The phone rang, a harsh digital noise that made Joule sit up in bed disoriented.
It rang again. She should have put a better ringtone on this new phone. It had been a while since she’d switched phones and numbers and she still hadn't put all the settings back.
She would have to ask Cage what that program was that he—
Cage was missing.
It all flooded back as once again the phone rang at her. She reached out to her side, tapping on the tiny table. Instead of just turning her head and looking, she pulled the phone closer to her face. An unknown number.
When everyone was accounted for, she would have ignored it, but now she tapped frantically at the button. “Hello? Hello?”
“I'm looking for Joule Mazur,” the voice said. Masculine and deep, it offered mellow tones that she had not expected with the harsh wake up.
The light shone in through the curtains and she wondered what time it was. Holding the phone slightly away from her face and blinking, she said, “Yes, this is she,” as she read that it was already 3pm.
How had she slept that long? Though she knew she needed it. She wondered what had happened to her brother in the hours that she had rested.
Had she rested?
Her head didn't feel like it, but the voice was talking.
“I'm Officer Jacob McQueeny. With Maverick County Sheriff's patrol.”
Joule fought the urge to roll her eyes, even though he couldn’t see her. The last time she'd encountered the sheriff’s deputies, they’d been less than helpful.
“I'd love to come over and talk to you about your brother's case.”
She blinked. Was he being useful? That remained to be seen, but she couldn't turn this down.
“Do you know where I am?” she asked. “Do I need to come to you?”
“It might be easier if I come to you. I'm also curious because your brother disappeared with Mrs. Aurora Walker as well.”
Joule could tell by the way he said the name that he was reading it off the paper in front of him.
“I'm hoping to speak to Malcolm Walker also.”
“Do you want us all together?” Joule asked, throwing her legs over the side of the bed and discovering she was still dressed from last night. She hadn’t even gotten under the covers.
“I think that would be best.”
“I'm in a rental home. We can meet here.” Her eyes searched frantically around to see if she was ready for visitors before reminding herself, Fuck it, her brother was missing. She didn’t need to get the house ready.
“Is thirty minutes good?” he asked.
“I'll get Malcolm.” She didn't even entertain the option that Malcolm might not come. Of course, he would.
After getting a little more information from the officer, who seemed to have no need for any directions from her—then again, he'd almost definitely lived here longer than she had—she hung up and hit the button on her phone to call Malcolm.
But she immediately hung up again.
First, she called Cage. It rang and rang and rang and went to voicemail. She'd done this twice already on the sheer hope that he might answer and tell her where he was. He didn't. But it did feel good to hear his voice. Next, she called Aurora, wondering if Malcolm was doing the same thing. And again, it rang through until voicemail. Only this time, she was given the automated tones of the robotic AI, letting her know that the person whose number she had called was not available right now.
She didn’t know how often she would call her brother’s phone with hope in her heart. Then she messaged Dev and updated him. Just typing out the words broke her heart. But, tasks completed once again, she called Malcolm. He answered on the second ring. “Joule.”
No Good morning. Not that he'd ever really given her one. She hadn't met the man until tragedy had already occurred.
“I just got a call from an officer Jacob McQueeny with the Maverick County Sheriff's Department.”
“Interesting.”
She understood Malcolm’s lack of enthusiasm and she tried to muster some of her own. “He's on the case. He wants to meet with us.”
“Hopefully he'll do better than whoever's trying to find Sarah.” The disgust in Malcolm's voice bled through the line, and Joule felt that deep in her soul. She gave Malcolm all the information to the little rental house, as he actually needed directions again.
Then she brushed her teeth, showered off last night’s desert dust, and pulled random clothing out of her closet without concern for how she looked. It felt good to be moving, to be doing something. She forced herself to eat a bowl of Cheerios, not questioning why it didn’t taste like anything. Then she called her brother one more time, as if those few seconds would eat up enough space between now and when the officer arrived.
There was no TV she could bear watching, no housecleaning chores, not anything to do to keep her hands busy. But then she saw the green and white cruiser pulling down her driveway, gold stripes reflecting in the bright sunlight. The door opened and the officer climbed out. Tall, with short cropped dark hair, his square face was partly covered by Oakley sunglasses. He was fit, his T shirt clinging tightly under the khaki he wore.
She could hear her heart saying she didn't need another uniform jockey but this was what she had. She opened the door, reading the nameplate with his title and “McQueeny” on it—double checking that he was who he was supposed to be—before she invited him inside.
Her life had taught her nothing, if not paranoia.
Even as he headed down the hallway, she heard the crunch of gravel and turned back to see the Buick coming down the drive.
“Malcolm Walker is here,” she said, aiming back to greet the older man as he seemed to be out of the car almost before it was even in park. Luckily, there was no slope to much of anything around here and it wasn't going to roll away even if he’d left it running.
“Shall we sit?” It was Officer McQueeny who motioned to the table. Only then did she see he had a file tucked into the crook of his arm. It was far too thick to be for Cage or Aurora. Maybe for Sarah—had anyone actually been working on her case, but Joule was relatively certain that wasn’t it.
He looked at each of them before saying, “I'm here to help you find your missing loved ones but first I need to let you know I have an ulterior motive.”