“We were wanting to retain his services to find our missing daughter, Cassandra.”
Ah, another runaway, I assumed. I pulled open a drawer and retrieved the form I insisted Kade allow me to create so we could get all the information we needed. After attaching it to a clipboard and grabbing a pen, I stood and rounded my desk to approach the couple.
“Why don’t you have a seat and fill out this form. Once you’re finished, let me know. Then we can go over it, and I’ll try to answer any questions you might have.” Hopefully by then Kade would be back.
“Thank you,” the man said softly as he took the clipboard from me. The woman, who I presumed was his wife, just continued to look sad.
The mother, who introduced herself as Isabella, had dark circles under eyes and the exhaustion was evident on her face. Her hair was the color of wheat and had been pulled back into a ponytail with loose tendrils hanging down beside her face that she didn’t bother to brush back. The father, Isaac, had broad shoulders, a shock of thick, blond hair, and a heigh that would’ve demanded attention as soon as he walked in the room. But, at that moment, his shoulders were slumped over in defeat, and the fatigue on his face matched his wife’s.
I gestured toward the chairs lining the wall between our desks and after they were seated, I offered them some water, which they both declined. As they talked quietly with each other, I heard the faint scratching of the pen as he wrote down the information, and I sat behind my desk waiting for them to finish.
“Here you go,” he said softly as he approached my desk with the clipboard extended. “I think that’s everything.”
“Great. Why don’t you have a seat, and after I read over everything we can talk more.”
“Thank you.”
I felt their eyes on me as I skimmed the contents of the form. His handwriting was neat, with sharp lines and edges, but perfectly legible. Something I wish Kade had accomplished, but I’d become an expert in deciphering his chicken scratch.
As I continued to read, I learned their last name was Mayfield, and that their twenty-three-year-old daughter, Cassandra, had gone missing a few days after her birthday. That had been over a month ago, and after filing a missing person’s report with the police, the case had already gone cold. It was as if she’d disappeared into thin air.
With a deep breath, and a glance at the door wishing Kade would return already, I stood and walked toward the Mayfields. When I began to ask them a question, the bell above the door jingled again. I nearly sagged in relief when I saw Kade step inside. Not because I wasn’t capable in asking them any questions, but because this was Kade’s expertise. He could read body language and ask things I wouldn’t even consider. One look on their face, one move of their legs could end with an entire line of questioning and a different angle I wouldn’t even consider.
“Kade, these are the Mayfields. They want to hire you to find their daughter,” I explained as I handed him the clipboard.
“Kade Brennan,” he said, and held out his hand to Mr. Mayfield. He didn’t offer them a warm smile, but I could see his face softening a tad around his mouth.
Leaving the Mayfields in Kade’s capable hands, I went back to my desk to pack away my schoolbooks and get back to work. He fired questions at them with a punishing speed and scribbled notes on the form, all while the Mayfields answered to the best of their ability. I copied photos of the blue-eyed blonde and typed out a list of her friends and their contact information. After giving them a receipt for their retainer fee, the Mayfields shook our hands and left.
“Well, what do you think?” I asked once they were gone.
“Doesn’t matter what I think. My opinion doesn’t get me very far in this business. Concrete proof does.”
It wasn’t the first time he’d said that to me. I needed to print it out and hang it on the wall.
“They seem like nice people.”
“They always do. I have a call to make,” he muttered before sauntering to his desk and plopping down on the seat. A few minutes later I heard him speak into the receiver. “Dag, know that favor you asked of me?”
My eyebrows rose at his question, but I pretended to stay busy, so he wouldn’t know I was prying.
“I need you to look into a missing person for me. Something doesn’t seem right with this one.” Then I listened as he rattled off Cassandra Mayfield’s information. “Great. I look forward to it. I’ll be in touch.”
Something didn’t seem right? One thing I’d learned about Kade—he was a very intuitive man. If something didn’t seem right to him, this was going to be a tougher case than I thought. I just hoped he’d be able to give the Mayfield’s an answer as to what happened to their daughter. Maybe it wouldn’t be the answer they were hoping for, but any answer was better than none at all.
3
Kade
Dag. Damn. When I thought to myself how much I had wanted a new case to come, I hadn’t expected two in one day, or that one would be from him. Dag had been a buddy from my past life, and since he was a stubborn man who refused to allow me to push him away like I did everyone else, he had remained my friend for my new life. We weren’t close, but we kept in touch just enough to keep the friendship—or whatever it was—alive. Or, it was more like he’d send me a text making sure I was doing okay, and I’d send a quick response, and that’d be the end of it until the next message came around a few months later. Whatever. It was enough for us. We didn’t need to catch up over steaks and beers to feed each other bullshit. I didn’t want to relive my glory days, and I was sure he didn’t have much to brag about, either.
So, the fact he called me was one surprise, but the reason behind it was a different one entirely. This wasn’t a call to see how I was doing and making sure I was eating right. No, he needed me and my services. I listened to him as he spilled his guts to me, and my mind instantly went into investigator mode—something that was hard to do since a friend was involved. Keeping work apart from my tiny personal life was a fine line I had to teeter on now and again, and Dag calling me was going to prove to be very trying indeed. But he was correct about one thing—I was the right man for the job. And it wasn’t as though DuPage Parish had many PIs running around anyway. So, unless he wanted to go to the neighboring town, I was it.
Without giving Jared a heads-up, I left to get to work, and returned only when I felt like I’d done my due diligence for the time being. I had scoped out the locations I needed to investigate, had a feel for the surroundings, and then made some calls. It felt good to know I was going to put my skills to use on someone other than a possible cheating wife, and hopefully help out a friend in the process.
What I hadn’t counted on was returning to the office with a couple waiting on me. Jared made the introductions, and I was proud to see he’d done a thorough job with getting the Mayfield’s general information as well as determining what they needed me for. While I had initially balked at the idea of a form to fill out, it had paid off when I could skim over the information to get a basic idea of what was going on.
After they left, I went over the information more thoroughly, and when I was finished, I knew in my gut Cassandra Mayfield wasn’t just your typical missing person. I sat back in my chair as my brain worked, and after a few minutes, I knew what I needed to do. If Dag thought I was the perfect man to help him, then he was the perfect man to help me.