by Elle Gray
A certain part of Olivia felt a little sorry for Craig. He clearly wasn’t the sharpest tool in the shed, and he seemed genuinely upset about what had happened. It made her even more determined to find more answers.
“Well, at least it seems more likely that Sophia left the house of her own accord now,” Brock said, refusing to look at Craig as he cried. He glanced at Olivia, his jaw clenched in irritation at the young man. “And now we know she didn’t make it this far. Craig, did you see anyone else around that night?”
He shook his head, still sniffling to himself. Brock sighed.
“So along with Sophia’s phone records, we now know she left the house to come and meet Craig. If she was headed in this direction, then she could’ve been taken any way along the road.”
Olivia nodded. “Then maybe we shouldn’t be searching the forest for clues. Maybe we need to look along that road. If she managed to get anywhere on foot, then she might’ve left some sort of evidence behind. If things got violent, there might even be blood.”
“B-blood?” Craig stuttered, his eyes cloudy with tears. “You think there might be blood?”
Olivia had to hold back from sighing. Craig had been of some use, but she was in no mood to babysit him in the middle of an investigation.
“Thank you for your help, Craig,” she told him stiffly. “You should head back home now.”
“But what about Sophia? What are you going to do?”
“That’s for us to figure out,” Brock snapped. Olivia shot him a look before glancing back at Craig.
“If we find her, we’ll let you know.”
Craig sniffed and wiped his nose on his entire sleeve. The sight made Olivia wince. He really did act half his age. As he shuffled away, she turned back to Brock.
“You need to stop antagonizing him. You’ll make him close up. He might have more information that he hasn’t revealed to us, but he’s not going to tell us anything if you keep going for the jugular.”
“The guy gives me a bad vibe,” Brock snarled. “I just don’t trust him.”
“This shouldn’t be getting so personal. We’re here to find a kidnapper, not to decide who we like and who we don’t,” Olivia said sharply. She needed Brock to get his head in the game if they were going to find anything useful. When she felt her phone buzzing in her pocket, she glared at Brock.
“We can talk about this in a moment,” she said, pulling out the phone to see a call from Jonathan. “It’s the boss. I have to take this.”
Olivia picked up the call and Jonathan quickly cut in before she could get a word out. “Knight. I’d like you and Tanner to come and see me right now. We’re reviewing the information you’ve provided for us so far and we’d like to discuss the case in person.”
“Okay, sir, we’ll be right on our way.”
He hung up before she even finished speaking. She turned to look at Brock.
“Mr. James wants us to head up to Headquarters.”
“Great,” Brock grumbled, already turning on his heel. “I’ll drive.”
Eleven
The first twenty minutes of the journey passed in strained silence, making Olivia anxious. Brock didn’t seem interested in any of his usual chatter, focusing solely on the road ahead of him. He didn’t even try to poke at her with loud music or by telling jokes. That’s how Olivia could tell he wasn’t happy with her.
She knew she shouldn’t have snapped at him, but he drove her crazy. He seemed way too keen to fly off the handle at any given opportunity. His emotions seemed to hit either end of the spectrum with no in-between. She had to admit, she much preferred annoying, chatty Brock to silent, sullen Brock.
After a while, though, she saw Brock rub his jaw and let out a sigh. She turned a little in her seat so that she could see him better.
“Are you alright?”
“Yes,” Brock said a little too quickly. He continued to rub at his jaw. “Well, I am, but also not really. I’m sorry I got so irritable before. I just find these cases hard. Honestly, I’d prefer anything to working on a case involving kids.”
Olivia nodded in understanding. She’d always felt the same way. She could understand why the case was making him so uncomfortable when young lives were potentially at stake. All she could think of then was of the way Amelia had looked when she showed up on her doorstep. That image had haunted her dreams ever since that night.
“You don’t have to explain that to me. These kinds of cases are the worst. Give me a murder any day.”
The corners of Brock’s mouth twitched. “Well, murders suck too, I guess. The job just sucks sometimes.”
Olivia nodded again. On days like those, she did sometimes question why she’d signed up for this life. But every time she closed a case or caught a criminal, she remembered. She’d saved so many lives since her career began. She’d never forget how happy Amelia’s parents were to have her back, for example. She knew that a family like hers wouldn’t have survived without her. They loved her so hard that life wasn’t worth it without their baby girl. Olivia stuck to her job because she wanted more moments like that. Even if her own family had fallen apart, she could still try and save others.
Brock sighed beside her. “Kid cases are ten times worse. Every time I come across one, it makes me want to walk away, but I know there are kids relying on me to save them. The pressure gets to me. I’m not usually so grumpy.”
Olivia chewed her lip. When she’d asked Brock to talk about his worst case, he hadn’t been willing to open up about it. Did something happen to a kid while he was on a case? Was he too late to save someone? She wasn’t sure, but she could see from the creases in his forehead and the dark circles under his eyes that he was just as exhausted as she was by the leads they were chasing.
“Let’s hope they have some good news for us at Headquarters.”
Brock rolled his eyes and finally managed a weak smile. “I thought I was the comedian here.”
