anything. No matches to those individuals. He even tracked them down for me. To be thorough, you know.”
Joel waited.
“Or, he was tracking them down. I received my last update from him as soon as I returned here today. Before I hopped in the shower. One woman wasn’t located. She was never reported as missing. She had a foster family, he said.”
Joel’s shoulders straightened.
“She was eighteen, and she’d threatened to run away a lot. She had run away from other homes. So her foster family thought she’d just hitched a ride with someone and never looked back. Her case worker should have known about what happened, should have checked on her disappearance, but it didn’t happen. She vanished, and it was as if no one noticed.”
“Who was she?”
Watching him closely, Chloe said, “Portia Strong.”
His brows climbed. “Is that name supposed to mean something to me?”
“Does it?”
“Not a damn thing.”
“Okay.” Chloe nodded. “I think I know where she is.”
“Sure, you do. You found out that she was missing like…what, thirty minutes ago? And now you know where she is. The cops haven’t found her in years—”
“They didn’t know to look for her. No one noticed that she was gone. How can you find someone if you aren’t looking for the person?”
“And you’re just going to magically walk right to her body?”
“Of course, not.”
Okay. Fair enough.
“Magic won’t be involved. A cadaver-sniffing dog will be.”
He squeezed his eyes shut. “Give me five minutes alone with your brother.”
“Fine. I need to check in with Cedric anyway.” She turned smartly on her heel and paced toward the kitchen. As she headed away from him, he saw her raise her phone to her ear.
“At least the cops will be involved,” Reese noticed from the position he still held in the library’s doorway. “The last time my sister found a dead body, they thought she’d killed the bloke.”
“Drop the English accent. It gets on my nerves.”
“You get on my nerves,” Reese fired back.
Joel grabbed him, half-dragged him inside, then slammed the library door shut.
“You have a dead body to find,” Reese mumbled. “Don’t let me delay you.”
“Who was her partner before me?”
“Like…sexually?” A wince. “I am super not comfortable with this whole conversation.” Reese shook his head. “Her sex life is her sex life and I do not—”
“I don’t want to know about her past lovers.” Didn’t want to even think about those jackasses. “I mean—whatever this shit is that we do. Crime solving. Killer hunting. Who helped her before me?”
A quick laugh. “She doesn’t need help on that end, if you know what I’m saying—”
“She prefers doctors because she can’t stand the sight of blood. When you’re tracking down bastards who murder, blood is typically involved. She has to have someone on hand for that part of the job.” And that’s why I’m really here. “Who was it?”
Reese scrunched up his face. “She was hanging around with a guy a few months back. But he wasn’t like you. She didn’t move him in and offer him an actual job. That’s something she’s only done with you.”
He filed that important point away. “Was he a doctor?”
“I think he was wearing scrubs once? Younger guy. Younger than you, anyway.”
Joel took a stab in the dark. Because he’d recently seen Chloe being chummy with one other doctor. “Let me guess. Black hair. Green eyes. About two inches shorter than me?”
“If you know him, then why are you asking me about the fellow?”
Because I didn’t know him. Not until that day. “Why’d she stop working with him?”
“Ask her. I have no clue.” Reese reached for the doorknob. He started to open the door—
Joel pushed it closed. “Chloe was there when her parents were killed.”
“That doesn’t sound like a question.”
“She hates the sight of blood because she got their blood on her.”
Reese swallowed. “This all seems like stuff you should be talking to her about. Why are you coming to me?”
“You’re supposed to be her brother—”
“I am her damn brother!”
“Her brother disappeared. Ran away when he was fourteen. I don’t believe for one single moment that someone like Chloe wouldn’t have hunted for him.”
Reese glanced at the floor. “She was a kid when I vanished. Super smart. Always was. Used to scare our parents because she was so smart. Parents aren’t supposed to be scared of their kids.” That last line…it was different. Deeper. It held the ring of truth.
Joel latched onto what Reese had finally revealed. “They were afraid of Chloe? Because she was smart? That doesn’t make any sense.”