  "I can search for it, then." Grace made a note so she’d remember.

  "Okay." Evangeline let out a heavy breath. "I'm so worried about him."

  Paige interrupted before Grace could speak, her voice firm and serious as she answered. "We'll do our best to find him, ma'am. Grace here is the best detective we have, and she takes all of her cases very seriously."

  Grace's cheek tinged with heat, but she didn't dare look at Paige. "I do. I'll work my hardest to find him. I promise."

  "Thank you."

  "Where are some places he likes to go and liked to go, particularly if there has been a specific decade or time in his life he's been remembering a lot of lately."

  Evangeline wrapped her hands together in her lap, twisting her fingers. Her body had a slight shake to it like she was nervous. Her eyes were welled with tears, her nose red, but Grace couldn't quite make out exactly why she was having that specific reaction in that moment. They hadn't said anything to upset her on purpose.

  Grace sent Paige a look to see if she had any idea why Evangeline was suddenly breaking down, but Paige shrugged at her—barely noticeable except Grace knew her so well. Turning back to Evangeline, Grace relaxed her stance.

  "We'll do our very best to find him, but you have to help us, okay?"

  "Okay."

  "Good. Where does your dad like to go?"

  "Um...he liked to go to the barber." Evangeline wiped her hands under her eyes and let out a breath. "He used to go there every week for the last forty years. Same place every time. Same haircut every time."

  "Okay, and where is that?"

  "It's in a guy's garage that he converted years ago. Umm...I think it's off Twenty-Second Street? His name is Jasper."

  "Oh." Grace smiled. "I know Jasper."

  "You do?"

  "Yeah." Grace wrote his name down even though she didn’t need the reminder. It would be easy to check there but harder to get away. "Where else does your dad like to go?"

  "He likes to drive by the fishing ponds. He used to fish there when I was younger, but since he can't really do it any more, he'll go and park there some times and watch the younger boys do it."

  Grace wrote that down. She was starting to get an idea of who her father was, a man stuck in the fifties but who loved his family dearly. "Anywhere else?"

  "No." Evangeline sniffled again. "Not that I can think of."

  "I want you to keep thinking, okay? You can call and tell me when you think of some place he might be."

  "Okay." Evangeline's head bobbed as tears streaked down her cheeks. "Okay. I'm so scared he's not going to come home."

  "We'll do our best to bring him home." Grace shifted on the uncomfortable couch. The room was suffocating, but it wasn't because of Evangeline. Paige's presence was making it harder for her to focus.

  By the end of their conversation both Paige and Grace had reassured Evangeline they would to their best to find her father so many times Grace wasn’t sure she could count that high. She’d slipped Evangeline her card, telling her to call if anything came up. They sat in the cruiser and called in the pertinent information to Humbard, and he started the Silver Alert before they even left the condo.

  Grace pulled up to the first stop sign and chided herself. She knew she couldn’t hold her tongue any more than Paige could. “Why do you want to see Crystal again?”

  “I told you, I like her.”

  “You two are not each other’s type. And she’s my best friend.”

  “So is she off-limits?”

  Grace wrinkled her nose. “I don’t like to do those kinds of things. Crystal dates who she wants to date, but I don’t think you’re interested in her because of her.”

  Paige turned, her head against the seat. Grace risked a glance in her direction. For some reason, it seemed as if there was far more than a date with Crystal riding on their conversation. Their friendship too perhaps.

  “You’re right,” Paige muttered.

  “Right about what?”

  “She’s cute, she’s hot, she’s damn sexy, too, but she is not my type.”

  “She wants a relationship,” Grace commented. “You don’t want that.”

  Paige chuckled. “Yeah, I do, but not with Crystal.”

  The tension in the cruiser intensified, the air palpable. Grace gnawed on the inside of her cheek, trying to find something to say. They both knew who Paige wanted a relationship with, and they both knew it wasn’t happening—well, Grace knew. Paige for some reason kept holding out hope.

  With a deep breath, Grace pulled into the station and parked her cruiser. Paige got out, but she stayed inside.

  “What’re you doing?” Paige asked.

  “I’m going to go check out some of those places Evangeline told us about and talk to Jasper.”

  “Your choice.”

  “I’ll be back in a few hours.”

  “Okay.”

  Grace waited until Paige was inside, not because she thought she had to but because she wanted to make sure Paige stayed at the station and didn’t come with her. Grabbing her phone, she sent Amya a text with three simple words she’d never thought she’d say. I miss you.

  Almost immediately the response came in. I miss you, too. Only a few more days, love.

