“How should I know?”
Wade left his mother’s room and ventured outside again.He found King and Daisy in the dog run, so he opened the gate.Daisy brought the tennis ball, ears perked in anticipation.King sat like a sentry at the edge of the driveway, as if waiting for Meredith to return.Wade kicked the ball into the bushes, making a cloud of dust.She wouldn’t have left the dogs behind if she wasn’t coming back.
Would she?
He wasn’t certain, because the circumstances were so murky.She hadn’t been in contact with her family for years.If she’d gone to see them, she was taking a huge risk.Maybe that was another lie, and she’d actually fled to Mexico.The hours they’d spent in bed together seemed cheap and false now.While he’d been worshipping her body, she’d been counting down the minutes until she could leave without being followed.
He drove to work in a red haze, with his jaw clenched and a tension headache forming behind his eyes.Wherever she’d gone, whatever she’d done, she’d chosen to do it without him.That was incredibly disheartening.
He parked at the Lost Lake Sheriff’s Department and strode inside.Jackson and the dispatch officer were at the front desk, chatting about some celebrity, but Wade wasn’t interested in pop culture gossip.He went straight into his office and checked for a message from forensics.
Nothing.
He wanted to compare the forensic sketch to the yearbook photograph of Cameron Pickett.Instead, he opened an email attachment from the alumni association of Texas A&M.He studied the list of students from 1988.Pickett was on it.He didn’t return in 1989 or 1990.The evidence was compelling.
Sheriff Nava rapped his knuckles on the open door.“Come to my office,” he said.
“Right now?”Wade asked.
“Right now.”
Shoving away from his desk, Wade followed Nava across the hall to his office.Nava closed the door behind him and gestured for Wade to sit down.
“What’s up?”
Nava settled into his chair, leaning back a little.“How’s your John Doe coming along?”
Wade stifled the urge to pull his uniform collar away from his neck.Something told him not to offer specifics.He wanted to see the forensic sketch and speak to Cordelia Pickett.“I haven’t had much time to look into it.”
“Any new leads?”
“Nothing concrete.”
Nava made a huffing sound.“It’s been brought to my attention that you put in a request for a forensic sketch.”
Wade frowned.“Is that a problem?”
“It’s not how we do things,” Nava said with a tight smile.“When you need resources, you ask me first.Every expenditure goes through me.If I give my approval, your request moves forward.”
“Would you have approved it?”
“That’s not the point.There’s a chain of command, just like there was in Last Chance.Maybe your father gave you free rein—”
“He didn’t,” Wade interrupted.
“Then you know the proper channels.”
Wade struggled for a diplomatic response and came up empty.
Nava leaned forward and pressed his palms together, prayer-style.“I have serious concerns about the way you’re handling the investigation.”
Wade couldn’t hide his surprise.He hadn’t done anything out of the ordinary.“I’m getting reprimanded for making a common request that could solve a missing person case, at minimal cost to the department?”
“There’s something else,” Nava admitted.
“What?”
Nava hesitated, as if reluctant to broach the subject.
