Page 65 of Breathe Me In

“Are you two on your way out?” Officer Smith called as we were about to go out the door.

“We are. Have you got something?” Brad’s eyes lit up.

“No, sir. I just wondered if you were going to the game tonight, Bree?”

“Ahh, I wasn’t aware there was one, but maybe yeah.”

“Cool, I’m hoping to make it too.” He shot Brad a quick glance before he excused himself.

We continued toward the doors. “You know he worships the ground you walk on, right?” Brad shook his head and unlocked the doors to his car.

I reached for the glove box to grab a Kleenex, and my eyes landed on the TASER, and I shuddered. Brad gave me a look, and I slammed the glove box shut. He stayed quiet as we worked our way across town, knocking on doors to any business that might sell plants or gardening stuff. Something seemed to be on his mind, so I let him be. The next nursery we headed for was known to sell exotic plants. I left him to his thoughts as I researched the poison moss more.

There were a few cases where people had accidentally ingested the moss and died within minutes. Animals knew to stay away from it, apparently, but some out-of-town hikers who’d gotten lost and gone searching for food hadn’t been so lucky. It had turned out to be their downfall when they made tea with it.

We parked, and I tucked my laptop away as Brad opened my door and offered me a hand.

“Thanks. Hey.” I pulled on his arm. “Are you okay? You seem off.”

“No, I’m good.” He nodded for me to follow.

“Then why are you so quiet?”

He pulled out his badge as we headed inside. “Just have some things on my mind.” He flashed his ID to the clerk. “Good afternoon, I’m Detective Stone, and this is my partner, Jaminson. Are you the owner of the shop?”

“I am, name’s Paul Wiseman.” He looked worried as he set his spray bottle down. “Am I in trouble?”

“No.” Brad smiled at him. “But we’re trying to locate a possible customer of yours.” He pulled out Ford’s photo. “Does he look familiar to you?”

“I mean, he kind of looks familiar, but he might have one of those faces, you know?” He studied the photo for a moment. “Can you send me his photo? And if anything comes to me, I’ll give you a call.”

Nodding, I stepped up to the counter and AirDropped his photo. “Any chance you could look up a name for us?”

“Sure.” He turned his computer screen so we could see it. “What’s his name?”

“Timothy James Ford.” I watched as he typed it in, and the screen gave a little shake as if to say, No one used that name.

“Try just Ford,” Brad suggested, and a list of names came up.

“No Timothys.” The clerk shrugged. “Hang on, I’ll try something else.” We watched as he tried different variations of the name. “I’m sorry, nothing is coming up.”

“It was worth a try.” Brad shrugged, and we went back outside, where he checked the time. “That’s all the nurseries in town. Why don’t we grab a late lunch and regroup?”

“Sure.”

Brad took us to a mom-and-pop sandwich shop, and we sat outside and ate at one of their picnic tables to enjoy the warm sun while it lasted. The heat felt nice on my back. A cool breeze made it perfect. I chomped happily on my smoked meat on rye. This was my absolute favorite time of year.

“Can I ask you something?” Brad’s voice was muffled as he spoke around his mouthful of sandwich. I shrugged, unsure I wanted to commit in my happy moment. “Why won’t you take Cap’s offer and get yourself a gun?”

I stopped chewing and slowly put my sandwich down. “I can do my job without one. Not gonna start now.” Brad studied me, then shook his head as if frustrated.

“You sure know how to shut down a conversation.”

It immediately ticked me off because he was right. “You carry, so why should I?”

“Because of times like the nightclub where you could’ve been killed. What if he approached you? Or pulled a gun on you?”

I shrugged and pretended all that stuff didn’t run through my brain that night. “You paint me as reckless. I made sure all my bases were covered.”