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“You’re such a talented girl, Zoe.” Amanda reached out to hug her, but the girl pulled back, her face serious.
“Be careful. Don’t hurt him or I won’t get any presents.” Her serious expression gave way to laughter as she returned Santa to the shelf where he had been. Zoe turned around to face Amanda, her expression all serious. “Okay. Now you can go.”
“Why you little…” Amanda lunged across the room. Zoe squealed, but, for all the noise, she didn’t try to get away. Moments like this, that were shared between them, were a balm to Amanda’s spirit.
Logan joined the action, and the three of them wound up on Zoe’s bed laughing. Amanda was looking at the ceiling. How had she gotten so lucky twice in one lifetime? She rolled to her side and kissed Logan.
“Oh, man,” Zoe groaned and bopped up. “Don’t you have work?”
Amanda and Logan laughed and shook their heads. Another cycle of play and, like all good things, it had to come to an end.
FIFTY
It was strange for Amanda not to stop at Hannah’s Diner. They were open for business, but with May not there, it would have been too much. Amanda made a mental note to check in on her today, to make sure she was hanging in there. When that time came, Amanda had every intention of having answers too. Even better, be returning Katherine safely home.
Trent wasn’t at Central when Amanda got there.
“Steele?” It was Malone, and he was coming toward her cubicle. He patted a hand on the top of the partition at her doorway.
“Good morning, Sarge.” She tried to ground the swirling energy in her gut that rose in contrast to her cheery greeting.
“Where’s Stenson?” He made a dramatic show of looking over at Trent’s desk, as if he’d magically manifest in front of his eyes.
“Not here yet.”
“No, no, he’s here somewhere.” Malone glanced over his shoulder. “There you are.”
Amanda caught sight of Trent walking over, a coffee cup in hand, and she’d be lying to herself to say her heart hadn’t bumped off rhythm a bit.
“Morning,” he said to her, but it was low volume and close to a mumble.
“Good morning.”
“Now that’s out of the way, can we get to work, please?” Malone asked, exasperated. “Come with me to the meeting room.” He headed in that direction, not giving them a passing glance backward. He expected they’d follow.
“No Hannah’s this morning for you either?” Trent lifted his mug, filled with station brew.
“I couldn’t bring myself to go inside.”
“Same here.”
“You guys coming?” Malone huffed and flailed his arms.
She smiled at Trent and shook her head. “We better get a move on before he flogs us in the public square.”
He smirked but buried the expression in the lip of his mug.
Amanda was wishing she’d thought ahead to bring a traveler of coffee with her, but she’d rushed from home.
Trent held back and gestured for Amanda to enter the conference room ahead of him. It was standing room only. Several uniformed officers and the other detectives from Homicide were jammed inside. The man commanding the room was Police Chief Jeff Buchanan.
“Now that everyone is here, let’s get started.” The chief continually paced, working the front of the room the way any good speaker would, using the space to draw in his audience’s attention and to hold it. “As you all know we’re facing an urgent situation. Katherine Graves, a former Homicide sergeant with the PWCPD, was abducted on Monday morning during a shooting that resulted in the murder of an eighteen-year-old girl. Graves may no longer be at the PD, but she remains a part of our family. Most of you have been working tirelessly to find her and her abductors. I applaud you for this, but the fact remains we still haven’t brought her home.”
Amanda glanced at Trent, who was standing next to her. They were both positioned rather close to the door. Buchanan hadn’t made the purpose for this meeting clear yet, and the uncertainty had her insides twisting into knots.
Buchanan continued. “It’s time that we buckle down, determine who is behind this attack. Detectives Steele and Stenson have apprehended a potential suspect, Lowell Mooney of New York City. It’s not yet been confirmed if Mooney is involved or not. Therefore, we are no closer to our goal. We don’t even know if Katherine is still alive.”
The chief’s words drilled in the direness of the situation, and the room became quieter than before.
