Alone & Lonely, page 9
“Not at this time, no.”
“Then why would she be worried.”
Grace clenched her jaw. “She just is, sir. I can’t explain more than that.”
“I get the feeling it’s won’t instead of can’t, but I’ll let it pass.”
Nodding, Grace moved to the door. “Please don’t assign another detective to the case. Abrams is good, and he knows the case in and out.”
“Your choice.” He watched as Grace left the office. She went to Abrams’ desk and crossed her arms. “Let’s get to work.”
“So I’m not off the case?”
“No.”
“Yes!” He pumped his arm like a kid. “Where we going first?”
“Grocery store. I want to see if Felicia had Andrew with her before she was murdered.”
Abrams narrowed his gaze at her. “What do you mean?”
“Come on.” Grace gathered up her stuff and walked toward the door. Abrams, with his keys and files in hand, followed her. Once they got to the cruiser and were seated, she let out a breath. “We’re under the assumption that Andrew was kidnapped at the same time as Felicia being murdered.”
“Yes.”
“What if he wasn’t?”
“What do you mean?”
Sighing, Grace nodded toward the street. “Felicia had money coming into her account. Cash flow. We have no idea where that money came from. But, what if she was thinking about adoption, changed her mind, got the baby back, and someone was pissed about it?”
“Like she was scamming people?”
“Maybe, or maybe she genuinely just changed her mind.”
“But what about the cash?”
“Birth mother expenses.” Grace rubbed her palm over her thigh. It was the first time she’d voiced her theory out loud to anyone, and Abrams wasn’t running from it yet.
“That’s a thing?”
“Yup. And depending on how the adoption is set up, the expenses can be quite high or under the table, especially if it’s done in cash.”
“How did you think up this one?”
“For some reason, Abrams, I know quite a bit about adoption.”
“Link.”
She smiled at him. “Have we gotten her computer history back yet?”
“No. They’re backed up and with the holiday, who knows when we’ll get it.”
“That would be helpful right about now.”
“Sure. But let’s get some of this security footage and figure out what we can see.”
They spent most of the day going from place to place on Felicia’s expense list for the weeks prior to her murder and collecting the footage while watching it in the stores with the managers. By the end of the day, they didn’t have much. Felicia had Andrew with her everywhere she’d gone, but for a new mother, she’d gone out a lot. Not only for baby supplies but in general. She was definitely not a woman who could sit still, and Grace understood that need thoroughly.
###
After spending hours reviewing the footage with Abrams, Grace made her way to her desk. She pulled up the phone records that had finally come in and combed through them. Her phone buzzed on her desktop. A quick glance told her it was a text from Amya. She read it and smiled. Amya was always sweet.
Going to the refrigerator in her unit like Amya told her to, Grace found dinner for her wrapped up in a reusable container. It was leftovers from their turducken, which was by far not what Grace wanted to eat but the rumble in her stomach told her she’d accept it. With her dinner successfully reheated, Grace settled into her chair and concentrated on the phone numbers. The same number would be texted or called for two weeks and then it would stop. It went all the way back to halfway through her pregnancy.
Kline pushed against Grace’s shoulder, getting her attention. The woman was at least fifteen years Grace’s senior, but they got along fairly well. “You still working?”
Shrugging, Grace nodded toward her computer. “Got a lot to go over. You headed out?”
“Soon.” Kline shifted her gaze from Grace to Paige’s open door. She lowered her voice so only Grace would be able to hear. “She making you stay late again?”
“She hasn’t asked yet, but I figure it’ll happen so might as well plan on it at this rate.”
Kline snorted. “She sure likes to pick on you.”
“That’s an understatement,” Grace muttered.
Speaking of the devil, Paige stepped out of her office and eyed the both of them. Kline immediately tensed, and Grace had to work hard to keep herself from rolling her eyes. Paige crossed her arms and stared awkwardly.
“You check in on those tip lines yet, Halling?”
“Not since this morning.”
“Do that before you leave. You never know what comes in on those things.”
“Yeah.” Grace wanted to turn to Kline and share a comment of “I told you so” but she resisted the urge, knowing it’d get her into more trouble than it was worth.
“You like your new partner in Homicide?”
Grace smirked. “What new partner?”
Paige narrowed her gaze. “Didn’t you get a new partner today? I heard they were taking Abrams off the case.”
“Nope. He’s still on it.”
The annoyance that washed over Paige’s face was priceless. Grace couldn’t have asked for a better reaction, and she was smug about being in the know the entire time. Paige probably knew it too, but she didn’t care. She was tired of the damn games Paige seemed determined to play lately. Maybe she should consider a transfer to Homicide, though it hadn’t sounded like the offer was really there for it.
“I must have heard wrong, then.”
Grace nodded and turned to face her desk. “If you’ve got time, Kline, I could definitely use a hand going through those tips.”
“Sure.”
Paige’s lips parted, and Grace knew she was about to offer a hand, but with Kline already volunteering there would be little reason to have all three of them on it. Kline went back to her desk after Paige walked away. Grace finished her dinner and spent the next two hours going through tips like Paige had requested. She’d found absolutely nothing, which she had predicted. The tip line would have called her if there was something good to go on. This was simply busy work that Paige wanted her on to keep her in the office.
