Mason kept the smile in place as Daniel walked toward them. With one hand on Lacey’s upper arm, he could feel her muscles tense.
A fine tremor shook her, but she held her head high and met Daniel’s gaze with a classiness Mason grudgingly admired.
He wished the memories of the last time the three of them had been in the same area would quit bombarding him. Renewed anger flooded him as old feelings of betrayal and soul-searing hurt came back with a vengeance.
With superhuman effort, he pushed aside his emotions and watched the approaching man.
When Daniel caught sight of Lacey and recognized her, shock flashed and he gave a slight stumble.
Interesting.
“Lacey Gibson?”
“Hello, Daniel.” Her voice was low. If he hadn’t been listening for it, Mason would have missed the slight wobble.
Daniel paused to offer a hand to Mason. Mason shook it then felt like excusing himself to find some soap and water. Instead, he got right to the point. “Lacey’s daughter is missing.”
“Bethany Gibson is your daughter?” Daniel had gathered his usual cool demeanor back and his face now showed no expression other than professional concern. He looked at Lacey. “You’ve heard nothing from her?”
“Nothing.” The clipped, one-word answer told Mason Lacey was on shaky ground. However it didn’t stop her from pulling a folded piece of paper from her purse and handing it over to the man.
Daniel took it and Mason nodded toward Daniel’s office. “Can we talk?”
Daniel hesitated, looked Lacey up and down as though trying to convince himself she was really standing there, then said, “Sure, come on back.”
Once in the office, Lacey seated herself on the edge of the brown couch, shoulders held stiff, fingers pinched around the strap of her small purse.
Daniel cleared his throat and looked like he might say something of a personal nature then focused on the flyer in front of him. “We have a missing persons report filed and we have officers keeping an eye out for her based on the picture you provided when you filed the report. I don’t really know what else you want us to do.”
Mason laid a hand on Lacey’s arm before she could come out of her seat and tell the man exactly what she wanted him to do. She shifted but stayed quiet. Mason looked at his former friend. “We want you to reopen the case of the car accident that happened back at the beginning of April.”
“The one where Kayla Mahoney was killed,” Lacey blurted.
Daniel sat back and raised his brows. They’d managed to surprise him. “Why?”
Mason took over. “Because she was friends with Bethany. We talked to Georgia, the girl who Lacey thinks was in the car that night with Kayla, but she denies it vehemently.”
“And she says they weren’t with Kayla that night,” Lacey offered.
Mason glanced at Lacey. “But Lacey thinks they were, even though Bethany denied it when confronted a few weeks ago.”
The detective shrugged. “Then what makes you think Bethany and Georgia are lying?”
“Because they’re scared.”
“Of what?”
This time Lacey did jump up. “If we knew that, my daughter might not be missing!”
Daniel didn’t react, simply leaned forward, keeping his eyes on Mason. “That wreck was ruled an accident. Catelyn and I both investigated it. A simple one-car accident caused by a reckless teen.”
“And you proved that without a doubt? You had the crime-scene guys go over the car with a fine-tooth comb?”
A flush climbed up the man’s neck to settle on his cheeks. “Look, that wreck was two months ago. Yes, we checked everything. Kayla lost control of the car and what happened, happened. Unfortunately, even our city isn’t immune from teen-driver deaths.”
“I’m not saying that, Daniel, I’m saying something’s going on and Bethany’s involved somehow.” He repeated what Lacey had told him earlier at his house. “She was scared. Someone seemed to be after her.”
Daniel stood. “That’s all hearsay. I need proof.”
Forcing himself to unclench his teeth, Mason held his temper. “And I’m telling you that the proof might have been in that car.” A thought occurred to him. “Do you mind if we look at the report?”
“And I’m telling you there’s no need. It was an accident.”
Frustration lanced him. Why was the man fighting him so hard on this? Mason narrowed his eyes.
“Let him see the file, Daniel.”
Mason and Lacey turned as one to see Catelyn standing in the door of the office.
Daniel let out a low sound of disgust and stomped to the file cabinet in the corner of the room. Tugging open a drawer, he searched until he found what he was looking for.
Turning, he slapped the file in front of Mason. “There.” Fury glittered in his gaze. “I don’t appreciate the insinuation that I missed something.”
Ah, so that was the issue. “I’m not saying you missed something because you didn’t do your job, I’m just saying a fresh set of eyes might not be a bad thing.”
