the chief said. “Why he sought you out in the first place baffles me. I’ll make sure he corrects his mistake. He’s only to deal with us now.”
I leaned across the table until I was uncomfortably close to the chief’s face. “Don’t ever speak to me like I’m some second-class, second-rate person. You don’t own me, and you don’t own Mr. Tate.”
“I never—”
“You can’t even look me in the eye when you’re talking to me,” I said.
He closed the notebook and glared at me.
“You know nothing about me. Before I came here, you had no leads. I’m the one who tied the two cases together.” I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder. “I’m leaving. What I choose to do after I walk out the door is none of your business and none of your concern. And since you don’t ‘need me,’ you don’t have any reason to worry about it.”
The chief opened his mouth to reply, but I held my finger out. “Don’t.”
When I got to the door, I heard Cade say, “I want her help on this. If it bothers you, no one else has to know. You brought me here. You said you trusted me. I need you to trust me now.”
The chief replied, “It’s not your decision.”
“She stays, or I go,” Cade said.
“You don’t mean that, Cade,” the chief said.
But somehow, I knew he did.
CHAPTER 26
“I’m very sorry to bother you, Mr. Tate,” I said. “Are you doing okay? How’s Lily?”
Noah Tate stood in the doorway of his house looking like he hadn’t had any sleep since the last time I saw him.
“Lily’s with my sister.”
“Is there anything I can do for you?” I said.
He shook his head.
“What about dinner?” I said. “Have you had anything to eat?”
“I can’t hold anything down. I haven’t been able to since…”
He hung his head, shielding his eyes with his hands.
“I’ve lost my wife, my daughter—there’s nothing left. Nothing.”
“You still have Lily,” I said. “And you have me. I haven’t given up on finding Savannah. No matter what the outcome, I intend to keep looking.”
“I don’t think I can take one more death in my family, Miss Monroe.”
“But we don’t know what’s happened—”
“Please,” he said, placing his weak hand on my shoulder, “I need to be alone for a while.”
I left Mr. Tate’s house and went to the store. He probably wouldn’t eat anything I made anyway, but I’d never been good at sitting around and doing nothing. I bought everything I needed for my mother’s homemade chicken soup. Whether he ate it or not would be up to him, but I was going to offer it either way.
When I got back to the hotel, Cade was waiting in the parking lot.
“What have you got there?” he said.
“I thought I’d make some soup.”
“Okay?”
“It’s for Mr. Tate.”
“Need any help?” he said.
“No, but you can talk to me while I make it.”
He took the bags I was carrying, and we went inside.
“I should have never put you in that position earlier,” he said. “I had no idea he’d—”
“It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last.”
“I’ve never seen him act like that.”
“Everyone is probably feeling a lot of pressure right now. I don’t take it personally.”
He sat down on the barstool. “It wasn’t you though,” he said.
“I appreciate you coming over here, but I’m fine. Don’t worry about it.”
“No, I mean, it really wasn’t you.”
“What do you mean?”
Cade folded one hand over the other, resting them on the ledge of the bar. “Feds are on their way. Since there’s the possibility of one guy taking both kids, they’re looking at both cases.”
The feds coming in town didn’t excuse the chief’s callous behavior toward me.
“But they’ll be working with police departments in both counties, right?”
He shook his head.
“The chief says they want all evidence turned over from both departments, ours and the one in Sublette County. It doesn’t look like they want our help. They just want us to tell them what they need to know and then get out of the way. I’m not sure whether they’ll see if there’s anything they can do and then leave, or whether they’re here indefinitely.”
I thought about calling Giovanni’s brother and using his FBI connections, but then I changed my mind. He was helping track down Daniela, and even if he wasn’t, it was getting complicated enough. I didn’t want either of them to get involved.
“We better work fast then,” I said.
Cade smiled.
“What did you have in mind?”
“I have a question.