Page 37 of Solid as Steele
“Wait a second.” Bobby’s voice ticked higher. “I missed this before. The original detective retired, but the file’s been flagged. It’s come up in conjunction with a current homicide investigation.”
Interesting.“Can you put me through to the detective working the connected homicide?”
“No can do,” he said, but didn’t sound the least bit sorry about it. “The guy took a leave of absence a week ago. Not sure why. My lieutenant just said it was something personal.”
Mackenzie wanted to reach through the phone and strangle Bobby. He had the information they needed right at his fingertips but wouldn’t share out of spite. “But you’ll ask your lieutenant if you can give me contact information for someone who can help me?”
“Will do.”
Sure, but on what time frame? Bobby wasn’t known for his timeliness, and Mackenzie didn’t want to wait for him to stonewall them even more.
“Please go talk to him right away,” Mackenzie said, doing her very best not to sound as irritable as he was. “This is very important.”
“No need to lecture me, Mac. I’ll go see him when we get off the phone.”
“Will you call me no matter what he says?”
“Yeah, now let me go so I can get this done and you off my back.” Bobby ended the call.
Mackenzie shook her head. “Thanks for nothing, Bobby.”
“You think he’ll actually ask?”
“Fifty/fifty chance I’d say, leaning a little more toward a big fat no.” Mackenzie opened her laptop. “Let’s see if we can find a recent homicide investigation in Vancouver and learn the detective’s information that way.”
“We might find a detective’s name, but how can we link the investigation to Cassie?”
“Yeah, that’ll be tough. But we need to do something while we wait for Bobby to get back to us—if he even does.”
She searched until the return call came precisely fifteen minutes later. But it wasn’t Bobby.
“Mackenzie Steele.” She put the call on speaker.
“This is Lieutenant Sage. I hear you want to learn more about the Cassie Collins investigation.”
Mackenzie told Sage about her interest, still leaving out finding the body and Owen’s involvement. “I would appreciate any information you can provide.”
“Do you know Ms. Collins?”
“No.”
“Were you a witness to her disappearance or somehow have a connection to the investigation?” Confusion lingered in the man’s tone.
“No, but like I said, her name came up while I was vacationing here, and I wanted to see if there was anything I could help with on the investigation.”
“Not a typical response.”
“Did I mention that I’m a former OSP detective? Left the force to work with my family’s business after my cousin was murdered. Company is Steele Guardians. Perhaps you’ve heard of us.”
“Right. Sure. I heard about your cousin too.” His tone had softened. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. So do you think I could get some information on Cassie or speak to the detective in charge?”
“No one’s actively working that investigation right now.” Exactly like Bobby had said. “But we do have a detective working a connected case and is fully versed on the Collins investigation. He’s on leave for a few weeks, but I can text a picture of his business card to this number and you can contact him when he gets back.”
“Is there anyone else who can help me?”
“Sorry. No. It’s up to him.”
