Now, sitting at his desk, he stared at his phone, willing it to ping with an update from the lab. Those results might be his only hope of finding Arlo J’s killer. He tried immersing himself in paperwork to help pass the time, but his gaze kept going back to his phone. It was a little past noon and his mind went to April. They’d had a great run that morning. He shared some funny stories about growing up on the ranch, and learned that April’s mom was in an assisted living center in Phoenix that specialized in Alzheimer’s patients. April had also let slip that she hadn’t met her older half-sister until she was in middle school and her half-sister was in high school. He got the sense that April didn’t like talking about her past, especially when he tried to ask about her days as an elementary school teacher. While she loved talking about her students, she often changed the subject whenever he broached the question of why she left a job she so obviously enjoyed. It didn’t exactly worry him, but he wondered if she’d had a negative experience with another teacher and if that was still affecting her.
“Hey.”
Tanner looked up from his phone in time to see Blake plop down in the chair next to his desk. “Hey, yourself. How are you? How’s Skyla?”
Blake nodded, letting out a long breath. “Numb, I guess. I don’t know.” He shrugged. “We’re dealing. Anyway, that’s not why I stopped by. I wanted to see if you had any news on the Arlo J case.”
“Nothing yet. Sorry. I have some lab results I’m waiting on, but other than that, I’ve got nothing so far. Did you tell Skyla?”
Blake shook his head. “I should’ve, but she’s just been so withdrawn. When she does talk to me, the last thing I want to bring up is Arlo J.” He sighed and ran a hand through his hair, the bags under his eyes were even darker in the fluorescent lighting of the precinct. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pester you. Honestly, I just wanted a reason to get out of the apartment.”
“Aren’t you back to work yet?” Tanner asked.
“Yeah, but Caden has me on light duty. Paperwork this, research that. Told me I could head out early today.”
Tanner smiled. His friends took care of each other, even on the job. When he was first hired by the Dallas Police Department, he had trained by Luke, and the two became fast friends. Before he knew it, Luke was introducing him to Caden, Garrett and Martin. Blake joined the tight knit group of friends a while later, but he was no less family to them.
“Have you seen Luke around lately? I heard he was busy working a vice case downtown,” Blake said, making conversation. They didn’t usually talk about their cases, but seeing his friend itching for something else to think and talk about besides his loss, made Tanner want to go easy on him.
“Yeah, he’s in and out. Mostly out,” Tanner chuckled. “You know Luke.”
Blake nodded. “And Orly? I haven’t talked to her much lately either. How’s she doing?”
Tanner rested a hand on the back of his neck. That Blake was asking him about Orly only went to show how stressed and shut down he’d been this past week. The guys were always messaging each other, and thought nothing of sending messages to the women to ask how they were doing, if they needed anything, or sometimes just to chat or get their thoughts on something. “She’s good. Same,” Tanner finally said.
“Has she…” Blake let his voice fade as he tapped his temple with his index finger.
Tanner knew exactly what he was asking. Orly had the incredible gift of being able to psychically hear people’s silent cries for help in her mind. It was how she’d met Luke and even saved his life after he’d been kidnapped by one of the Deathly Hollow’s rival gangs. “Yeah, just yesterday, Luke made a call to St. Louis for her. I’m assuming the matter was taken care of.”
Blake nodded. “And Hallie?”
Tanner would’ve chuckled, but Blake’s passive way of checking on their friends was worrying him now. “Why don’t you ask her yourself?”
Blake shook his head. “Because then she’ll want to talk, and I honestly don’t want to talk. I just want to know how everyone is doing.”
“Isn’t that what friends are for? To talk. To ask the hard questions. To lend support when they don’t like your answers.”
Blake sighed. “You don’t understand…”
Tanner swallowed, wishing there was something more he could do for his friend. “You’re right. I don’t. But that doesn’t mean I don’t want to hear about it from you, or that I don’t care enough to listen as you work through your pain. And I’m betting Orly, Hallie, Reese and all our friends feel the exact same way.”
When Blake just sat there in silence, Tanner feared he might’ve pushed too hard. “Just don’t keep us at arm’s length, alright?”
Blake sat there for a long moment, painfully drowning in his grief without so much as raising an eyebrow until a messenger walked by and placed a sealed envelope on Tanner’s desk. “I should let you get back to work. Thanks for the talk,” Blake said.
Tanner stood as Blake did. “Call Hallie. Better yet, go see her at The Mystic Cow. Don’t be afraid to lean on your friends when you need us, and right now, my friend, you need us.”
Blake blinked back a hint of moisture in his eyes and placed a heavy hand on Tanner’s shoulder. “You’ll keep me in the loop about Arlo J’s case?”
Tanner couldn’t say yes or no. He technically wasn’t allowed to discuss an open investigation with anyone who wasn’t on the case. But this was Blake, and Tanner just couldn’t bring himself to say no to him right now. So instead, he gave the man an almost imperceptible nod.
Blake left, and Tanner returned to his seat, his full attention on the envelope. This had to be the lab results he’d been waiting for. He tore open the sealed flap and pulled out the contents, spilling the several sheets of paper onto his desk. He combed through the mumbo jumbo, glancing through the data he already knew as his eyes searched for the answers he’d been waiting for.
The first thing he noticed was a toxicology report. It confirmed Arlo J had tested positive for Fentanyl. He flipped to the next page for the results of the DNA test on the hair found on Arlo J’s body. In big bold letters, he saw the word MATCH.
His heart rate shot up as he scanned the next line in search of a name. Whoever that hair was a DNA match to was very likely the last person to see Arlo J alive, and quite possibly his killer.
As soon as Tanner’s eyes landed on the name, the papers all but fell out of his hands. His entire body stiffened, his skin breaking out in a cold sweat. This couldn’t be happening. Not now.
