FOUR
Reid
The meetingthe prior morning with Hazel ran on a loop in my mind. The minute she’d rushed out of that diner, I’d told myself it was for the best. The likelihood that I could help her was slim. It was better we part ways early on than to get her hopes up only to fail her.
But then my brain repainted the memory of her crumpled face over and over again, and guilt seeped in. If she was so willing to meet with her coworker’s brother, how likely was it that she had anyone else to turn to right now?
I didn’t even know her, but I hated the thought of her dealing with this all by herself. Ruby wasn’t the only empath in the family.
An alert pinged from the group chat with my sleuthing crew.
Then another.
This was my usual routine: wake up early, knock out work, then spend the afternoon chatting with them, digging through clues, watching crime docs—whatever.
WhiteKnight31 was actually Scott, a single guy in his mid-forties with an anime obsession who lived out in Seattle. Armchair_Detective was Eddie, around my age and living justover the state border in Ohio, with a wife and a baby on the way. We’d actually met up once, given our reasonably close proximity.
I’d kind of fallen into the group after my divorce. I’d always been into cold cases and mysteries, and suddenly I had a lot more free time, so I started spending that time on cold case forums. Eventually, I got into regular conversations with two guys who had been deep into a semi-local case—a woman who had gone missing walking to her car from the gym. Middle of the day. Broad daylight. It was absurd that, in this day and age, no one had figured out what happened.
After weeks of obsessing over details, even visiting the scene myself, we actually dug up something that led the police to the guy: her ex-husband. The one whoshould’vebeen suspect number one, but had somehow slipped by with a garbage alibi.
Still, solving one case didn’t make us pros. It was more dumb luck than the start of some groundbreaking internet detective squad. Which was why I kept telling myself that there was no way I’d be any help to Hazel.
WhiteKnight31: And you just told her no!?
ReidingRainbow: I didn’t tell her no. I just offered her a solution that might be easier.
Armchair_Detective: “Oh, your situation sounds hopeless, better just pay up and cross your fingers you get your cat back.”
ReidingRainbow: It didn’t go exactly like that…
WhiteKnight31: Help the poor girl save her cat, you monster.
ReidingRainbow: Alright, no name calling.
Armchair_Detective: We can help you. I’m insulted you didn’t even ask for our help.
WhiteKnight31: Yeah, wtf Reid.
Armchair_Detective: This could be a blog post if we solve it! Changed names and facts obviously.
WhiteKnight31: You’re right, people love a pet redemption story.
Armchair_Detective: Just think of John Wick.
WhiteKnight31: I prefer not to.
ReidingRainbow: Potential blog content isn’t a good reason to do something.
WhiteKnight31: No, saving the cat is reason enough you dingbat. What is wrong with you?
ReidingRainbow: I never said no! She walked out.
WhiteKnight31: After you were being unhelpful.
Armchair_Detective: Doesn’t she work with your sister? Doesn’t seem like she’d be hard to track down if you really wanted to.
A random weekdayafternoon was a good a day as any to get a haircut.
