“Yes. I’ll be in and out over the next two weeks-it’s a quick flight down. And with Paul providing FBI data searches, research, lab work as needed, we’ll have the tools required. We’ll also take a hard look at the Dayton girl’s disappearance. Governor Bliss wants to know if the investment of a core group of experienced, focused detectives can clear unsolved missing-persons cases, and I’m committed to showing him that it can. Carin County is a test case. I want a win here, Gabriel. For its potential and also for your sake.”
Gabriel recognized the sales job she was doing, and Ann acknowledged this with a small smile of her own. “Seriously, Gabe, that’s why I suggested they start here. Two cases, with a lot riding on what can be done. Evie believes in this enough to give up her vacation to get a head start on the work. I believe in it enough to be down here helping. We just need you to say yes.”
The second case Evie was interested in, the missing Dayton girl, would be easier to give her, as it didn’t have a strong local connection, at least in the known facts. A vacationing family from Florida, traveling to Chicago, had stopped at a hotel just off the Interstate for the night when their six-year-old daughter was snatched. An AMBER Alert was issued across several states on the assumption it was an abduction of opportunity by someone also traveling. Gabe and his father both had substantial time working the case, but he’d always known both the victim and her abductor were likely long gone from their county, even the state. The Florist family, however, remained an intensely local and emotional matter.
Gabriel realized saying no wasn’t going to fly in these circumstances and so shifted to the implications of his saying yes. “I want to be in on the work. I was there at the Florist house after the disappearance. My father about put himself into an early grave working it. I want us in the middle of it, day one.”
“We’ll need you,” Ann agreed, accepting the condition.
The Florist case mattered for both personal and professional reasons. It wasn’t his personal white whale, didn’t keep him awake nights, but it certainly bothered him. And he knew it still haunted his father. Gabriel wouldn’t let his hopes rise. He’d concluded after the last review that it was going to take a significant break, like the discovery of bones, to solve the case. And if Evie and Ann wanted to look deeper, he’d certainly support them and be right there with them every step of the way. He’d be able to satisfy himself as well as tell the community there was nothing else that could be done unless and until new evidence turned up.
“Evie’s probably told you she’s rented a house-47 Kearns Road,” Ann mentioned. “We can set up there. Or we can work downtown if you prefer.”
“For this,” Gabriel decided, “the old post-office building might be best. It’s been stripped down to a large open room, and there are tables still set up from last month’s flea market. I can put a retired deputy on security while the case files are laid out. If you want to speak to deputies who’ve worked the cases, they can walk over from the sheriff’s office for a conversation. You’ll be having quite a few of those, I imagine. Evie can take what she wishes back to the house-I know she’ll be working all hours on this if she wants to get through it in just sixteen days. I know the place; it’s one of Trina’s. She owns most of the block around her home, rents them out to tourists and families. Evie will be more than comfortable there.”
Ann nodded her agreement with that plan, but then hesitated. “Gabriel, don’t miss the tree for the forest,” she advised. “Solving this case requires finding one right idea, not comprehending everything that has been done on the case to date. When Evie locates that answer, it will be on a specific hour of a specific day. Sixteen days can be enough for that to happen.”
“Got it.” Gabriel forced a smile. “If nothing else, the next two weeks will not be boring.” He refilled his coffee. Ann declined. “What were you out talking with Josh about?” he asked. “He said something about Grace Arnett coming back to town.”
“Grace doesn’t want it widely known, but she’ll be in the area in a few days. Josh is going to help her out with something. He’ll explain after she’s here.”
“It will be good to see her, Ann. She’s been missed.”
Ann looked troubled. “I’ve got some serious reservations about her coming back, but I haven’t been able to talk her out of doing so.” She glanced over, caught his gaze. “We’ll need to discuss those concerns, Gabriel, probably fairly soon.”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Something else to fit into our otherwise normal, uneventful day?”
She chuckled. “If I didn’t show up and create a commotion occasionally, you’d become a bored small-town sheriff,” she joked. “When are you getting married anyway? I heard via Iris you were out on a date with Joanne Liffe last night.”
He winced. “Please protect me from gossiping staff. Joanne’s a lawyer in Decatur, nice enough woman, works in Springfield when the legislature is in session. I have a feeling I’m a little too rough-and-tumble for her taste. She thought ‘sheriff’ meant some glamour to go along with the authority. The date ended when I got a call to take care of a bar fight. I’m not brokenhearted about it, though. This date was mostly to quiet down Mom, who’s been asking me if I’ve been on one lately. I’m not looking to catch someone.”
“Hmm,” Ann murmured. “Marie’s got three sons, none of whom have found ‘the one’ yet. That has to be a trial for her.”
“So she tells us. Rather often, I might add.”
Ann chuckled, offered an apology that he waved off.
Gabriel understood his mother’s point of view-she wanted to know each of her sons had found someone to love, and she wanted grandchildren. That he’d found someone years ago, loved her only to lose her, underlined his mom’s concern that he wouldn’t try again. He accepted the fact he wasn’t in a hurry to do so.
But it wasn’t just his mom interested in the subject. He happened to be the sole remaining bachelor in the Carin County sheriff’s office now that Henry Gonzales had remarried his ex-wife. Law-enforcement jobs were notoriously hard on relationships. Being the only single guy around the office was a rare happenstance-a divorce or death of a spouse was inevitable, but for now he was the center of some unwelcome attention. Knowing they were well-intentioned, he tried to be polite with the “helpful” introductions coming his way. He knew he would choose a lady one day. He considered himself marriage-minded, just not in a hurry. The job and its demands, the time and energy a good marriage required, took some finessing. He wasn’t sure he wanted to take on that complicated equation right now.
He’d been surprised, in fact, when Ann had married Paul. She’d always had similar reservations about how to make a marriage work when one was a cop. She’d ended up marrying a cop and immediately retiring, so they didn’t have quite so many competing pressures on the marriage. It seemed to be working for them. Ann and Paul were in the marriage-success column of friends he knew well. But he didn’t think that step was for him, at least for now.
“I’m thinking Will and Karen might be the first to tie the knot,” he mentioned to Ann. “My brother is smitten.” He smiled as he said it, liking the word. It did a nice job of describing his otherwise rather quiet brother. Karen had arrived in town just over a year ago, taken a job as a cook at the Fast Café, rented half a house, and become part of the community. His brother had spotted her early and staked a claim, much to the frustration of other single guys who would have liked a chance.
“That’s another conversation we should have, Gabriel,” Ann said quietly, and the way she said it had him snapping a hard glance her way.