Kline came over, her jacket on and her satchel over her shoulder. “I’m taking off.”
“Good, go rest.”
Paige came out of her office then, leaning against the doorframe. “Taking off, Kline?”
“Yeah. Hey, do you know how the hiring is going for a new captain?”
Shaking her head, Paige came closer. “Not a clue. I know they’re interviewing and near the final interviews, but beyond that, not one clue.”
“Ah, I was hoping we’d get some semblance of normalcy around here soon. See you tomorrow, Halling.”
“You too,” Grace answered, still turned toward her computer screen. She wasn’t sure she wanted to say anything to Paige because Grace had a feeling Paige was in the interview pool and that she knew a lot more than she was saying.
Once they were alone in the office, every one of Grace’s nerves was on fire. She waited for Paige to say or do something that would push the boundaries. Instead, Paige walked back to her office and sat at her desk. Grace had no idea what she did in there, but surely she also didn’t need to be working twelve to fourteen hour days every day of the week.
With the numbers and names for the numbers listed out, Grace pulled the records and look through them. It would either confirm or deny her theory. She managed to get through two of them before her yawning was too much. Her brain wasn’t working, and she had to re-read a paragraph about three times and still struggled to retain the information.
Her phone told her it was nearing ten at night, Amya had called twice and texted three more times. Peter had texted, asking to meet up for lunch the next day. She didn’t answer, not sure if he was even still awake at that point. Shoving her stuff into her bag, Grace turned off her computer. She shouted to Paige from her desk, “I’m leaving! See you in the morning.”
“See you, Grace.”
When Grace got home, she dropped everything by the door and stepped into the hallway. Peter’s light was still on, so was the one in her and Amya’s bedroom. Kit’s room was dark, but Grace also knew she liked to stay up late reading, so she could very well still be awake. Knocking on Peter’s door, Grace shoved it open as he called her inside.
“Hey, kid.”
“Hey, boss.”
“What time do you want to do lunch tomorrow?”
“Eleven? I’ve got to work at one.”
“Sounds good.” Grace noted the folded boxes shoved against the wall, and she had a feeling she knew what the conversation was going to be about. He still wanted to go back to school in the spring. “Meet you at the diner?”
“Sure.”
“Night.” Grace stepped out of the room and down the hall to her own room. Amya leaned against the headboard, glasses perched on her nose as she read a file. “And you get on me for doing work late into the night.”
“What else should I do if you’re not home?”
Grace plopped onto the bed face first, weariness seeping into every one of her bones. “Are you saying I’m the only reason you’re not a workaholic?”
Amya snorted. “No, but you’ve become one.”
“And I hate it.”
“I know.” Amya rustled the papers, and before Grace knew it, Amya was pressed against Grace’s side, running hands over Grace’s back and massaging the tense muscles in her neck and shoulders. “You’ve been working a lot lately.”
“I have. You’ll never guess what Paige tried today.”
Amya tensed.
Grace knew she’d misstepped, that she shouldn’t have started the conversation that way, not when Amya was already insanely sensitive about everything Paige did or didn’t do. “Sorry, I didn’t mean it to come off like that.”
Turning on her side, Grace pressed her lips to Amya’s. “It’s not what you’re thinking. Might be worse. She apparently called down to Homicide and told them I was having issues with Abrams and needed a new detective on the case.”
“She’s insane.”
“She’s protective.”
“Controlling.”
Grace rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’ll give you that one.”
Amya’s lips parted like she wanted to ask a question, but she didn’t. Grace kissed her again.
“I had a talk with their captain today and set the record straight. Abrams doesn’t need to be getting in trouble because of my issues. I think Paige transferring from Homicide to Missing Persons helped a bit. He at least knows her and knows how she works.”
Amya hummed her agreement. “Any word on a new captain?”
“No. Not yet.”
“Then I guess we wait it out a bit longer.”
“Yeah. I’m going to change, and I really could just use some snuggle time tonight.” Grace’s cheeks heated with embarrassment as she said the words, but she felt so alone lately, lost in the sea of chaos that was her work life, and pulled away from Amya and the family she wanted. Abrams had reminded her, although unintentionally, how she may not have wanted the family to begin with, but the family was hers, and she didn’t want to lose them.
“Of course.” Amya gave her a soft smile.
“Good.” Without another thought, Grace got off the bed, stripped down, and crawled under the covers. At least she knew she’d get a good night’s sleep so long as she could keep her brain from thinking and Amya close by.
Hope Springs Eternal
Grace’s morning had been fairly simple, and she’d even managed to get Abrams into Missing Persons for an hour instead of always going to Homicide, though she preferred going to Homicide. Paige had glared at Abrams the entire time he’d been in there. They’d filtered through more of the phone numbers, running simple checks on them.
When it was thirty minutes to eleven, she begged off for her lunch—which she rarely took anymore—and got in her cruiser. Abrams was going to finish finalizing a plan for interviewing the people they thought most likely to be suspicious of murder, and they would get onto those that afternoon or Friday, after Thanksgiving.
