Page 15 of Guess Again
“Chip,” Ethan said, looking at his watch. “Burning the midnight oil?”
Ethan was on days this week, working the 3:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. shift.
Chip smiled. “Just finished at a fundraiser and thought I’d stop by to chat.”
Ethan logged out of the computer. “What’s up?”
Chip produced a copy of theMilwaukee Journal Sentinel, which had been folded under his arm. He dropped it on the desk. The paper was opened to the article about Callie Jones.
“With the election of Governor Jones,” Chip said, quoting the article verbatim, “a new investigation is being launched into his daughter’s 2015 disappearance. Adding to the intrigue about the reboot of the case is that Ethan Hall—a former renegade investigator with Wisconsin’s Department of Criminal Investigation turned ER doctor—has been tapped to lead the investigation.”
Ethan closed his eyes. The government boys sure knew how to tighten a tourniquet. There had been soft murmurs about the Callie Jones case being reopened ever since Ethan had met with Governor Jones back in late spring. Ethan had agreed only to review the file and offer his thoughts—a task he had yet to complete. He was procrastinating and stalling and doing everything he could to avoid a formal commitment because he was weary about backtracking in life and dabbling in something that had nearly ruined him once. So, to put pressure on him and set the clock ticking, the higher-ups leaked the story to the press.
Ethan had seen the articles in theJournaland theCapital Times.Word was spreading fast, and Cherryview, the small town from where Callie Jones had disappeared, was buzzing with anticipation about a potential break in the ten-year-old cold case that had left the community dazed. One of the area’s biggest missing persons cases in the last twenty years—now made even larger by the election of Mark Jones—was about to take center stage and had all the makings of a sensational summer news story. The newly elected governor, with the state’s justice department at his disposal, was desperate to find answers about what happened to his daughter years earlier. Somehow, Ethan found himself in the middle of it all.
He had planned to talk to the hospital administration about the news, but Chip Carter beat him to it.
“Plus two full paragraphs about how you work at my ER and where you went to medical school and speculation about why you left your old profession. And a lot about your father, too.”
“I read it,” Ethan said.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you this. But you’re either a doctor here at my hospital, or you’re an investigator with the Department of Criminal Investigation. Not both.”
“I’m not investigating anything, Chip. I was asked to review the file, that’s it.”
“And you agreed?”
“Well, when thegovernorasks you for a favor, you typically say yes.”
“I don’t want it interfering with your work here, Ethan.”
“It won’t.”
“There’re liability issues that we need to consider. If you’re preoccupied with a missing persons case, it could cloud your judgment in the ER. Say you send someone home and they stroke out an hour later because you missed something on their scans. The hospital would be on the hook for that.”
“Probably something my malpractice insurance would cover, but I understand your point, Chip.”
“Either way, it’s a nightmare waiting to happen, and I’ve got people barking in my ear about it.”
“I’m reviewing the case in my spare time. That’s it, Chip. There’s nothing more to it, despite the sensational headlines.”
Chip thought a moment and then nodded. “Make sure it doesn’t overlap with what you do here. If it does, I’ll have to rethink your position with us.”
“Understood.”
Chip nodded before he turned and left the doctor’s lounge. When he was gone, Ethan pulled the newspaper over to him.
Adding to the intrigue about the reboot of the case is that Ethan Hall—a former renegade investigator with Wisconsin’s Department of Criminal Investigation turned ER doctor—has been tapped to lead the investigation into the disappearance of Callie Jones. Mr. Hall comes from a long line of law enforcement. His father, Henry Hall, was a detective with the Milwaukee Police Department. Detective Hall was killed in the line of duty while investigating the Lake Michigan Massacres in 1993.
Ethan tossed the paper in the trash. Strangely, the Callie Jones case and his reluctant return to the DCI were not the main distractions in his life. That honor went to Francis Bernard—the man who had killed his father—and the idea that Ethan was about to be face-to-face with him.
CHAPTER 18
Maple Bluff, Wisconsin Friday, July 11, 2025
LAKESIDESTORAGE WAS LOCATED INMAPLEBLUFF, A SMALL SUBURBof Madison on the northwest side of Lake Mendota. Early Friday morning, she walked into the doublewide trailer that acted as the storage facility’s rental office and smiled at the woman behind the desk.
“Hi,” she said. “I need to rent a single unit.”
