Page 41 of Just Right

She looked away from her screens, briefly glancing at Connor, who was glowering down at his own laptop, scanning the databases, as if through sheer force of will, it would be possible to find the answers.

Then, summoning all her resolve, she took another look at the community groups. Would he have joined any of them? He clearly was on social media because he had been able to identify and track the victims’ locations. But that wasn't exactly helpful. He was one of millions, and she had no idea what parameters to use. They knew nothing about him.

His name wasn't Hayden Becker. He was an unidentified blond male. A mystery.

And the only way they could find him was if they learned his new name.

The police department was starting to feel claustrophobic. There was a flicker in the overhead light that she'd only now become aware of. Now, of course, she couldn't tune it out, and it was annoying her.

It was annoying her because she wasn't focusing one hundred percent on her search, Cami knew. And the reason she wasn't doing that was that she literally felt she was out of options.

"I'm looking up distant relatives. I'm not finding any locally, though," Connor said. "Why aren't you able to pick anything up online?" Now there was a note of frustration in his tone as he glanced at her.

"Because I don't know what parameters to search for," Cami shot back, annoyed by the perceived criticism.

"You don't know?" Connor said, his voice incredulous.

Cami could feel an angry flush rising up her cheeks, even as she tried to remain calm.

"I’ve tried them all," she shot back defensively.

"You can't have tried them all. Think, Cami. There must be something you're missing."

You? Where was the “we” in all of this?she thought irritably.

"I just need time to think. I'm doing my best."

"We don't have time," Connor said, his voice firm.

“I can’t work miracles! I can find hidden information, yes. But I’m all out of miracles.”

“Doing your job is not working miracles,” Connor insisted.

Cami stared at him, seething.

Now they were fighting. This entire situation was devolving into a ragged search for loose ends and minor clues that didn't seem to exist, and they were sniping at each other as if this was their first day on the job together and they hated one another.

She took a deep breath. Tipped her chair back and stared in the other direction from that annoying light and those useless screens. Stared out of the window, at the trees and road beyond, trying to clear her mind.

Surprisingly, Cami found herself thinking of her probation officer, the dark-haired, rich-voiced FBI agent Jacenta.

She hadn't realized that when you committed a crime against the FBI and then struck a deal with them where you were let off, you were assigned someone as your probation officer. Jacenta had touched base in both her previous cases, and she was sure that Jacenta would be in touch again soon.

She had initially thought that Jacenta disapproved of her. She'd gotten that impression. But she hoped that she'd done something to earn the rather scary agent's respect. And now, she found herself wondering what advice Jacenta would offer her.

Firstly, she knew, Jacenta would tell her to stop fighting with Connor. That was a certainty. Jacenta would give her a lesson on anger management and conflict resolution. Cami could imagine the words she would use. It wasn’t difficult because Jacenta had told her something similar in the past.

“You handle this like an adult, Cami Lark,” Jacenta would say. “There’s a time and a place for letting personal issues escalate, and that is not in the middle of a murder investigation. If you’re intelligent enough to be an IT expert, you’re capable of defusing an argument.”

And then Jacenta might tell her to review the evidence more carefully. That was what she would probably say, Cami thought. She was a detail-oriented person.

“Go over it again, Cami Lark,” she might say. “Nobody’s asking you for a miracle. But your job doesn’t involve looking at things just once.”

Maybe there was a detail she'd missed.

Maybe, seeing as she was channeling Jacenta's calm wisdom, she should go back and relook at everything they had already.

"I'm looking back at the location pins," Cami said, trying a different angle. She made sure to speak in a normal voice and not in a way that would escalate the fight. "I want to double check that we haven't overlooked something."

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