Page 59 of All the Missing Pieces

“Sorry, Princess Tater, I know it’s past your dinnertime.”

She squawked back at me as if to say,Damn straight.

I pulled the last of my papers together and closed the file. Gathering up my food remnants, I crossed to the van and slid open the door. The trash inside was almost full, so I pulled the liner and tugged it closed.

“Want to make a trash run with me?” I asked Tater.

She meowed in response and bounded after me.

The campsite had a few bear-proof receptacles for trash and recycling about a hundred yards from my site. It was a hell of a lot better than having to take my trash into town.

Tater and I made the trek quickly even in the dark. The full moon gave us enough light to illuminate our path. When wereached the cans, I quickly unlocked one and placed the bag inside, moving to relock it.

Tater let out an angry meow, and I turned, but it was too late. Someone grabbed me by my hair and jerked me back. Shock hit my system, panic quick on its heels as a hand closed around my throat, cutting off my air supply.

I thrashed and kicked, trying to get at my attacker, but nothing seemed to land. They just squeezed my throat harder as they leveled a brutal blow to my ribs. Spots danced in front of my vision as darkness closed in.

A deep voice cut through my gurgled attempts to scream. “Go home, or I won’t let you off this easy next time.”

23

COLT

I leanedback in one of the conference room chairs, its metal groaning with the movement. It felt like my bones were giving the same damn protest. But I reached for my coffee because I knew we weren’t close to done.

“I don’t like this,” Ryan muttered as she pulled her hair up into a knot on the top of her head.

I scowled down at the array of photos and files. “There’s nothing to like.”

I knew most precincts were fully digital now, but I liked holding the paper in my hands. The tactile experience of being able to see all the pieces at once like we were now. Ryan and I had been locked in this room since lunch, after a quick trip to talk to Dawson.

He hadn’t provided any new information, but the footage from the cameras had. It wasn’t like we had a lot of them, but we had enough. And every single lens that pointed at the route from the woods to the side door had been blacked out. Someone had approached each device from the side and spray-painted the lenses black.

Fucker.

But whoever it was, they were a bastard who knew their way around the station. And that told me it was a Shady Cove local, not someone who’d merely been passing through town now and then.

My gut twisted at the thought that whoever had taken Em was still living among us. All of a sudden, her fear of going out in public seemed less like an illness and more like a perfectly logical decision.

“Colt,” Ryan said, cutting into my spiraling thoughts.

I sat upright again. “Sorry.”

She studied me for a long moment. Even though she was a few years my junior, she had a wisdom in her green eyes. “I know this has to be a lot.”

I appreciated that her voice hadn’t gone gentle with her words. There was no pity in them, just simple facts. “I hate thinking that whoever took Em has just been living free and easy ever since. Watching us walk around with our thumbs up our asses.”

Ryan’s mouth thinned into a hard line. “I go over the case every year too. The casework is solid. They talked to everyone in Emerson’s orbit.”

“So maybe it wasn’t someone close. Maybe it was someone watching from afar.” My gut roiled at the thought of some creep watching my sister for days or even weeks, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. And he had because I’d given him the opportunity.

“If it is the same person, they’re getting desperate. And desperate people make mistakes.”

I grunted in agreement. But it wasn’t enough. Not with this much at stake.

“Gotta thank the Sawyer woman for that,” Ryan muttered. “She’s obviously pushing buttons.”

I shifted in my seat, my mind drifting to Ridley, wondering if she’d gotten the basket I’d left her. I knew she must have. I wasn’t sure what reaction I expected. For her to show up at the station and throw herself at me in thanks? It was more likely she’d dumped all the food out for the bears. And I wouldn’t have blamed her.

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