Olivia chuckled despite herself and turned away again to look out of the window. She knew they were both doing the best they could, but she couldn’t help feeling irritated with their own efforts. It was frustrating to put so much hard work in and get very little out of it. She felt for the families, too. Alice was probably pacing the floors at home and waiting in frustration for them to do their job better. Olivia knew that she’d resent them if they never found Sophia, even if through no fault of their own. That was a heavy burden to have to bear, but she understood it. She’d been through something similar herself.
She was angry when her sister died. So angry that she took it out on anyone and everyone. She knew it was no one’s fault, but somehow, she found ways to convince herself that the official story just didn’t add up. She wanted to know why the officers investigating didn’t spend every waking hour on the case. She wanted to know why she was finding things that the police weren’t, even though she had insider information because she was Veronica’s sister. She wanted to know why after weeks and weeks of her and Paxton badgering the Seattle Police Department, nobody had seen fit to even give them the time of day.
And now that Olivia was on the other side of it, struggling to solve an impossible case, she felt bad for all those past feelings. How could she not? It was like Brock had said before, they weren’t superhuman. How were they expected to have all of the answers?
“You know... I lost my sister,” Olivia found herself saying aloud. She didn’t want to keep it in any longer. Brock glanced over at her.
“She died?”
“Car accident. She was driving late one night and hit a patch of black ice. But that official explanation has never sat right with me. I think she was murdered.”
“What makes you say that?”
“She was a journalist. A good one. She was always stirring up trouble for people who deserved it. She called out corrupt politicians, picked flaws in the justice system, criticized the FBI, even when I was still training at Quantico. She had a lot of opinions. She was building a pretty successful investig
ative podcast going after powerful people. And she was always so careful.”
“I had no idea. I’m so sorry, that’s awful,” Brock said quietly. The silence hung heavy in the air for a moment. “Don’t give up on the case,” he told her. “You know that any good cop won’t let it go. Even years after something happens, good cops don’t stop theorizing.”
“Well, I certainly don’t trust the Seattle PD’s official story. They completely bungled the investigation. Just like they probably did with Amelia.”
“Seattle?” Brock raised an eyebrow. “Maybe this case is hitting closer to home to you because of that connection.”
“Maybe,” Olivia admitted. “But that’s the thing. Those cops just let it go. If I was better at my job, maybe I could’ve solved it myself by now. Maybe I would’ve solved this whole thing already…”
“Olivia, don’t go down that road. Please,” Brock interrupted, his voice so gentle that it shocked Olivia completely. “You and I both know that sometimes these things are just impossible. It can take years to catch one killer. Even then, some loose ends just never get tied up. Think about the Son of Sam case. There are still theories about it to this day. If your sister really was murdered and you haven’t found the suspect, it’s not because you didn’t do a good job of searching for him. I don’t want to step out of line here—I know we haven’t known each other long—but I really don’t think I’d be trusting your judgments so much if I thought you were terrible at your job. I trust you, Olivia. And I trust that you’re going to get this thing done. And who knows? Maybe someday you’ll get a shot at finding out what happened to your sister, too.”
Olivia sank back in her seat. The whole conversation felt heavy to her. She hadn’t expected to feel so emotional, but it had been a long time since she talked about her sister out loud. Veronica had never really left her mind, but she kept her thoughts about her to herself. She never even talked to Paxton about her. Veronica’s memory had been locked in the past, frozen in time. Most of the time, she and her family just pretended like life had just gone as normal, but it hadn’t. It would never be the same again.
Opening up to Brock about it was sort of like accepting that. Accepting that Veronica was gone and that even solving the case wouldn’t bring her back. Olivia had to take a deep breath to stop herself from bursting into tears. She hoped she was being subtle, but Brock must have noticed because he reached out and squeezed her hand.
“It’s alright,” he said gently. “You don’t have to be strong when it comes to this. It’s been a hard week. You don’t need to be embarrassed.”
Olivia turned her face to the window and sniffed quietly as big tears rolled down her cheeks. “Sometimes I’m just waiting for it to get easier, and it doesn’t. It’s been years since we lost her, but it feels like it was only yesterday.”
“Grief’s funny that way,” Brock said, though nothing was funny at all at the moment. “It just keeps piling up. Everything you lose makes you feel it more, but you never get rid of it.”
Olivia nodded. She was glad someone understood what she meant. He still had her hand in his.
“We won’t be there for a while yet,” Brock told her. “Why don’t you just close your eyes for a while? Try and calm down a little.”
Olivia nodded in resignation, a little embarrassed by her outburst, but at the same time, feeling a bit lighter off her chest. It was like unloading her thoughts onto Brock had shifted away some of her pain. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. It was going to be okay. Things were hard, but they were going to be okay.
The journey felt a lot longer than it really was, and by the time they reached Headquarters, Olivia felt like she was about to get more bad news. She and Brock entered the building side by side, badged themselves past security, and were greeted in the lobby by SAC Jonathan James. He was a strict-looking man with thick-rimmed glasses and a head of dark hair streaked with gray. He was only in his mid-forties, but time and stress had created deep cavernous lines on his face. He nodded to Olivia and Brock as they entered.
