17

“If you both would give me a minute to get a word in, I believe I know who has Oliver,” I said.

Coop inspected the screen leaning up against the window outside Oliver’s room and said, “How would you know?”

Sheppard stepped in. “Can you just shut it for once, Coop?”

A disgruntled Coop narrowed his eyes at me like I was to blame for the trouble he’d just caused, but in an interesting turn of events, he did as Sheppard requested. I wasn’t sure what to make of it.

The chief crossed his arms and glared at me. “If you know something we don’t, now’s the time to tell us.”

“Find Jamie Nash and you’ll find Oliver,” I said. “At least, I think you will. I believe he’s behind Oliver’s kidnapping.”

“Why Jamie Nash?” Sheppard asked. “Why do you suspect he’s involved in the kid’s disappearance?”

It was a situation where I knew I should have told Sheppard everything like I’d said I would at the start of the investigation and hadn’t. I stood a moment and considered the reasons why I’d kept a couple of crucial details to myself. Sure, Sheppard took a call in his office right before I’d intended to tell him about Jamie stating he was Oliver’s father when I met with him.

Still, I could have reached out later on to fill Sheppard in.

I hadn’t.

This was my first real investigation. Part of me wanted to keep some of the details to myself. The other part had a lot to prove—to Coop, to Sheppard, to me—and no matter what, I was hellbent on doing it.

Sheppard raised a brow. “Sloane? Do you have something to say or don’t you?”

“Jamie, ahh … he claims he’s Oliver’s father,” I said.

“Since when?”

“Since he told me he’d hired a lawyer to try and get custody.”

“What the … when did you plan on telling me?”

“I mean, I know. I should have. I’m sorry.”

Sheppard shook his head, disappointed, something I was getting used to with him. Then he called in an APB for Jamie.