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“Do you happen to have his phone number?” Griff asked.
Mrs. Severs nodded. “I do.” She lifted the cell phone off the table in front of her and scrolled until she found the number she was looking for. “Here it is.” She held it out to Griff.
He saved the number into his cell phone. “Thank you.”
“Mr. and Mrs. Severs, I appreciate you taking the time to answer questions about your daughter.” Rachel touched the box. “And thank you for giving me a glimpse into her life. Again, I’m so sorry for your loss.”
“We go through our lives one day at a time,” Mrs. Severs said. “It’s the best we can do when we still hurt for her.”
Rachel and Griff stood.
Griff shook hands with Mr. Severs. “Thank you both for inviting us in.” The two men walked toward the gate.
Mrs. Severs followed with Rachel by her side. “We hope you have better luck finding the one responsible for what happened to Christy.”
“We’re working it,” Rachel said. “Can’t make any guarantees, but we will do our best.”
The two Severs nodded.
“Thank you for trying,” Mr. Severs said.
Griff led the way through the gate and out to where he’d parked the truck on the street.
When they were back on the road heading toward Fool’s Gold, Griff glanced over at Rachel. “Are you going to call Bryan Peterson, or do you want me to make that connection?”
“You’re driving,” she said, shaking her head. “I’ll do it.”
He handed her his cell phone and returned his hands to the steering wheel, navigating heavy traffic.
Rachel keyed in the number and pressedSend. After the fourth ring, his voicemail engaged.
Rachel left a message. “Hello, Bryan. This is Deputy Rachel West from Fool’s Gold, Colorado. When you get a minute, please call me in reference to Christy Severs. Thank you.” She ended the call but kept his cell phone in her palm.
“Do you want to drive up to Denver and meet Bryan in person?” Griff asked.
Rachel shook her head. “No, I think we can accomplish what we need to do without disrupting his family.”
Her cell phone rang. She glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Bryan.” Rachel answered, “This is Deputy West.”
“Hi. This is Bryan Peterson. You have questions about Christy Severs?”
“Yes, sir,” Rachel said. “I’m going to send a photo of a necklace to you. Can you tell me if you gave it to Christy a couple of days before you proposed?”
“Maybe,” Bryan said. “It’s been a while. I can’t remember my name half the time, much less what I’ve given people over the years.”
Rachel texted the images of the heart-shaped necklace with the inscriptions on the front and back to Bryan.
He sent his response pretty quickly. “Not mine. I would never have saidUntil death do us part.”
“Why?” Rachel asked. “It’s part of the usual marriage ceremony.”
“It’s not at all classy. You want to go into marriage thinking you’ll be together all the way into your nineties,” Bryan said.
“Did Christy ever complain about anyone stalking, following or bothering her in any way?”
“Man, you’re asking me to remember back that far. Seems to me she had some guy at the restaurant where she worked try to ask her out on several occasions. The guy wouldn’t take no for an answer. She said she handled things by herself.”
“Do you remember his name?” Rachel asked.
