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“I appreciate that,” I mumble, then say goodbye after her and hang up. With my phone still in my hand, I text her my email address, and just a couple of seconds later, she sends over the name of Officer Tide, the officer who has been put in charge of Ezra’s case, and tells me that she will be emailing over Ezra’s file. I quickly write down the information on my notepad and feel Genevieve come into the room.

I lift my chin, and her eyes scan over my face as she walks toward me.

“What happened?” she asks, stopping at the edge of the couch, and I grab her by the belt loop of her jeans and pull her close to rest my forehead against her stomach. “Hey.” Her fingers slide through my hair.

“I just got off the phone with Romey’s new caseworker. Apparently her previous one quit and she’s playing catch-up.”

“Okay, so what did she say?”

“That Romey has a younger brother who has also been living with a foster family, and he’s been missing just as long as she has.”

“What?” She tugs on my hair, pulling my head back. “Do you think the two of them are together?”

“I don’t know, but that would be my guess, given the circumstances.”

“How old is he?”

“Eight?”

“So a baby.”

“Yeah,” I agree, and she looks over at Storm, then meets my gaze.

“Are you up to taking Storm on a walk?”

Shit, I really am in over my head with this woman. “Yeah, let me get him set up,” I mumble, watching her smile before she leans down and presses her mouth to mine.

Chapter 24:

Forgotten

Wyatt

As I’m reading the text message I just got from Elsie stating that local polling has me ahead of Joe in the run for sheriff, Sandra, who runs the front desk here at the sheriff’s office, calls to let me know that the Millers are here.

I look over at Cole when he walks in. “You got time to sit in on a meeting with me and the Millers?”

“The runaway?” he asks, and I nod while I grab Romey’s file from my desk, along with the information I printed off this morning about Ezra when I got to the office.

“Sure.” He gets up and follows me to the front of the office. As we step around the corner, I spot Barbra, her stepson Lucas, and a middle-aged man who I’m guessing is Barbra’s husband Steven.

As we approach them, Steven Miller gets close to his wife and rests his hand on her lower back, while Lucas lifts his just an inch in a silent hello. I might have thought for a brief moment that Lucas had something to do with Romey’s disappearance, whether he did something to her or she ran because of him, but I honestly do not believe that is the case any longer.

“Thank you, guys, for coming by today.” I accept the hug Barbra offers, then shake her husband’s hand and introduce myself and Cole to him and Lucas, even though I met Lucas at his home briefly. “If you guys will follow us.” I motion to the hallway.

When we reach the conference room, Cole and I move to one side of the table while the three of them sit on the opposite side, with Steven between his wife and son.

“I know this was last minute, so I appreciate you accommodating me.” I take a seat and place the file in my hand on the table.

“Of course,” Steven says, reaching for his wife’s hand. “We’re hoping you have some good news for us.”

“I wish that was the case,” I tell him softly. “And I don’t want to get your hopes up. We are no closer to finding Romey today than we were yesterday, but we have learned something I believe will bring us one step closer to possibly tracking her down.”

“What would that be?” Barbra asks.

“Last night I got a call from Romey’s new caseworker.”

“New caseworker.” Steven frowns, looking over at his wife.