Page 46 of Forever Gone

“None. Phone goes straight to voicemail.”

Connor passed her the report.

Selena scanned it once. “Let’s go follow this up.”

Kelly stepped away from the board. “Can I come? It would help me get a feel for the area. It’s been a long time since I was around here.”

“No,” Selena said.

The room became quiet.

Kelly felt the refusal more sharply because everyone else heard it.

Selena folded the report and handed it back to Connor. “Stick with Karen’s social accounts and the writing-group angle. We need movement on the victim we already have.”

The reason was defensible. The delivery made clear that there would be no discussion.

Disappointment settled beneath Kelly’s ribs.

“All right.”

Selena picked up her jacket. “Come on.”

Connor followed her into the corridor.

Cheryl stepped aside to let them pass, but her gaze returned to Kelly. Arnold busied himself with his coffee. Chuck closed the database folder and gave no outward reaction, though the silence among them had changed.

They sensed it.

Perhaps Connor already knew the reason. The others would begin guessing before lunch.

Kelly placed her laptop bag beside the empty desk and lowered herself into the chair. The terminal remained dark, its cables gathered beneath the table for Dana’s arrival.

She glanced between Arnold, Chuck, and Cheryl.

“Well, I guess we should get started.”

CHAPTER EIGHT

The climate controls had chosen the worst possible time to stop working.

Connor pressed the fan button again. Nothing came through the vents. The display insisted the system was running, which only made the silence more irritating.

Midday sun filled the windshield as he drove away from the sheriff’s department. Heat gathered inside the SUV despite the cool morning they had started with. Selena sat beside him, reading Phil Mercer’s missing-person report while the county road curved between houses and wooded lots.

Being alone with her should not have made him nervous. They had shared patrol cars, motel rooms during cases, a house, and a marriage. Yet the quiet between them felt less predictable now than it had when they were strangers again. Connor could manage murder scenes and armed suspects. A ten-minute drive with Selena had him searching for something to do with his fingers.

He turned the temperature down two degrees.

The display changed. The vents did not.

Connor pushed the button harder.

Still nothing.

“For the love of God.”

He struck the side of the dashboard with the heel of his palm.