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I met her eyes, taking a deep breath. She was right. Snarking at the cops wouldn’t get us anywhere. “I’m sorry. Just… I don’t think you’ve run down every lead. There are still avenues to pursue.”
“Is that so?” the detective’s mouth twisted in derision. “You know better than us?”
“I know that my sister didn’t just disappear into thin air. She’s twenty-two years old, and a whole hell of a lot of things could have happened to her. We just want to know what.” I fixed him with the most pleading puppy dog eyes I could manage. “Please, Detective Reed.”
He blinked at me and then shook his head. “I’m sorry, Miss Young. We’ve done everything we can.”
Simply put, I did not believe that he was telling the truth. There was something shifty about him. I couldn’t quite put my finger on what… but yeah, for sure. He was hiding something. I tried to think of a way to get it out of him.
“What did Igor say? Her boyfriend? Have you informed him that you’re stopping the investigation?”
“According to him, they broke up before she disappeared.”
“And you don’t find that convenient?”
Detective Reed shrugged. “She’s not exactly a housewife. We’ve had lots of women like your sister follow the same patterns of behavior—”
I almost leapt over the table to strangle him, but my Lita held me back. “Like my sister? You meanstrippers? Are you calling my sister a whore?” I yelled.
“No. Of course not. But you must have known what sort of lifestyle she lived.”
I growled and he sighed, shaking his head.
“Look, all I’m saying is that there is nothing unusual about what happened before she took off. Nothing that would indicate your sister didn’t just skip town on her own. She’s an adult and she can do as she pleases. As someone who has seen this play out over and over, I would really suggest you focus on other things. Your sister will more likely than not show up when she feels like it.”
I just stared at him, my heart pounding. Thank God my grandmother was there. Celia wouldn’t justdisappear. Sure, we weren’t as close as we once were, but we were the only family each other had. She wouldn’t just leave without a word.
Something had happened to her.
Something bad.
And if this stupid detective thought I was going to just roll over and let it go, he had another thing coming.
I whirled towards the door, pulling my grandmother along with me. “Alright then, thanks,” I said brusquely as I banged the door to his office open and stormed out. We were halfway down the hall when I heard my name called, much to my surprise. I turned to see Detective Reed following us.
“What now?” I snapped.
He came to a stop in front of me. “Please…let this go. For your own sake. This is doing nothing but causing you, and your grandmother, a tremendous amount of grief.” He turned to nod at her. “Don’t you see that?”
I narrowed my eyes at him, suspicious at his insistence. I didn’t say a word, hoping he’d fill the silence and incriminate himself.
“Again, we’ve done all we can. We have no power over what comes next. Do you understand me?”
I stared mutinously at him.
“Nora?” He raised an eyebrow at me.
“When did we get on a first-name basis?”
He sighed. “Fine. Miss Young, last warning. Drop this. It isn’t going to go anywhere.”
“Thank you very much for your input, detective. Your warning has been noted.” I turned and resumed walking, my grandma by my side, watching me with her cloudy eyes. She didn’t say a word and neither did I, but I guess she knew as well as I did that I wasn’t going to drop it.
CHAPTERTWO
NORA
It was dark and freezing. I could feel every muscle in my body shivering—shaking with both cold and fear.
