Kyle nodded slowly. “Boyfriend?”
Colin’s relief evaporated as sudden jealousy hit.
“No apparent boyfriend at the moment,” Elissa said.
And…his chest eased. He hated how much.
“At the moment?” Kyle asked.
“Yeah. Looks like she was with someone, but everything drops off after she became Juni’s guardian.” Elissa’s tone gentled. “She basically went full-time mom overnight and didn’t come back up for air.”
“All right,” Kyle said. “What have you got on Mira Walsh?”
“Same background obviously. Iowa, San Diego, same family deets. But here’s where it gets interesting. She worked at LRH Defense Systems for six years in contract administration. Clearance upgraded when she moved to support a higher-profile program about a year before Juni was conceived.”
“And her social media?” Gina asked.
“More active than Maren’s. Looks like she’s the outgoing twin—and man, are they twins. Hard to tell the difference between them. Flint, can you show them? Lots of photos, lots of friends.”
“Sean?” Kyle asked.
“No joy. He’s nowhere—no pictures, no mentions. Nothing. If they were together, she kept it completely off the grid.” Elissa sounded as disappointed as everyone in the room looked, especially Kyle.
“Then—” Elissa paused. “Around the time Juni would have been conceived, things change. The posts get... strained. Like she’s pretending normal but it’s not landing right. And there’s no preggo pics, no mention of any of that. Around the time Juni’s born, Mira goes totally dark.”
“New-mom cave?” Colin asked.
“Maybe,” Elissa said. “But most moms post pics of their newborns or start looking for advice from other moms online. Mira just disappears. No posts, no activity. It’s like she went underground.”
“I talked to Charlie and Shane,” Kyle said. “Neither one of them had any idea who Mira was. Sean wasn’t seriously dating anyone before their mission.”
“Or, he didn’t want to talk about it,” Elissa said. “Maybe even hiding Mira. But why?”
“What about her death? Parking garage cameras?” Kyle asked.
“No joy there, either,” Elissa said. “It’s like Maren said yesterday. The cameras were broken, no attendant on duty, and anything from nearby businesses is long gone. I’ve tried every angle but it’s a dead end.”
Kyle nodded. “Caller ID on the recording?”
“Still working on it. The call routing’s a mess. Whoever this guy was, he knew how to cover his tracks.”
“But,” Flint said, “we did find Mira’s will.”
Kyle leaned forward. “And?”
“She set it up the week she found out she was pregnant,” Flint said. “Everything to Maren. Full guardianship of Juni if anything happened to her. She spelled it all out.”
The room went very still again.
“She knew,” Lachlan said quietly.
“She knew she might not make it,” Gina confirmed. “My guess is she was already working with NCIS before she got pregnant. Maybe before she even met Sean.”
Kyle looked at Lachlan. Lachlan looked at Gina.
“We have to ask it,” Gina said.
“Ask what?” Colin asked, though he already knew.
