Page 4 of Romeo

“Then you must know what I’m feeling right now.Or at least part of it.I know Jules is troubled, she always has been, but to kill?I can’t imagine what would have driven her to that.I just want answers.I want to know she’s safe.”

“You believe she killed your grandfather and took off with $14 million in jewels?”I ask.

He turns toward me.“They’re gone, and so is she,” he says.“Her blood was found at the crime scene, but her body wasn’t recovered.”

“Still, there must be something else that drove you to believe she’s the murderer.Even with all of that considered, there are at least half a dozen other explanations.”Bradyn crosses his arms.“As I said, I have a sister too.And my first thought would’ve been that she was abducted by the killer.Not that she was the killer.”

Odie’s gaze momentarily drops to the folder sitting in front of him—something he brought in but has yet to open.His reaction is one I’ve seen before.There’s something in there he wants to keep hidden.Something that will likely answer a lot of questions but bring bad light to either his family or his sister.

Question is: Will he be honest with us?

“Look, I don’t want this to be public knowledge.Our grandfather was incredibly famous, one of the greatest actors of his time.I don’t want to stain the legacy he left behind.”

“Nothing you say to us will be shared outside of our team and anyone necessary to this case,” Bradyn assures him.“But if you don’t give us everything, we can’t help you.”

He takes a deep breath.“Jules has been in and out of trouble for most of her life.She’s an alcoholic who’s spent more time in rehab than not.”

“Being an alcoholic is a far cry from being a killer,” I say.

“Maybe.But Jules has problems.And if she were innocent, why would she run?”

“She was scared.Abducted.Unsure who to trust.I can think of quite a few reasons,” I retort.

“You said that your mother married her father?”Nova questions before Odie can respond to me.

He nods.“After our parents died, our grandfather took us in.”

“Grandfather on your side or hers?”I ask.

“Hers.He’s her—our—dad’s dad.”Odie closes his eyes.“Was our dad’s dad.I must remember that.It’s still just so fresh.”He takes a deep breath then opens his eyes.“We were young when our parents got married.Jules was only seven, and I was ten.But losing her mother took a toll on her, and she never recovered.Then when our parents died—” He fidgets with the file in his hands.“My grandfather had a lot of money, but he’d always considered us his greatest possessions.And now he’s gone, and so is she.”A tear slips down from his eye, and he wipes it away.“You asked why I jumped to my conclusion.”He slides the folder to Bradyn, so I push off the wall and lean over Bradyn’s shoulder as he opens it.

Images of bloody handprints on the side of brick.Blood smeared on the dented roof of a car.

“It’s her blood,” Odie says.“No one could have abducted her then climbed down the side of a two-story house.And they wouldn’t have needed to since she and my grandfather were the only ones home and the security alert was never even triggered.No one was coming.”

“She could have been grabbed from the grounds,” Bradyn offers.

“It’s possible but unlikely.Jules knew those grounds better than anyone.No one would’ve been able to find her unless she wanted to be found.Even injured.She was an expert hide-and-seek player when she was little.”

My thoughts drift back to the hide-and-seek game I was just playing with Romeo.A strange coincidence for sure.

“You have a lot of faith in your sister’s hiding abilities under duress.”Bradyn closes the file.His tone is flat, emotionless.Out of all of us, he’s the best at reading people.Which makes me wonder just what he’s seeing when he looks at Odie Landers.

“As I said, Jules is troubled.She ran away when she was sixteen and didn’t come home again until she was eighteen.No number of private investigators we hired could find her.”

“That’s a long time to not know where your sister is.”

He nods, clearly distressed at having to relive the past.“That’s not all, either.”He reaches into his pocket and withdraws a bracelet with embedded diamonds the size of blueberries.“It was our grandmother’s.Someone pawned it at a gold shop in Oregon.Security footage shows that it was Jules.”He sticks it back into his pocket.“She’s a good person, Mr.Hunt.She’s just— Losing both of her parents traumatized her, and it’s not something she got over.If she isn’t responsible, then she’s out there scared and hurt.And if she is the one who killed him—” He trails off, emotions playing out over his face.“Then she needs help.Either way, I just want to find the truth so I can lay our grandfather to rest.”

Bradyn glances back at me.Since we work on a rotation, I’m up next.Meaning this is my case to accept—or decline.I look down at the photograph Odie provided us with of his sister.

It’s a family photo with him and her on either side of an elderly gentleman sitting on a bench.Odie is smiling widely, his hand on the man’s shoulder, while Jules looks a bit less enthusiastic.She’s gorgeous, there’s no doubt about that.And she’s smiling, her red lips curved just slightly.Her blonde hair is cut to just above her shoulders and styled in waves so it curves around her face.But there’s darkness in her green gaze.Pain shielded beneath armor.It’s something I recognize easily enough.The question is: What put it there?Was it truly losing her parents?Or something else?

Perhaps something during those two years she was missing from home?

“I’ll take the case,” I say.

Odie looks about ready to hug me.I’m grateful he doesn’t.While physical contact doesn’t typically bug me, when it comes from complete strangers, I’d rather pass.

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