Page 40 of Bring Them Home

“I know. It’s just, in his place…”

“In the perfect world.” Trent pulled into McGee’s driveway.

“It’s nice of you to do this, Trent.”

“Well, I could tell you were going to do it alone, if I didn’t tag along.”

We’re a team… That’s what he’d said before. “Thanks all the same.”

“You’re welcome.” He turned to her before getting out of the car. “So I’ve been thinking about how they disposed of Paul’s body, how they didn’t place it far from the road. Did they want him found sooner than later? Or was there more to it? A message to let law enforcement know what they are capable of if we don’t leave them alone?”

Amanda was often fascinated by how Trent’s mind worked. He helped the FBI Behavioral Analysis Unit with a serial rape and murder case once, and he thought like a Fed sometimes. Murder investigations were often blown up into grand conspiracies pulled off by criminals with god complexes and elaborate agendas. But what if he was onto something? The level of violence suggested someone without a conscience. “I feel sorry for them if they think threats will stop me.”

“Stop us. No way am I quitting. We’re going to save Valerie and Brooke.”

“I love the attitude.”

He smiled at her. “It’s that or roll over and give up, and that’s not in my nature.”

That’s just one of the many things I love about you… Her cheeks heated. That I appreciate platonically… But how long could that last? She pushed the traitorous thought aside. To fantasize about pursuing anything romantic with Trent would only set her up for soul-crushing disappointment. As long as they were partners on the job, as long as he was with Kelsey and she was with Carter, nothing could happen. Nothing would happen. He was an honest and loyal person. Yet more admirable qualities…

Trent got out of the car, and she followed his lead up Lloyd’s walkway.

He was standing in the open doorway by the time they got there. He was leaning against the doorframe with a rocks glass in his hand. “Were you even going to bother to call me? I had to find out from my in-laws.”

She recoiled at his sharp tone, and his hurtful implication that she’d wronged him on purpose. “They were next of kin.”

“Were you ever going to get around to talking to me about this?”

“We should probably continue this conversation inside,” Trent said.

Lloyd looked at him, at Amanda, and backed up.

The place smelled like a whiskey distillery, and she suspected it was the booze oozing out of Lloyd’s pores. He led them to the living room and grabbed a bottle of whiskey from a coffee table. It was already two-thirds gone, and he topped up his glass with more.

“How about you slow it down a bit?” Trent said.

“How about you do you, and I’ll do me?” Lloyd tipped back his glass and drained some of the amber liquid before dropping onto the couch.

Amanda and Trent sat down, facing their fellow detective.

“We can appreciate that hearing the news about your brother-in-law and his family must be upsetting,” Amanda began.

“Upsetting? That doesn’t begin to describe what I’m going through. Don’t you find it unlikely that two siblings meet with a dark fate and it isn’t connected?”

Amanda couldn’t deny the odds were against it. But what if his wife hadn’t been taken at all but had left him?

“I’m going to tell you—” He swigged back more booze. “Whoever took Abigail, killed Paul, and they have Val and Brooke now. They are alive, right?”

“We assume so. We’re looking for them, Lloyd. But how could you know the same person is behind all of this?” It was easier to run on the assumption Abigail was taken. As for the same players being involved, there was nothing to lead them there.

“Cop instinct. A husband’s intuition. My wife isn’t dead, Amanda. I feel her in my heart every day. I can still feel her touch, hear her voice.” He held up a hand. “And, yes, I know how crazy that sounds.”

“I’m so sorry for what you’re going through, Lloyd, but nothing in the investigation has led us to believe this involves Abigail at all.” She was doing him a favor by getting out in front of this before the conversation spiraled out of control.

“Then you need to look harder.”

“Can you tell us more about what happened around the time Abigail disappeared?” It wouldn’t hurt to hear him out, and keeping an open mind in any investigation was crucial.