Page 50 of Secret
Noam pulled into the garage, glad the day was over. His mind was working a hundred miles an hour trying to piece together the clues he'd learned today with the clues that he had from the park. There wasn't a ton to go on, but it was more than he had. He'd focus the next few days on finding that van, and hopefully, keep himself distracted from the fact that Kasey was out of town.
He'd just gotten in the house when he saw Kasey pull up in front. He watched him climb out of the car, appreciating the roundness of his ass as Kasey bent into the backseat for a moment. The man was too perfect. There wasn't an inch of him that Noam didn't find attractive.
He unlocked the front door, holding it open as Kasey walked in. "Hey, sorry dinner's not ready. I just got home myself." He gave Kasey a quick kiss.
"I can still go grab something if you're not up to cooking," Kasey offered.
Noam shut the door. "No, it won't take long. It's just chicken breasts. I don't feel like going back out anyway. Was a long day. I want a hot shower and to put my feet up."
"Well, why don't you go get your hot shower and I'll cook?" Kasey wrapped his arms around Noam's waist, pulling him close. "I'd offer to wash your back, but I know if I join you in the shower, we won't ever get to dinner, and I have to leave here by eight. It would be too tempting to pull you into bed and hold you the rest of the night."
Noam loved how Kasey made him feel sexy without ever making it about sex. "You sure you don't mind?"
"Not at all. When you get out, we can eat, and you can tell me about your day." Kasey kissed him again. "Go shower. Casper and I will tear apart the kitchen."
"Great." Noam rolled his eyes. "That should make me nervous, but I'm too tired to care tonight. Thank you."
"Anytime." Kasey slapped Noam's ass as he turned to walk to the bedroom
Noam rushed through his shower. By the time he'd changed into something comfortable and got back to the kitchen, Kasey was pulling the chicken from the oven. "Smells amazing."
"Thanks, I wasn't sure how you liked them." Kasey set a bowl of cauliflower on the table along with fried potatoes.
"I could hire you as my chef." Noam smiled.
"Then I wouldn't have to leave town. This is a job offer I might consider." Kasey sat down with him. "So, long day?"
"Yeah, another attempted kidnapping. Same suspect that took the kid from the park a few weeks ago. I've got a good video of the suspect, and the kid gave me some great information to follow up, but I can't help thinking I've failed the family of the kid from the park by not getting him home by now."
"You can't put that on your shoulders. It's not like you can go banging down every door to look for him. You've exhausted every lead you've had up to today. This isn't on you, Noam. You know that."
"I know. It's just hard. That's three kids missing in the last few months and I have nothing to give the parents. I can't imagine what they go through each night, wondering where their child is."
"Me neither, but I do know you can't blame yourself. This is on the assholes who took them. They are the ones to blame. You do as much as you can, but you're not God, you're not some superhero who always gets your man. This is the real world, and sadly, sometimes the criminals win."
Noam nodded. "I know that. It's just hard. I miss the simple break-ins, the robberies, the things that don't have to do with kids. It makes it so much harder when it's a kid."
"It does, but keep thinking about Faith. She was gone for a long time and they found her. She was brought home safe."
Noam laughed at the irony. "Even that case wasn't because of the police. She'd probably still be missing if it was up to us."
Kasey froze, setting his fork down as he seemed to swallow hard. "What do you mean?"
Noam pinched the bridge of his nose. "Nothing. It's all confidential. I can't talk about it. I shouldn't have said anything. It was just that you were trying to make me feel better about a case, but it was one of the many cases we failed to do anything on. Let's just say, there are others searching for the kids who go missing. A sort of… I guess you could call him or her a vigilante. They managed to find Faith and called us with her location. We wouldn't have found her without the information from this person." He was saying more than he should, but hell, he trusted Kasey. There was no reason to think he was going to start some media campaign to shame the police. Hell, he wasn't even telling him most of the story.
Kasey nodded. "Wow, I had no idea." He shook his head. "I know that must be hard for you, for the police, but no matter how the kids get home isn't that a good thing?"
"Oh, it is. Don't get me wrong. It just makes me feel like I'm not doing my job. How does this person get the information I can't? I mean I have sources the general public doesn't." Noam was frustrated, unable to get anything positive to happen on his side.
Kasey reached over and covered his hand with his own. "You do your best, that's all you can do. Personally, if there is someone out there helping, welcome it. If it gets the kids home or helps you find the criminals you're after, then it's not really a bad thing, right?"
Noam shrugged. It wouldn't be a bad thing if whoever was doing it wasn't breaking the law in the process. It was such a mess. A legal and moral dilemma that he wished he wasn't in the middle of. Some days he wondered if it was all worth it. "Anyway, enough about me. Tell me about your trip."
Kasey pulled his hand back, picking up his fork and stabbing his potato. "Not much to tell. My company needs a few of us to work out some system problems. Four of us are going and spending three or four days. We'll be working nights, so I should be able to call and talk to you during the day. I'm not excited to go, but it pays well, and the guys need all the help they can get. The job is a lot bigger than it should be for just the four of us."
"Wish I could go with you."
Kasey smiled, but looked a bit shocked. "When we go on vacation together, it will be when I don't have to work, and I can spend every minute of the time with you. I don't care if we get a hotel in town or go across the world, I want it to be just us. Not a bunch of guys I work with tagging along with us."
