“Officer Scott. Sergeant Keller.” Shestepped to the side and gestured for Zach to enter the room. “Mr. Wilson is here.”
Asa and Dawson both stood and offered Zach a hand.
“Hey, man. Good to see you,” Asa said.
Dawson was still laughing, and he reached for Asa’s phone. “You’ve got to see this picture of Jacob’s carpentry project at school. The kid made a step stool.”
“Calling it a step stool is a stretch,” Asa added. “It’s not even level. How can he build a vehicle from the ground up but not pass shop class?”
Jacob was Asa and Lyric’s son, and the kid really did have some skill when it came to cars. Zach had gotten a peek at the Porsche Jacob rebuilt a few weeks ago, and it could have come straight out of a magazine.
Asa turned the phone to show Zach the supposed stool. The sides weren’t even the same shapes, and screws jutted out under each step where he’d missed the mark a few times. “Wow. That looks like a broken ankle waiting to happen.”
Dawson continued laughing, but Asa tilted his head toward the table. “Have a seat. Lauren should be here soon.”
Zach pulled out a rolling chair and sat. “There’s something I want to talk to you about before she gets here.”
Dawson’s eyes widened. “Is it a secret?”
Zach’s brows pinched as he glared at Dawson. “What are you, twelve? It’s not a secret. I just want to make sure we’re all on the same page about this.”
Dawson nodded and flipped to a clean page on the legal pad in front of him. “Right. Same page. Tell me about your page.”
Clasping his hands on the table, Zach looked at Dawson, then Asa. “Do you know Lauren is still looking for Anthony?”
“Yeah. She never stopped,” Dawson said.
Zach paused. Their lack of reaction was the opposite of his overreaction. “And do you know what she did last week before the storm?”
Asa glanced at Dawson before answering. “We do.”
“You shouldn’t have told her about the sightings,” Zach said. “Lauren isn’t going to just sit on information like that.”
Dawson clicked his tongue behind his teeth. “Lauren is a grown woman, and she had every right to know about the sightings.”
“But she’s out of her element. She doesn’t need to be investigating on her own. That’s your job,” Zach said.
Asa nodded. “It is our job, but she’s probably more qualified to handle this investigation anyway.”
Zach’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean? She’s a librarian.”
Dawson held up a finger. “Not anymore. She’s a trauma counselor, but she has a master’s degree in criminal justice. She’d outrank me if she ever applied for a job with the department.”
The room was suddenly too hot. “A what?” Zach asked.
Dawson twisted the pen in his hands. “She’s devoted her life to finding her cousin, and she counsels inmates at the county jail once a week. She’s uniquely equipped to handle this.”
The information clicked into place in slow motion. Zach knew she had three graduate degrees, but he’d never thought to ask about the third one. Criminal justice? She’d never brought it up.
Zach scrubbed his hands over his face. “I’m sorry. I’m having trouble processing.”
Asa cleared his throat. “She knows what she did was wrong. I think she’s had to live with at least some of the consequences these last few days.”
Zach’s head popped up. “I’m sorry, but a sprained ankle is chump change compared to what could have happened to her out there.”
“That’s not what we’re talking about,” Dawson said. “She almost compromised an open investigation.”
Zach stared at Dawson, but the words didn’t make sense. “What are you talking about?”
