Fiona's father lived in a single-story ranch house on the east side of town, a place that looked like it had been nice once and then someone had stopped caring. The lawn needed mowing. A gutter hung loose over the garage. A truck with a cracked windshield sat in the driveway next to a stack of firewood that had been there long enough to go gray.
Ruby knocked. She heard movement inside, a television, footsteps, and then the door opened. Mark Spence stood there in a stained undershirt and sweatpants, holding a can of beer at two in the afternoon, looking at her the way you look at someone selling something you don't want.
"Mr. Spence, I'm Ruby. Fiona's friend."
"I know who you are."
"Have you heard from Fiona? She was supposed to text me last night and she never did. I can't reach her."
He took a sip of the beer. "She does what she wants. Probably over at her boyfriend's."
"I already called Ethan. He hasn't heard from her either."
"Then I don't know what to tell you."
"She had a modeling shoot last night. She was driving to Elizabethtown. She never showed up. Doesn't that worry you?"
Something flickered across his face, but it wasn't concern. It was irritation.
"Fiona is eighteen," he said. "She comes and goes. When she wants to talk to me, she talks to me. When she doesn't, she doesn't. That's how it works."
"But what if something happened to her?"
"Then I'm sure someone will let me know." He started to close the door.
"Mr. Spence..."
The door shut. Ruby stood on the porch and stared at it. The television resumed on the other side, louder than before, as if he'd turned it up to fill the space where his daughter's name had been.
McKenzie was drivingand telling a story about a date that had gone sideways when Callie's phone rang. She glanced at the screen and held up a finger.
"Thorne," she answered.
"You left your case file at my house." Noah's voice was even, conversational.
"Did I? Huh. Must have forgotten it."
"I left a message."
"I saw that. Was going to reply but I've been busy trying to track down the Kara Ellison file."
"Well, I'm sure it will show up," Noah said.
A pause. "Anyway, thoughts on the Danvers case?"
She heard him chuckle on the other end.
"I didn't look. I'm sidelined, right?"
"Sure." Callie glanced at McKenzie, who was pretending not to listen. She knew Noah was lying. He would have gone through that file cover to cover the minute she walked out the door.
"Anyway," Noah continued. "I dropped the file off at the office."
There was dead silence on the line. Callie waited. She could practically hear him thinking.
"Did they find out if the rag in the exhaust belonged to Brooke?” Noah asked.
"What?"