“You made good time. I won’t keep you long, but I thought we should do this in person.”
Olivia didn’t like the sound of that. Did that mean they were in trouble? She followed behind Jonathan as he headed to his office, her heart racing in her chest. Even though times were hard at her job, she didn’t want to lose it. It was the one passion she had, the one thing that kept her going. Without her work, what would she have left?
But Jonathan offered her a small smile as they sat down at his desk, and Olivia relaxed a little, folding her hands in her lap as she waited for him to say something. He adjusted his large glasses.
“First of all, Knight, I’d like to congratulate you on your handling of Amelia Barnes and her family. I’ve heard through the grapevine that they found you very helpful and kind. It’s nice to hear good things about my agents.”
“It’s nice to hear it too,” Olivia said, feeling her shoulders relax a little. “But I get the feeling you brought us here to give us bad news?”
“Not bad news, necessarily,” Jonathan replied, peering over at some papers on his desk. “We’ve been reviewing the things you’ve found about Sophie Edwards…”
“Sophia.”
“Right, Sophia. Well, I can see why you thought there might be a correlation, but from everything we’ve reviewed so far, we don’t believe that the two cases are related.”
Olivia blinked several times. “Sir... I know we haven’t found all that much to connect the two cases yet, but give us some time. Sophia might just have run away, but it doesn’t seem like anything in particular would have triggered that behavior. She was supposed to be meeting her boyfriend, and according to him, she wouldn’t just not show up.”
“You might be right. But even if she was taken, it doesn’t mean we’re dealing with the same kidnapper,” Jonathan reasoned. “I understand that you’re looking for a link in the hopes that it might aid the investigation into who took Amelia Barnes, but remember that your first priority is to find where Amelia was being held and how she got transported all the way to Belle Grove, and to stop a possible trafficking network, if that’s our link between cases. You’re just wasting time with this local case that has a few minor coincidences. We’d like you to hand the Edwards case back over to local LEOs and let them handle it.”
“Sir, if I may,” Brock started, leaning forward. “We feel like we might be on the cusp of something. I don’t know if you heard about the things we sent to the lab…”
“I did,” Jonathan said slowly. “And if you find any prints or DNA on those things then you can use that as a lead. But if you don’t, then it’s not going to prove anything. Plenty of people keep mementos such as those. The placement of them was strange, but unless you can match the mementos to a person, it’s a dead end no matter what.”
“Well, what about the connection between the two girls? Both blonde, both from well-off families, both of similar age and looks…”
“And from two opposite ends of the country. It’s not enough to go on right now,” Jonathan said firmly. “You were assigned to search for the person who kidnapped Amelia Barnes. Until there’s more evidence to suggest that the person who did it also took Sophia Edwards, then I’m afraid it’s not relevant to you anymore. I know that the evidence for this case is very lacking, but the girl is home safe now. Seattle was a dead end, so our only hope of exposing this possible network will be with finding where she was held in Belle Grove. We’ve sent the Barnes family back up to Seattle with a security escort, so they should be fine. We’ll have the field office up there call you if they find anything. Just focus on what evidence you do have and see where you can get with it.”
Olivia leaned back in her chair but said nothing. She felt defeated. Even if her boss was right, even if Sophia was just a kid on the run from teenage problems, it felt wrong that they were being told not to look for her. Olivia had a feeling in her gut that told her that this was all wrong. She needed
more time and resources, but she was absolutely certain that she could crack the case if given the opportunity.
Brock didn’t seem ready to give up yet. He pressed his lips together, composing himself to speak. “Sir, I think this is a mistake. The Edwards case could—”
“I want your focus to be on the kidnapper. On Amelia Barnes,” Jonathan cut him off bluntly. “If anything changes, then, by all means, pick up your leads again. But from what I can see, we’re dealing with an impossible case here anyway. You’ll be lucky to find anything at all. Some criminals just know how to not get caught.”
“So you’ve given up already?” Brock snapped, pressing his lips together again. Olivia knew that only a guy like Brock could get away with speaking to the boss so bluntly. “I can’t believe you’re telling us to give up.”
“I’m not saying that at all. But unless he strikes again, unless he leaves us some clue... what do you have to go on, really? No eyewitnesses, no DNA, and the victim can’t even tell you what happened to her. I’m sorry, Tanner, but sometimes you have to know when to accept that things aren’t going to go your way.”
He might be right, but that didn’t make Olivia feel any better about it. She felt like she’d failed not just Amelia, but Sophia too. She’d failed herself. She’d failed her sister, her poor sister who would never get justice for what happened to her.
But sometimes, that was just the way of the world.
“Fine. I guess we’re done here then,” Brock said, standing up. Jonathan stood too and shook Brock’s hand.
“Don’t beat yourself up, Knight,” Jonathan said as he looked into Olivia’s eyes and shook her hand too. “You’re doing everything you can. Keep up the good work.”
Brock was muttering to himself the whole way back to the car, but Olivia was too caught up in herself to pay much attention. She felt completely deflated. Images of Sophia, of Amelia, of Veronica, swam through her mind. All the people she couldn’t save, no matter how she tried. How was she supposed to just live with that?