“I understand that.”
“Do you?”
Allison frowned. “What does that mean?”
Baz shrugged. “I’m just askin’. From what I’ve read about you, you’re used to playing the waiting game.”
“It’s not necessarily waiting,” she countered. “More like strategic planning. Because that’s how you draw out predators.”
“Understood. But we’re not waiting for a predator to make a move here. We’re hoping to find a man while he’s still breathing.”
“How do you know he’s not dead already?”
“We don’t. But if you were relying on someone to find you, would you want us to think along those lines?”
She didn’t respond, but Baz had meant it in the rhetorical sense, anyway. He wasn’t sure why this woman had a chip on her shoulder, nor was he even sure what had put it there, but based on what he’d seen thus far, Allison Bogart moved through life on the defense.
“So what should I have said?” she asked after a few moments of silence.
“Well, I’ve learned that yes, boss works wonders.”
Her eyebrows darted down. “That’s not how I operate. When I have something to say, I say it.”
“Which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, Allison. No one’s saying it is. But think back on what you said. More importantly, think back on why you said it. Where did it get the case? If it’s not constructive, is it worth speaking aloud? We’re not here to prove whether Cedric Hawkins is having an affair or not. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn’t matter. What does is that we figure out who saw him last and where he might be now.”
“He’s gonna fire me, isn’t he?”
“One thing I know about Brantley, he doesn’t make rash decisions. And he doesn’t mind opposition, so no, I don’t think he’ll fire you.”
Not yet, at least.
She exhaled heavily, and Baz wondered if that was relief he heard.
Allison peered over at him. “What did you do before you came to work for the task force?”
“I was a detective with APD. I met him and Reese when a case I was working intersected with theirs.”
“Let me guess, Brantley took over.”
“He did.”
“Doesn’t surprise me.”
Her haughty tone had him going on the defense. “Why? Because it was personal for Brantley? Because the governor’s daughter was missing, and Greenwood personally called him to help out?”
Her eyes were wide when she peered over at him. “I didn’t know that.”
“And again, you assumed.” Baz sighed, turned his attention back to the road. “I’m not sure what it is you hope to gain from working on this task force, but might I suggest you think on it long and hard before you get in too deep?”
While he didn’t want to pass judgment, Baz couldn’t help but think Allison was in this for the wrong reasons. He only hoped she figured it out before she did something they might all regret.
*
The drive from HQ was quiet.
Too quiet as far as Trey was concerned, but he hadn’t known what, if anything, he should say to Evan, so he’d kept his mouth shut.
Not an easy feat considering the drive from Coyote Ridge to Lakeway was mapped to be close to an hour.
Thankfully, with the toll road, Trey had made good time, shortening it by ten minutes. He figured that was because of the mind-bending silence and the fact he’d kept his foot on the gas the entire way.
“You ever been out this way?” Evan prompted when the scenery shifted, Mansfield Dam denoting their location, a sign they were nearing their destination.
“Nope,” Trey admitted. “Never had a reason to.”
“Lake Travis might be a good enough reason,” Evan said, staring out the window at the expansive blue water.
“Never been much of a fisherman,” he admitted.
“Me, neither.” Evan looked over at him. “I settled in Round Rock because it wasn’t Austin, but it seemed central to a lot of things.”
“It is now. It’s all grown up over the years. Coyote Ridge used to be in the middle of nowhere.”
There was a small chuckle from Evan as he leaned back in his seat, stared out the window again. “How do you want to handle this? I figured you could take point, and I’ll follow your lead.”
Trey shook his head. “I wouldn’t suggest doin’ that. Half the time, I don’t know where I’m goin’ or what I’m doin’.”
“You’re obviously doing something right,” Evan noted. “You’ve closed the most cold cases of the entire task force. That’s no small feat.”
“Who told you that?”
Evan grinned. “Charlie did. The day I interviewed with her. She seems quite impressed by you.”
“Nothing else to do,” he said, not wanting the praise.
“I looked into one of them. Your cold cases, that is.”
Trey’s head jerked, eyes shifting to his passenger as he pulled to a stop at a red light.
Evan shrugged. “I was curious. Charlie mentioned a case out of Round Rock. I wanted to know what it was.”
Great. He was one of those nosy cops who couldn’t leave well enough alone.
“Husband reported his wife missing,” Evan explained. “Said she went out with friends one night, never came home.”
Oh, hell. He knew exactly which one Evan was referring to.
“Ex-husband,” Trey corrected. “But yeah.”
Trey remembered it well. When he’d come across it, something about it had struck him as odd. He had pored over it for nearly two weeks when Baz urged him to follow up with the ex-husband.
He glanced at Evan, saw he was waiting for more, so Trey told him. “Because they’d recently gone through a bitter divorce, the police chalked it up to her wanting to get away from him.”
“I saw the report. Ex said their marriage had been good right up until she started cheating.”
“That’s what he claimed,” Trey stated. “I didn’t buy it.”
“No?” Evan shifted, facing him more fully. “Why’s that?”
“Just a feelin’.” He shook his head, kept his foot on the gas as he weaved between thicker traffic. “I know that’s not proof, but…”
“Sometimes it’s all you have,” Evan said. “Tell me. What’s the feeling you got?”
“I couldn’t get past the ex-husband’s statement. According to him, he’d had a fight with her the night before she disappeared. Said they were arguin’ because she was becomin’ a recluse, missin’ out on life. He suggested she meet new people, urged her to go out with some friends. Conveniently she does what he asks but never comes home.”
“Sounds relatively straightforward.”
“Yep. All tied up in a perfect little bow. Plus, he covered his tracks pretty well,” Trey admitted. “Her credit card was used at a gas station leadin’ outta town, another at a fast-food restaurant off the highway a couple of hours away. Meshed with his story that one of her lovers lived in Florida.”
“It didn’t jibe for you?”