Page 4 of Keeping Collette

“It’s fine. I’m sorry too, I shouldn’t have snapped at you.” Collette sent him another small smile. Her easy forgiveness of him was something he didn’t deserve. He’d been rude, and should be called out on it.

“No, you don’t have to say sorry,” Deal assured her. “It’s all on me. I’ve been an ass.”

A little awkward silence fell around the room, and Deal wished he could reverse the last few minutes. He was letting what happened with Cynthia cloud his thinking. The situations were entirely different, and he shouldn’t even think about comparing them.

“Can I ask what you hope to achieve by me giving you Courtney’s phone number?” Collette directed her question to Cass.

“It’s so I can check the records and see if there’s a number that she called regularly that might give us a lead. Even though it’s off or the battery is dead, I’ll be able to get a rough idea of her last location.”

Collette’s eyes widened as if she didn’t believe what Cass was telling her. Not surprising, considering Deal still didn’t understand half the shit Cass could do. Her computer skills were out of this world, and without her, they wouldn’t be able to accomplish half of what they do.

“You can do that? How is that even possible?” Collette asked.

“Because it’s what I do,” Cass responded simply.

“Here.” Deal passed a pad across the table toward Collette. “Write her number down and let Cass work her magic. I’ve found it’s better to nod and say yes, than to ask questions about her skills. She’s scary.” He winked at Cass who rolled her eyes. Behind him he heard a growl, and suspected it came from Cass’s husband Irish. He was very protective of his wife. After everything Cass had been through, Deal couldn’t blame him.

Collette took the pad and wrote on it before sliding it to where Cass sat.

“Anything else you can think of to help us?” Ox asked. “Favorite places she likes to go think? Or to eat?”

The fact Ox was talking as if Courtney was still alive wasn’t lost on Deal. It didn’t matter what anyone thought about the possible outcome, when talking to clients, the belief was the person they were searching for was alive until they weren’t. A lot of the time that was the outcome, but Deal couldn’t shake the feeling that maybe this time they wouldn’t be so lucky. That this time it was going to end badly.

No way was he going to voice his thoughts out loud, at least not with Collette in the room, and maybe not even today, not after what he’d said earlier.

“I don’t know how to thank you for taking me seriously,” Collette addressed the room. “You didn’t have to. You could’ve fobbed me off like the police did. I know it’s only because of my connection to Astrid that you’re even meeting with me—on a Saturday, when it’s your day off.”

“Think nothing of it,” Ox said, smiling at her. “We’ll do whatever we can to help you find your sister.” He looked over at Deal. “I want you to take point on this, Deal.”

“What? You want me in charge?” This couldn’t be right. As Collette had said only seconds ago, her connection was with Astrid, not him, so it would make total sense for Growler to be the one to take the lead. If not Growler, then Fox, but—he looked around the room—Fox was absent again.

Fuck, they were going to need to run an intervention with their friend soon if he didn’t get his shit together.

But still, him being in charge of an assignment was new.

“Yes, I want you to do it.” Ox’s tone brooked no argument.

“Fine.” He sat back and crossed his arms over his chest.

“Problem?” His boss queried.

“Nope, no problems. I understand you.”

He didn’t really. He’d never taken point before, and considering how he’d been with Collette, he was surprised Ox wanted him to, but he wasn’t going to argue with his boss. He never had, and he never would. He’d take this task and do the best job possible.

No matter what the outcome would be.

Chapter Three

Collette looked over at the man who had been less than welcoming to her last night and again today. Even though he’d apologize for his asshole behavior, he looked like he wanted to take on this job as much as he wanted to eat a bowl of Brussels sprouts. “Deal, is it?” she queried, injecting politeness into her voice. Putting him offside before they’d even started wasn’t a good idea.

Also, who the heck named their kid Deal?

“It’s Kayce Simmonds, but everyone calls me Deal. I generally don’t answer to Kayce anymore.”

“Right. Well, Deal, I get that you’re having trouble with all of this, but this is my sister’s life we’re talking about, and I know her. She wouldn’t disappear without telling me.” She looked over at Ox, beginning to understand that they must all refer to themselves by their nicknames. Even though it killed her to say what she had to say next, it had to be done. She couldn’t do this and still face Astrid every day. “I appreciate your offer to help, and I wish that things could be different, but I think it’s best if I leave. I’ll keep in touch with the police and hope something comes from it. Thank you for your assistance.”

She pushed her chair back, swallowing down the lump in her throat and willing the tears welling up not to fall until she was outside and away from everyone.