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“Hey, it’s Xander.”
My chest squeezed. “Any news?”
There was a pause that had my stomach twisting.
“Yes and no.”
“Tell me.”
Xander let out a sigh. “Not sure if you pay too much attention anymore, but we busted up a meth lab running out of a trailer on the outskirts of town a few weeks ago.”
I frowned. I’d heard about it, of course. The town had been abuzz with the audacity of the thugs who dared have such an operation so close to the town limits. “I remember.”
“Well, looks like Owen did some running for them.”
“Owen was selling?”
“Looks like it. I have a feeling he was Lily’s drug dealer.”
I jerked my head back. “Are you sure?”
“It’s a theory. According to my source, Owen doesn’t deal with the hard stuff much, but if you’re looking for some weed or a few pills, he’s the guy you go to. Especially around campus.”
I chewed on the inside of my cheek. “That doesn’t mean he was selling to Lily.”
“It’s a lead, Ramsey. I called to see if there was anything on the surveillance that would support this.”
“There was no evidence of an exchange of anything between the two of them on that security footage.”
Xander cursed. “Well, now you know to be looking for it.”
“Sure, but I’ve been going through that footage all night and never saw anything. I get it, it’s a lead, but…” I clenched my back teeth together. “I think it’s time to start looking at other leads, too. She could be alive, Xander. We need to find her. Maybe it’s time to go public with the information we have.”
The silence was so long I checked to make sure he hadn’t hung up.
“Yeah.” Xander let out a heavy sigh. “I gotta go, but I’ll call you back later.” He didn’t wait for me to say goodbye before he hung up.
I stared at the phone as I processed the conversation. Xander was usually better than this, but maybe it was the time of year, and the reminder of the murders, that had him on edge.
Shoving my phone in my pocket, I pushed out the door into the crisp, fall morning. I rubbed my palms against my sore, tired eyes and tried to clear my overstimulated mind.
Dew coated my shoes as I walked through the yard toward the large Victorian house up on the hill, leaving the office behind me.
The building that was now Hearthstone Security and Investigation was once nothing but a dilapidated outbuilding that had been falling down before my oldest brother, Roman, fixed it up with our dad.
The steps of the wraparound porch thudded underneath my shoes, the top step squeaking like it had for as long as I could remember. The Queen Anne home I had grown up in was massive and beautiful. It had two staircases, seven bedrooms, three bathrooms. It had numerous fireplaces with the original tiles that were my mother’s pride and joy. It was a home like no other, with warm brickwork and intricate wooden trim. The tower on the west side made it truly one of a kind.
My parents bought this place when they first got married. It had been abandoned and neglected, and together they restored it to its former glory while adding their own updated touches. It was a house full of love. The place where I’d grown up and a place that continued to bring me peace the moment I stepped inside, no matter how old I became.
Since all of us kids have moved out, they used the massive space and ran a bed-and-breakfast out of it. But that didn’t stop this house from being the hub of our family. It was the place where we gathered, the place where we were always welcome.
The scent of cinnamon and roasted coffee greeted me as I entered through the back door and into the kitchen.
“Uncle Reidsy!”
There was a high-pitched, excited squeal before a mass of brown hair and color threw herself into my arms.
“Whoa.” I stumbled back into the door in exaggerated fashion. “You’re gonna knock me out one of these days, baby girl.”
