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“Okay. I’ve pulled his SSI info. He’s thirty-four, born and raised in Huntsville, Alabama, to Lodine and Jim Eggers. Okay. Now let me see if I can tap into his home town police department’s data base.”
Sandrine hummed while Talia tapped her foot.
I didn’t take long.
“Bingo. He’s in their system. But Talia. There’s no arrests, no warrants, not even an outstanding ticket on his record, but… Well how about that? He’s listed as having a juvenile record, but it’s locked up tight. That means whatever they’ve got on him, he…” She tapped into Google with an age search for the state. “…he did it before he was eighteen.”
“Well, shit,” Talia growled. “Can’t you…hack it or something?”
“Not in my skill set,” Sandrine replied with a sigh. “Even if it was legal,” she tsked. “The best I can do is have Mason send a request to his friend the judge, who might be able to get the records unsealed. But he’ll have to have a good reason, and Fleet being missing isn’t exactly an open-sesame for that kind of thing.”
“We could…” Talia chewed a nail. “Dammit. I’m going to have to run this by Mason, but maybe we should call Fleet’s parents. I know they’re still alive and they still live there.”
Sandrine nodded. “It might be good to notify them anyway, as long as you know they’re not estranged. I’m sure if I went missing, my parents would want to know.”
“Yeah. Mine, too,” Talia added, with not a single bit of hesitation. She and her family had gone through a lot, so withholding things from them wasn’t something she’d even consider. “And from what I know, Fleet is in touch with his family.”
Talia keyed her mic. “Mason?” She used his first name, because there were three Sothard’s on the team.
“Sothard up,” he responded immediately.
“Giving you an update. Sandrine hasn’t found anything current to raise concern, but she’s discovered he has a juvenile record that’s been locked up tightly. I was wondering whether we should call Fleet’s parents. First, they need to be told their son is missing. Hell, maybe Fleet never notified them about his operation, so they deserve to know about that, too.”
“I agree,” Mason said. “Continue.”
“Maybe, after I tell them what’s been going on,” she speculated, “they can supply us with information regarding his past that’s not showing up on our computer search; point us in a direction we’re clearly missing.”
She wasn’t blowing smoke. Fleet had told her during one of their heart-to-heart’s that something fucked up lay in his history.
“It’s worth a try, Talia. You want me to head to the bus and take care of it? I’m not averse to making the call.”
Talia chewed her lip. Did she want Mason to take over, or did she want to talk to Fleet’s parents? Would they know who she was? Had Fleet called them from the hospital sometime during his recovery period over the last week and mentioned her name? It was possible. She’d visited him after work at the end of each day, so he would have had plenty of time to conduct complete, in-depth discussions with them about his possible new love interest. Hell, every time she talked tohermother, the first thing the woman always asked was if there was a man in Talia’s life.
Goddammit.The chances of Fleet bringing her up were slim. They weren’t even dating yet. They’d eaten together once before he’d had his aneurysm, and just because she’d kept him company at his bedside for the last week, didn’t mean she’d become someone important enough to mention to his parents. So… Depending on what kind of reaction she got once she gave his parents her name, she’d go with either new girlfriend, or act officially as a member of Downeast SWAT.
“I’ll call,” she told Mason. “But most likely in a professional capacity. I’m guessing Fleet probably hasn’t mentioned me to them yet.”
“Okay. Do it. Although it’s the middle of the night…”
Talia gave an internal scoff. Her parents would definitely want to know if something had happened to her, regardless of the hour. And Mason’s? “Would your parents be more pissed if they were woken up with the news you were missing, or furious because they weren’t told until the following day?”
He sighed but didn’t hesitate to answer. “They’d be apoplectic if they’d been kept in the dark.”
“That’s what I thought,” Talia agreed.
It was time to find the parents’ contact info and get them on the phone.
* * *
Open.Close. Open. Close.
Fleet had come back to consciousness again, and he was having more luck this time working minor body parts, like his eyelids.
Open. Close. Open. Close.
And shit. He was pretty certain the things that covered his face were leaves. How the fuck was that possible?
Had he somehow left the hospital and walked into the woods? And if his body had actually managed the feat, how was it he’d been able to bypass all the hospital personnel and the facility’s alarm systems? They had to have alarms, right?
