“Who is she to you?” he asked Magnus.
“My sister’s best friend.”
There was something in Magnus’s tone that had Brantley refraining from asking the natural question of where Magnus’s sister was. Unfortunately, it didn’t appear Trey heard it.
“Maybe she’s seen her recently,” Trey stated. “Where’s your sister?”
“Dead.”
Silence choked the cab of the truck. Brantley focused on the road, tried to order his thoughts, mentally outlining all the details he’d obtained by talking to the police chief a short time ago. Not that they had much, aside from the fact Ava March was missing. According to her husband, she’d gone out with friends and never come home. He got worried because he feared Magnus had done something to her.
“I’m sorry,” Trey said, breaking the tension in the air.
“Don’t be. You didn’t know.”
Brantley cast a sideways glance at Trey. The question was: should he have known? Considering these two had been hooking up for … well, Brantley didn’t know exactly how long they’d been hiding whatever this was, but he knew it’d been a while. Sure, Trey had copped to the fact he cared about Magnus; however, based on their reactions to one another, Brantley had already suspected it was more than just a routine booty call. Seemed logical that they would’ve gotten down to the personal details by now, but evidently not too personal.
“The person who made the anonymous tip—”
“If there was a tip,” Magnus ground out, “anonymous or otherwise, it came from Harrison or one of those assholes on his staff.”
“Maybe,” Brantley acknowledged. “Regardless, the caller claims you’ve been stalking her. Said you’ve been having a long-running affair with her. When she refused to leave her husband, you made threats.” Brantley peered in the rearview mirror again, kept going before Magnus could interject. “And yes,weknow that’s a load of bullshit, but the police don’t.”
Brantley felt more than saw the shift in Trey.
“Like I said, I haven’t seen Ava in weeks,” Magnus explained. “The last time was when she dropped by Camp K-9 to chat. I was filling in for Gia, my head trainer, because she was sick. Didn’t get a chance to spend much time with her.”
“Do you talk on the phone?”
“Every now and again, I’ll shoot her a text to check in. She’ll usually get back to me right away, sometimes not until the next day.”
If there was a text thread, there was proof of a relationship between Ava and Magnus. Maybe just friendship, but it was a relationship, nonetheless.
“You two close?” Trey asked, his eyes now on the road in front of them.
“We used to be, I guess. Growing up, she lived next door, was best friends with my sister. Her mother and mine were good friends. After my mother and sister died, Renee was too devastated to live there anymore. Packed up and moved with Ava.”
Jesus, the guy lost his motherandhis sister? Fuck.
When Trey didn’t speak up, Brantley did. “Where does Ava live now?”
“Austin. We lost touch for a little while after she left. Came back to visit right after she graduated from high school. We’ve kept in touch ever since.”
Trey cleared his throat. “Do you have a … relationship with Ava?”
Brantley didn’t look over at his brother, although he wanted to. Why didn’t Trey know these little details about the man he so clearly cared about?
He couldn’t help but think about Reese, about all the things he’d learned about him since the day they’d met.
A memory surfaced of the trip they’d taken for a stakeout. He recalled being shocked to the roots of his hair when Reese admitted he’d been engaged at one point. Okay, so maybe he wasn’t the best person to pass judgment. Up until that point, he’d thought he knew all of Reese’s deep, dark secrets. Maybe not the nitty-gritty details, but he’d thought he knew the high-level stuff. He’d been so very wrong.
Clearly offended, Magnus didn’t respond.
“You seem convinced her husband had somethin’ to do with her disappearance,” Brantley said to redirect.
“Harrison Rivers is a monster,” Magnus stated, his voice low, dangerous.
“Has he hurt her before?”