Peter was already sitting in the back booth, Grace’s favorite place to be. She skirted around the L-shaped diner and slid into the booth across from him. He already had coffee and orange juice ordered for her.
“I’m not even late, kid.”
Peter smirked. “Thought I’d get a head start.”
“On bribing me? You know it’s a felony to bribe a police officer?”
“I know, and I don’t think food bribes count when they’re from your son.”
Grace smiled, warming at the thought that he really considered them his parents even though they didn’t know him for most of his life. Grace sipped at her coffee and settled into the seat. “What’s on your mind, Peter?”
He grimaced. “Just jump straight to it, don’t you?”
“You know I’m not good at being patient and waiting for you to come out with it.”
Peter chuckled. “I wanted to talk about school in the spring.”
Grace sighed. “I thought you might.”
Sally came over, and they ordered their food. Grace settled in to wait out Peter and see what he really wanted. While he was part of their family, they weren’t his parents in a lot of ways and he was an adult. He could readily do whatever he wanted, within the law, of course. When Peter didn’t talk, Grace decided to prompt him a bit.
“You talk to Amya already?”
He shook his head. “Wanted to talk to you first.”
“Why?”
He shrugged. “Don’t know, figured it’d bother you more.”
“Why would it bother me?”
“Because I’m going back to seminary.”
Grace raised an eyebrow at him. “So?”
“So you are adamant God does not exist.”
It was as if he sucked the air from her lungs. Grace forced herself to take another sip of coffee before setting the mug down and crossing her arms. Talking to him about God, and her faith, was not exactly something she wanted to do—ever. She barely even talked to Amya about it. It was the one topic they stayed away from with a ten-foot pole. That and Grace’s biological family.
“I am not adamant,” Grace stated, her voice quiet but firm. “I don’t know one way or the other, but I’m not someone who puts all her eggs in one basket, and I don’t really want to put all my eggs in the God basket.”
“It’s so much more than just a basket.”
She scoffed. “You know what I mean, Peter.”
“But…I don’t know.”
“What’s really bothering you? I don’t think it’s my lost soul that’s getting you this riled up.”
Peter gave her a small smile as their plates were set in front of them. He dug into his food, ignoring the conversation they’d left mid-talk. But Grace couldn’t let it drop. He’d made a point of bringing her to the diner, of getting her alone and out of the house to talk to her, that meant this was something big, and she wasn’t about to leave it alone.
“Peter?”
“Yeah?”
“What is bothering you about seminary?”
“Will you support me through it?”
“Of course I will. I support you in anything you want to do except bad shit. That I’ll tell you flat out is a stupid choice.”
The echoing curve of his lips put her at ease a bit. Peter rested, looking her direction. “You don’t support Amya.”
“I absolutely do.”
“No, Grace, you don’t. You two don’t talk about it. It’s completely separate from your relationship with her and I see how much it hurts her.”
Grace’s chest tightened. Did she really do that? Did she really force Amya to have to hide that part of her work and her life? In some ways, she supposed she did. Grace moved her fork around her plate before dropping it. “It’s more complicated than belief or unbelief.”
“It’s really not.”
“It really is.” Giving him a hard look, she hoped he didn’t press, but at the same time, this would be good for him to experience. People had been hurt by the church for centuries, and she was no different. When Peter looked confused, Grace heaved a sigh and left her food alone for good. She suddenly had zero appetite. “My father was a minister.”
“You’re shitting me!”
Grace snorted. “I’m not. And it’s because of him that I have very little trust in the church and in people who are religious and especially those who hold leadership in the church.”
“So you don’t trust me?”
“Peter, I trust you with everything I have.”
Peter’s cheeks reddened. “Then why won’t you trust me when it comes to God.”
“It’s not you I don’t trust when it comes to God.”
Peter looked confused again, but Grace wasn’t going to elaborate. She and Amya had talked about it at one point, but that had been it. As soon as the conversation was over, they’d never revisited it.
“Why is this so important to you?”
“Because I want to know that when I graduate, you’ll be there. When I’m ordained into the church as a minister, you’ll be there. That you’ll come and hear me preach if I end up preaching, that you’ll support me through it all.”
“I wouldn’t miss it for anything.” She stared directly into his eyes, hoping her words and the meaning she wanted conveyed got through to him. “I won’t. I’ll be there for everything, kid. You’re family, and that’s more important than whether or not we believe the same thing. I’m sure you and Amya don’t agree on everything when it comes to God and the church.”
His snort told her she’d hit the nail on the head. “We don’t.”
“Exactly. What I’m worried about in terms of you going back to school has nothing to do with what you’ll be learning and everything to do with the fact the last time you went to school you started drinking again, and it wasn’t until you’d been here for four months that you finally sobered up. I want you to have a plan to deal with stress, to deal with anxiety, to deal with the social pressures of being twenty-one and sober.” She pointed her finger at him. “Without that, I guarantee you’ll be back at this house drunk off your ass again. Or worse, and it’s the ‘or worse’ that really worries me, Peter. I’m serious. I don’t want to have to launch an investigation into your disappearance, your murder, or something else.”