  Smiling to herself, Grace slid her phone into the cup holder and backed out of the station parking lot. She had work to do, two cases to solve, and a wayward son who needed a wakeup call. Bolstered by Amya’s text, Grace set about her job and planned the conversation she wanted to have with Peter in her head in the meantime.

  Interference

  She had talked to Peter for hours the night before, pulling him out of his shell. She had hoped it would work a little, but that morning when he’d come out for breakfast—which had been a miracle—he’d pulled right back into himself. Grace had made a hearty breakfast with sausage, bacon, eggs, and English muffins to try and get some meat back on his bones because of all the weight he had lost except he still looked puffy as if he had been up all night.

  Grace had insisted he find a job the night before. She didn’t care what kind of job, but he needed something to do other than hiding out in his room and three months of that had been plenty to wear on Grace’s nerves. She and Amya had already talked through that. She’d just pushed to have the conversation a little earlier with him than planned.

  He was, in theory, spending most of the day applying for jobs, although Grace would be happy if he applied for just one. When she’d left the house, she locked the doors behind her and slid into her cruiser, ready for the start of a brand new day.

  As she pulled into the parking lot of the station, her cell phone rang. Putting the car in park, she grabbed her cell and grinned at the name flashing across the screen. “I didn’t think I’d hear from you anytime soon.”

  “I had a few minutes before my next lecture, and I wanted to talk to you.” Grace could hear the smile in Amya’s voice.

  Leaning into her seat, Grace couldn’t wipe the smile off her face. “It’s good to hear your voice, you know.”

  “Likewise, Grace. Tell me what you’ve been doing?”

  Staring out at the doors to the station, she shifted in her seat. “I got a second case.”

  “Tell me about the first one.”

  “I don’t even know where to begin.” Grace chuckled. “But this second one is much easier. Missing elderly man. I checked some places out yesterday, will check more after I get inside and see if there was any calls about his vehicle.”

  “Sounds like you’ve got it handled.”

  “For now.” Grace bit her lip. “How’s Jesus camp?”

  “Grace,” Amya chastised.

  “What? I never remember where you’re at.”

  “It’s a homiletics conference.”

  “I have no idea what you just said.”

  “Preaching, Grace. It’s a preaching conference.”

  “Oh. Why didn’t you just say that?”

  “I just did.”

  Grace caught sight of people arriving for work, but she didn’t want to hang up. Her heart raced as she fiddled around with the things she had brought with her. “Monday isn’t that far away.”

  “It’s not. How’s Peter?”

  Grace sighed, and she felt herself collapsing in. She had wanted to talk to Amya so bad about Peter in the last few days and even weeks, but they rarely had chance to sit down and figure it all out. “He’s Peter.”

  “What’s going on?”

  “I told him he needed to get a job last night. Nicer than that, but still.”

  “He’s the same?”

  “Yeah. Maybe worse since you left. I don’t even see him. Just a lump.”

  “We’ll tackle that when I get back.”

  Grace nodded. “Good.”

  “I’ve got to go. My next lecture is starting, and I don’t want to miss it. Cynthia Hale and William J. Barber.”

  “I have no idea who that is, but you go do your fan girl thing, and I’m going to go find an old guy.”

  Amya laughed. “I love you. See you soon.”

  “Love you, too.”

  Amya hung up first. Grace didn’t wait any longer as she grabbed her coffee and orange juice and got out of her cruiser. She was inside within the minute. Grace drew in a deep breath as she walked into the office, stopping short. She normally was the first one there. With her coffee in one hand, orange juice in the other, Grace froze at the doorway to her unit. It was filled with people.

  Grace’s lips tightened, her shoulders tensed and her knees locked. She swallowed as she looked for one familiar face, one person from her unit, but she found no one. Then, in the back corner, she saw him—the one familiar face in the whole crew. Alonzo Esparza. His dark skin, his darker eyes, and his salt and pepper hair that he combed and glued down perfectly with so much gel Grace was sure she could take a hammer to it and not make a dent.

  He stared directly at her. Grace’s heart thumped, and she wanted to run out of the room and to her cruiser, restart her day and take more time on the phone with Amya. Whatever shit was about to hit the fan, it was going to spray everywhere. She knew it. They knew it.

  If Alonzo Esparza, commander of Internal Affairs was in her unit, something was wrong. His crew were at every desk, including Humbard’s, and she was pretty sure they hadn’t expected her in that early. Biting her lip, Grace let out a breath, not sure where to go, where to stand, or what to do.