Page 55 of Solid as Steele
“You don’t want to do that, Keith.” Owen made sure to sound like he was asking when in fact he was demanding. A police officer like Keith would rebel at being told what to do, and Owen didn’t need the added burden of babysitting Keith. “I’m working the investigation, and you can be sure I won’t quit until her killer is behind bars.”
“I gotta go. I just have to. I have to do something.” He eyed Owen. “Besides your supervisor isn’t going to let you work this investigation.”
“I took leave, and he can’t stop me.”
“But you won’t have access to any of the information we need.”
“Sheriff Wheeler agreed to use the Veritas Center for all forensic testing, and their forensic anthropologist recovered the remains. Wheeler authorized me to get the reports from all of them.”
“Anthropologist?” Keith shoved a hand into his thick blond hair. “She was that far gone?”
Owen nodded and regretted letting anything slip.
Keith let out an anguished cry and ran his hand over his face, sliding it up and down in frantic moves as if trying to erase the news. “What was she doing there?”
Owen’s question too. “It’s early days. We don’t know.”
“She was dressed for hiking, but we’ve never gone hiking out there. Too long of a drive, especially during the week. I figured she would’ve gone to a local park like we usually did.” He let his hand fall. “Boy, was I way off. Maybe if I’d considered it at the beginning we would’ve found her before someone took her life.”
“Don’t beat yourself up,” Owen said, though that was pretty much what he’d been doing since he’d discovered the body was his sister.
Could he have done more? Figured out where she’d gone? But how?
Keith planted his bare feet on the beige carpet. “I won’t stand on the sidelines now.”
“Give me a few days. That’s all I ask. If I haven’t made any progress, we’ll revisit the idea of you joining in the investigation.”
Keith rested his hands on his hips and fired his practiced cop glare at Owen. “Fine. But if you don’t give me regular updates, I’ll be in John Day so fast your head will spin.”
“I can call you twice a day.”
“See that you do.”
Owen got up to leave.
Keith grabbed Owen by the shoulder. “You better not be jerking me around.”
“I’m not. I’ll update you like I said. More often if I discover something.” Owen shrugged free and headed for the door.
Notifications over, Owen now needed to produce a miracle and find a strong lead to go on. Not something he could do on his own. Only God could accomplish that.
Problem was, Owen wasn’t sure God was on his side right now.
13
Nearing eight in the morning, Mackenzie placed the last piece of flatware on her long dining room table and stood back to assess it with bleary eyes. All told, she’d gotten two hours of sleep before she’d showered and made breakfast for Owen. She was baking a bacon, egg, pepper, and onion casserole that Teagan often made for their dad, and the savory scent filled the air. Mackenzie wanted the breakfast to be perfect and prayed it would help give a moment of relief from the grief she knew would plague Owen for some time to come.
Voices came from the kitchen. She spun, her hand going for her sidearm. The outside doors were locked. Or at least they should be. She was home alone except for Ryleigh, who was upstairs sleeping because she’d ended up going on a stakeout late last night. And even if Ryleigh had woken up, short of going outside and around back to get to the kitchen, she would have to pass through the dining room.
Mackenzie cautiously opened the swinging door far enough to see into the kitchen. Her gran and grandad stood in the room and turned to look at the door.
She entered the room and let out a breath. “You scared me.”
“Sorry. Didn’t expect anyone to be home.” Her grandad wiggled a wicker basket with a handle. “Just delivering some goodies your gran made for you girls.”
He took out a pan of gooey cinnamon rolls with thick white icing, then two banana bread loaves, and three perfectly browned wheat bread loaves.
Her gran, curly silver hair in a messy style as usual, crossed the room and hugged Mackenzie. Tears formed in Mackenzie’s eyes, but she looked at the ceiling to will them away. She was too emotional after seeing Cassie’s body, seeing Owen’s pain, and no sleep to withstand her gran’s ability to get information out of her granddaughters. Gran could finagle info from a stone if she chose.
