Torn - Cynthia Eden Page 0,27

He stopped searching the files as his shoulders sagged. “I was so fucking green back then.”

Silence.

He looked at Victoria, then at Wade. “Anything I can do to help you two, just say it, okay? Shit, you’ve been here only a few hours and you already know one witness lied to me. How many more probably did the same thing?” His cheeks flushed. “I just wish someone could bring Kennedy home.”

There was a personal note in his voice when he said her name. His tone changed. Softened. For some reason, that change pulled at Victoria.

“But I guess . . . she doesn’t have a home anymore, does she?” Dace said, shaking his head. “Her mother’s dead. No other family left. No apartment. The world just kept right on spinning, even when she vanished from sight.”

Just as the world was doing now . . . when Melissa Hastings was gone? The fact that it was the anniversary of Kennedy’s disappearance made Victoria’s stomach feel hollow. Two abductions, two women from Worthington . . . exactly five years apart. “There is something you can help us with,” she said, even as Wade reached into his coat pocket and pulled out his phone. She knew he was pulling up the picture of Melissa.

“While we were at the Worthington campus today, we found out that this woman is missing,” Wade announced. “Melissa Hastings. She disappeared last night around ten, and she hasn’t been seen since then.” He handed Dace his phone.

The detective’s eyes locked on the photo. “She’s close to Kennedy’s age. But Kennedy was a brunette, and . . .” He exhaled. His gaze rose from the phone as he looked at Wade. “Last night at ten?” he murmured. “Not enough time has passed for an official investigation. You both know that.”

“We do,” Wade said, voice curt.

Dace’s expression hardened. “The more time lost, the less chance we have of bringing her home.”

He was absolutely right.

“Screw the official procedures.” Dace headed for the door. “I’ll see what I can do. I’ll pull in some favors. I’ll be damned if another woman just vanishes on my watch.”

The door clicked shut behind him.

“I like that guy,” Wade said.

Victoria nodded. “Yes, it’s . . . nice to have a cop on our side.” She’d met her share of hostile PD personnel before. As Dace had said, cases could become territorial. Real pissing matches.

Good to know this wasn’t one of those instances.

“Maybe we’ll get lucky,” Wade added. “If they can search for Melissa’s cell phone, we might be able to find out where she is.”

But Victoria doubted it would be that easy, and, based on Wade’s expression, she could tell that he felt the same way, too.

Curious now, she inched closer to him. “Is it because of . . . her?” She waited a beat, then pushed. “Amy?” Gabe’s sister. The woman who’d vanished and changed the lives of two men.

Gabe.

And his best friend, Wade.

Wade’s jaw clenched. “Be careful what you ask.”

But she wasn’t feeling careful. He’d said he wanted to pull back her layers. Well, she wanted to learn more about him, too. “I know you joined LOST because of what happened with Gabe’s sister.” A sister who’d vanished while Gabe had been away, fighting for his country as a SEAL. But while Gabe was gone, he’d asked his best friend to keep an eye out on his sister.

So the stories said.

“I thought Amy had gone off with her boyfriend,” Wade said. “I should have dug deeper. Should have searched sooner.” His voice roughened. “By the time I got my act together, hell . . . you know she was still alive until two days before Gabe and I found her? Two fucking days. Amy had a chance . . . If we’d just gotten to her sooner . . .”

There was emotion in his voice that couldn’t be denied. So that part of the story is true, too. Maybe, Victoria reflected, she shouldn’t have listened to gossip. But she had. “You cared about her.” Maybe a whole lot more than care.

His gaze sharpened as he looked at her. “If you’re going to dig up all the bloody parts of my past, does that mean I get to learn your secrets, too?”

She stepped back.

He swore. “Victoria, I meant—­”

The door opened. Dace stood there, his expression grim. “Same freaking red tape,” he muttered. “My captain won’t authorize any sort of search, not yet. Not without any signs of foul play.” His hands were fisted. “He is fucking old school