so I returned your call. Couldn’t dispense with the pleasantries though. Tell me what’s going on.”
She sucked in a breath. Could she convince him? “When Dad was killed, you said to me, to all of us, that if we ever needed anything, you’d be there for us. If anyone else had said that, I would have taken it as nothing more than kind words. But you . . .”
“I was close to your father, Rae. Best man at his wedding. So I meant those words. I’m sorry I haven’t been a big part of your life, so if there’s anything I can do for you now, please tell me. I’ve struck out on my own and work for clients of my choosing, so I have no boss telling me what to do. I call my business the Information Depot.”
Rae leaned against the wall and relaxed. “I need your help. I’m so glad you’re willing to give it.” Rae laid everything out for Reggie.
“What do you need from me?”
“I’ll need your skills with databases and research,” she said. “You have more access. I’ll pay you, of course. Whatever the going rate is.”
“My going rate for you is free. And it sounds like we need to get busy.”
“Zoey Dumont isn’t her birth name. Alan wasn’t able to find a hard copy of her birth certificate. I found the digital copy on a genealogical website, but it reflects her legal name change, so I still don’t know her birth name. But it did show that her mother’s name is Samara Davidson and her deceased father’s name is Mark Davidson. Please find out everything you can. Her real name. Her mother’s address here, if it’s the same or changed. Anything and everything I can look into while I’m here. We’re running out of time.”
“The first forty-eight hours are critical.”
“Right.”
“I’m on it, Rae. You’ve done good work already, but you need someone working alongside you. I’ll let you know everything I find.”
“Thanks.” She ended the call, but she couldn’t relax yet.
If he could help, she’d owe Reggie big-time. He was about to help her uncover the truth about Zoey and her past, whether or not it helped her find her missing sister-in-law. An ache coursed through her. The things Alan didn’t know about his own wife had to be pure torture.
“You warned me,” he’d said.
With his skill set, Alan could have found out more about her by digging on his own. Or hired a private investigator. Something. But Alan didn’t want to know. Or had it been more that he feared knowing the past would somehow pierce their bubble of marital joy and happiness? He loved Zoey despite her secrets. His unconditional love for her was to be admired.
Except now they could all be paying the price.
She received a text. Reggie already?
Are you worried about stepping into an active police investigation?
She responded.
I’m helping the search for a missing person. My brother needs me to do this.
She left it at that and hoped Reggie would continue to help her.
The police were only human. They made mistakes, and Rae couldn’t afford the kind of mistakes they sometimes made. She was human too, and she’d made awful mistakes that sickened her if she thought about them. Though contrary to what some believed, Rae’s drive had never been about the glory. Even now, she only wanted to find Zoey.
She read another text from Reggie.
Zoey Dumont’s birth name is Tawny Davidson.
Startling her away from her cell, a face filled her vision. Handsome and rugged, but the eyes were cold and brown. And one thought gripped her heart—she would have died last spring if it hadn’t been for Special Agent Liam McKade.
Rae fought to breathe.
“What are you doing here?”
Liam had never intimidated her.
Until now.
CHAPTER FIVE
Rae Burke. Meddlesome reporter and betrayer of hearts. “Why are you following me? I’m down and out for good. Don’t you know that? There’s no story here.”
Her mouth hung open. A pretty mouth that he’d made the mistake of kissing before. That seemed like a lifetime ago. No. Another life entirely. He wasn’t the same man anymore. The incident had to have affected her as well, so she couldn’t be the same woman either.
“What? I . . .”
“Well?” Liam should just walk away and ignore her. He shouldn’t have approached her to begin with. He didn’t want any part of that life to come back and haunt him. Nor did he want the woman who had caused the massive dominoes to fall to enter his life again.