Page 119 of The Deadly Shallows

He longed to press a kiss to Brooke’s lips before leaving her, but they were in the station and within sight of his team, so he restrained himself, but very begrudgingly.

“Hey, Caleb,” he said, heading back for his desk. “How’d it go?”

“All along the party line, though each foam company differed in feel and size.”

“Any gut feelings?”

Caleb shook his head. “Not yet. Well, I wasn’t the biggest fan of the head honcho at FoamTech. Something about him rubbed me the wrong way.”

“Your instincts always serve you well,” Noah said. “Pay heed to them.”

Caleb nodded. “Will do.”

“They’re still not here,” Rissi said, taking a sip of her coffee. How she could inhale so much caffeine and not talk a mile a minute like Gabby did befuddled him.

“Is it just me,” Noah said, “or are you finding it odd that both of them are late?”

“Yeah, it’s quite the coincidence.”

Noah glanced at his watch. “I say we give them five minutes, then we call.”

“And if they don’t answer?” Rissi asked.

“I’ll send you and Caleb to find Malone, and Finn can meet Logan to check on Caldwell.”

Em looked up at Austin and smiled. “I’m glad you’re here.”

Austin smiled. She was glad to be there too and prayed with all her heart that both cases—with their myriad layers—would be solved. Prayed that God would open Finn’s and Emmy’s eyes to process the evidence and to see it for what it was. To see the links in the chain that would wrap around the necks of the guilty.

“I got a hit on that plate number you and Caleb called in,” Em said.

“Really?” Excitement sparked inside her.

Emmy nodded. “The plate is registered to a Hector Valdez on Water Street. He reported it stolen a couple days ago.”

Austin narrowed her eyes. “Stolen?”

“Yep.” Em nodded.

She frowned. “So he came out that day and his license plate was missing?”

Em chuckled. “Nope. Whoever stole it replaced it with a similar-looking plate.”

“So he checks his plates regularly enough that he immediately noticed the switch?” Austin asked. She knew her plate number by heart, but she didn’t check it regularly.

“You sound about as skeptical as I was,” Emmy said. “Mr. Valdez said he called in right away to file a report, but apparently he didn’t feel like sitting around waiting for the police to come check things out, so he drove the car anyway, going about his day. But he got pulled over for speeding. The cop ran the plate and . . .”

“And?” Austin said.

“He’d already reported his plates stolen and replaced.”

“And the cop seriously bought that?” Austin said. It was a scam if she’d ever heard one. Report something you planned to use in a crime as missing, and then it couldn’t be pinned on you.

“I contacted the officer who took the report and let him know the stolen plate had been spotted and gave him the make and model of the car. They put out an APB.”

“Any sightings yet?” Austin asked, twirling a pencil she’d pulled from her purse between her index finger and thumb. She had so much restless energy coursing through her, she needed some place to direct it.

“Not yet,” Em said.