Page 38 of Solid as Steele
“Okay, please send the card and thank you.” She disconnected and sat back.
“Sage seemed helpful yet reserved,” Owen said.
“Typical cop speak. Can’t tell you how good I once was at it and that says a lot because I’m normally an oversharing kind of girl.”
“I noticed you don’t like to hold back.” Owen chuckled.
“I don’t and I don’t plan to wait for this detective to get back from leave either. I’ll text him as soon as I get the card. Hopefully he’s a typical detective and has his phone on even if he’s on leave.”
Her phone dinged, and she looked at the image. Her heart dropped into her stomach, and her dinner churned. “Oh. Oh my. You’re not going to believe this.”
She held out the phone to Owen. “The name. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“No.” Owen’s face paled. “No, it can’t.”
9
Owen jumped up and paced the floor, his legs like rubber.
He felt Mackenzie’s gaze pinned to him. “It’s you, isn’t it? The detective. His name is Owen. Owen Greer. You must be the detective and were investigating the case when you were attacked, right?”
“Yeah,” he said as pictures flickered through his brain.
Years and years of special times spent with Cassie. Not only did it look like he was the detective, but she was his sister. No wonder he’d blocked the memory of finding her. He didn’t want to remember. His grief came back in waves. Fresh now, but the deep ache of knowing she’d been missing and likely dead for years also returned. Pain to the bone. A jarring ache.
His parents. Their pain. He had to tell them she’d died.No. No, no, no. He couldn’t do it. Just couldn’t.
Mackenzie joined him and rested a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”
“I’m starting to remember. Flashes of Cassie. Of my parents. She’s my sister. She disappeared during my first year as a detective. Of course, they wouldn’t let me officially work the investigation, but I kept up with it. At least as much as they would share with me.”
She released his arm and looked at him, her eyes wet with tears. “I’m glad you’re remembering, but I’m so sorry to hear Cassie was your sister.”
“Thanks.” He shoved his fingers into his hair. “After time passed, it was hard not to believe she’d died, but we tried to hold out hope. Until the day I found her. Guess the shock was too great.”
“I don’t mean to be insensitive, but how did you know it was her?”
“Her clothing. She stopped at my parents’ place that morning. My mom took a selfie of them. It’s what she was wearing at that visit. And now I know for sure because of the necklace. She was a foster child that my parents wanted to adopt, but her mother wouldn’t allow it. So my parents gave her the infinity heart on her eighteenth birthday to signify that she was their daughter even without an adoption certificate.”
“Finding her had to be hard.”
“I guess I couldn’t face it. Now I have to, and we need to find her killer.” He fisted his hands and willed his emotions away to think like a detective. “It had to be whoever hit me over the head. The driver of the UTV.”
“Sounds like it.”
“The good news, as a detective, I might be able to get the sheriff to share his information or let the Veritas staff share it.”
“You think he’ll do that?”
Did he? “Rural guys can be pretty territorial. Still, you would think he would want to solve the murder and let me help.”
Mackenzie’s forehead narrowed. “What if we ask him if Veritas can share info with you after they give it to him? That way he’s getting the information firsthand and can act on any of it while you’re second in line.”
“Sounds like a good way to approach him.” Owen couldn’t wait to get started. “And no time like the present.”
“You’ll need ID.”
“My shield. Sidearm. I don’t remember if I had it with me or left it at home. Like Sage said, I’m on leave and not officially investigating Cassie’s disappearance.”
