Page 23 of Jagged

"Because she let her guard down around you enough to recount something she actively remembered. That plus the recovery interview may turn up more in time," said Donovan. "We'll assist." Donovan looked to Walsh who nodded.

"Set it up, Roth," he croaked, before heading toward the door. "You reopened this case, you're leading the charge."

"O-okay then. I'll requisition the items from the kids and notify Doctor Wright."

With that, the room cleared out, leaving me and Zay behind. We stood in silence for a moment, then finally turned to each other.

"This is getting intense," he said, taking a seat at the table.

"It is." I joined him and nodded. "I feel like a rookie."

"I feel like a rookie, and I am a rookie. I mean…I know the beat, but this is new," he admitted before taking a sip of coffee. Seriousness tumbled over him in a way that wasn't his baseline. "When I applied to Cold Cases, I thought I would be unearthing cases long forgotten and using my experience to find new evidence. I didn't expect active cases."

"Same. I mean, I did to an extent. The interviews and stuff, but not like this with all these players involved. It's intimidating."

"Yeah." He glanced to the door then back to me. "So, you know research is kind of my thing."

"Yeah…and?"

"I looked up the Millers and their P.I. agency." His eyes widened then. "After Walsh called the short one James, I knew that name sounded familiar. She's infamous, and so is her wife."

"In what way?"

"The Four Point Killer case. James was the lead detective. She's included in those accolades and photos in Walsh's office. Miller is as well, but it's lower key. She and Moreno were partners, and Stiles was Sali's." Again, he glanced to the door. "Why are these very interesting people so involved in a cold case?"

"Well…" I took my time while considering my answer. "They said a family member enlisted them to help out. I get the feeling that when they become passionate about something, it turns into a mission. And we're not part of that mission. We weren't passionate about this case before then, we were interested. They show up with all this fire, passion, resources, and they're moving faster than I can even think."

"Yeah, same."

"So, I think it's passion and also the hope that they can make a difference for the living victims and their families. I mean, take Alessa for example…" I thought about the resilient, and brilliant, young woman who I was about to get to know much better. "She wants answers. She wants to know what happened to her mom. Wouldn't you?"

He nodded then leaned his chin on his hand. "Yeah. I would. Can't stop thinking about that eleven-year-old."

"Yeah." I drew in a slow breath. "So, we do it for them."

Zay's intense gaze met mine and he tossed me a nod of conviction I hadn't ever seen before. "I'm going to talk to Bryant and see if she can run a comparative on this case. Expanded. Way expanded. Like they did for the Four Point case. That's how they found the living victims."

"Okay. And I'll get the stuff from the kids and head over to the lab. Again. That quirky doctor is going to get sick of me eventually. I annoy her so bad," I said as we stood together.

"What do you mean?"

"I never understand a word she says. And have to ask her to slow down or resay things differently like I'm some kind of kindergartener. Or when she uses words that I don't even know, I sympathize with every single second-language learner in the universe," I admitted. "She's intimidating."

"Why?" Zay asked, concern coating his features.

"She's hard to read. Her facial expressions are so controlled except for when she's annoyed, bothered, or bored. The eyeroll though…"

Zay laughed and shook his head. "Does she behave like an old schoolmarm or something?"

"No…"

"Well then, sounds like she has an enormous RBF." He nodded enthusiastically.

"What's that?"

"Resting Bitch Face. They could be daydreaming about happy puppies or enjoying a comedy except their facial expression looks like they hate you or are ready to murder you," he explained.

"I'd say that's accurate." I chuckled at the notion. "Not so much the murder, but the disdain and annoyance, yeah."

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