“Whatever. I’m going to get some coffee.”
Catelyn stepped into the room as Daniel brushed past her. She said, “I worked the wreck with him. I don’t know what you think you’ll find, but have at it.”
* * *
With Daniel’s departure, Lacey felt as if she could breathe again. At least until Mason leaned in close to look at the file with her. His unique scent filled her senses, and she pulled it in as though clinging to that, she could have a piece of him to call her own once again.
She appreciated his support even though she knew he still wanted to discuss the past—and Bethany. However, his priority—finding Bethany—matched hers at the moment and she was grateful.
Mason pulled pictures of the wreck from the file and spread them on Daniel’s desk. Lacey stood to get a better view.
When he unveiled pictures of the dead teen still seated behind the wheel, Lacey gasped and turned away from the photo, nausea swirling in her gut.
“Sorry,” Mason offered. “Let me sort through them. Don’t look until I tell you to.”
Gathering her emotions and clamping them under control, she turned back. “No, I need to see them all.”
“Lacey…”
“Just show me.”
With a heavy sigh, Mason did as she asked and placed them in the order they’d been shot. Gulping a fortifying breath, Lacey studied each photo, throwing up mental blocks that this was a girl she’d had in her home, taken to eat pizza and was Bethany’s best friend. She forced herself to go over every detail even as her heart broke for the precious life cut short.
Oh, Bethany, where are you? Please, God, don’t let Bethany be dead. Keep her in Your care wherever she is.
She studied the interior of the car, the exterior, the shadows behind the vehicle.
And then she saw it.
Another gasp slipped from her as she grabbed Mason’s arm without thinking. “There. Isn’t that a gold necklace on the ground beside the back door?”
Mason moved in for a closer look. The warmth of his bare forearm burned her hand and she snatched it back, curling her fingers into a fist. Before, she would have rubbed her hand up and down his arm in a soothing, affectionate motion, then end with entwining his fingers with hers.
Now she didn’t have that right.
“It looks like it.”
Catelyn and Daniel returned to the office just as Mason picked up the picture. He looked at Daniel. “Do you have a magnifying glass?”
Without comment, the man rounded his desk and pulled open his top drawer. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Mason held the glass over the area of the picture Lacey had pointed out to him. “Yeah, that’s a gold chain all right.” He looked at Daniel. “Can we get this blown up?”
“Why?”
“Because,” Lacey answered, “Bethany had a gold chain she wore all the time. She never took it off. I noticed shortly after the wreck it was gone. When I asked her what happened to it, she said the clasp had broken at school and she’d lost it.”
Daniel shrugged. “Sounds reasonable to me.”
Frustration filled her. “Yes, I thought so too and didn’t think anything more about it, but the more I look at that chain, the more I think it might be hers.”
“How would you identify it? There must be a zillion gold chains out there.”
“But not with a puzzle piece attached to it. She had one half and Kayla had the other half. They each had their names engraved on it along with BFF.”
“Meaning Best Friends Forever,” Mason murmured.
“Right.” She reached for the pictures still laid out on the desk, sorted through them, then pulled one from the pile. “Look, you can see Kayla’s wearing hers here.”
Catelyn took the other picture containing the shot of the gold necklace from the desk. “Follow me.”
Hope making her heart pound like crazy, Lacey didn’t hesitate, but hurried after the woman. She felt Mason’s presence right behind her. And Daniel’s.
She shuddered. When she’d first caught sight of the man walking toward her, she’d wanted to demand that he tell Mason the truth about what had really happened sixteen years ago, but had nearly bitten her tongue off to keep the words from flying from her mouth.
Now wasn’t the time.
This wasn’t about her and Mason—or even Daniel. This was about Bethany. She knew a confrontation with Daniel was coming at some point, though.
And soon.
Catelyn led them into another room that looked like a small lab. “Normally, we use the big lab downtown or send stuff off to Columbia, but this little area was funded by an anonymous donor. One tool we have is a highly efficient microscope that will enable us to get a good look at this chain.”
She maneuvered her way to the device and slid the picture under the glass. After flipping a few switches, the image appeared on the oversize computer screen in front of them.
Within seconds, Catelyn had adjusted the focus and Lacey stared at her daughter’s necklace. “It’s hers.”
Even Mason had to admit it.
A dainty golden puzzle piece dangled from the end of a gold chain. The words Kayla and Bethany—BFF filled the screen.