Page 73 of To Have and to Hold

My knuckles hovered near the door.

It was one thing to sneak along the sidelines and gather information illicitly and undetectably, but it was a whole different crime to actively interfere in an investigation, and that was exactly what I was about to do.

Knox was zeroing in on Ed Carver and could very well be successful. He could’ve already discovered Emme and was taking her home. The additional facts I’d learned might mean nothing.

Or they were everything.

I left Jack and Perry’s hotel chilled. But this must be done smart and with a delicate touch. Like that of a shark, starting wide and circling closer until it could sink its teeth into the prey. What better place to start than with Emme’s fiancé? If I were wrong, it’d be a lot easier to excuse my questions for desperate curiosity with a flailing grip towards any potential anomalies in Emme’s life, including the sins of her father. On the outside, no one would blame me for crawling toward this new discovery. Propriety was a decent ruse, because I would’ve pursued this anyway. I’d be a fool to leave this stone where it was.

I sent a quick text to Becca who was holding down the fort at my apartment, going through everything that had been gathered, in case there was anything in my previous research that could point to this. Everyone was in position on the game board, and I couldn’t shake the notion that perhaps it was all pre-arranged by this silent killer. The bodega surveillance, Knox bolting out of the precinct, the kidnapper’s call, Ed Carver’s name turning from curiosity into full-on assault.

They’re getting the message, believe me.

It was who was being communicated to that bothered me the most. The kidnapper wanted someone in Emme’s circle to pay. An individual that made the kidnapper so angry he was willing to grab an innocent woman and hold her under the threat of death. Emme wasn’t one to mingle with danger, or at least the Emme I had known. She didn’t seek out the darker parts of the city or enjoy risking her life as an adrenaline junkie. If anything, she was attracted to the bright lights. Possibilities were her lure. That was Emme. It was difficult to believe that two years changed her so much that she now dabbled in the shadows. No, I was far more interested in her new fiancé and what he was interested in.

A latch clicked, and I was back to the present. The door opened and inquiring brown eyes regarded me, though they were hazy, a little sloppy. It wasn’t simply grief clouding his vision. A highball glass full of brown liquid was held stiffly in Dave’s hand.

“Can I help you?” he asked, his words clipped.

The automatic urge to measure up held my tongue. I was sandy-haired, the strands resembling more of a beach after it rained. His was a mass of black coal. My skin was on the fairer side, the sun preferring to gift me with a red forehead every time I dared to spend more than twenty minutes outside. His was olive-toned, mole free, with dark scruff along his jaw. Dave Hamid was slick with money, as evidenced by his partly opened, white button-down and black slacks. I was a pit bull in the courtroom, as evidenced by my wrinkled taupe suit, the ketchup stain on my right pocket, and the black eye.

Nothing was more like a swift kick to the balls than the love of my life finding—and marrying—the exact opposite.

I held out my hand. “Spencer Rolfe. Assistant District Attorney.”

His palm met mine firmly, but no recognition sparked his eyes when I said my name.

“We met in the police precinct a few hours ago. I’m part of Anthony Knox’s task force.” Not entirely a lie.

“Uh-huh.” Dave didn’t sound happy at all. “So, what do I owe the honor?”

I replied pleasantly, “I’m here with a few follow-up questions.”

“I can answer your inquiries right here,” Dave said and propped a shoulder against the doorframe. “You’re gonna come in here and ask me the same shit Detective Knox did, and the guy before that, and the guy before that, and I’m going to give you the same answers because guess what? I don’t. Fucking. Know.”

“You’re selling yourself short. You have facts that no one else does—you’ve been the closest to Emme for how long? A year? It’s why we keep asking you the same questions from different people. I may notice something the police before me might’ve missed.” I risked adding, “As Emme’s fiancé, I’d think you’d be more than happy to answer the same questions one hundred times if it meant getting her home.”

Dave stiffened. “Don’t talk to me like it’s my fault Emme hasn’t been found yet.”

“It’s no one’s fault but the person that took her.”

“You guys have hounded me for days, treated me as a suspect and then as an idiot because I couldn’t remember what she was wearing that day or what kinda mood she was in. Yet no one on your side has accomplished shit considering I’ve had four different people ask me the same damn things and we’re all in the same positions we were the second she was taken.”

“I get it, you’re pissed, but so am I. There’s nothing worse than feeling like a useless ballsack while Emme’s enduring the worst. It might seem like we’re going in circles, but I promise you, we’re not. Knox is out there going in one direction and I’m here pursuing another, and you’re here thinking of anything that could be useful, because the tiniest detail could lead us to her. And we’re going to keep doing that until we come to the right conclusions.” I spoke my next words carefully. “I will pick you apart until I succeed.”

Dave squinted, and that somehow made the whites of his eyes acquire more red veins. “You’re personally invested in this.”

I didn’t hedge. “Yep.” And added, “You know who I am.”

“Right, Mr. Prosecutor. Mr. Formerly Known as Emme’s.”

By all appearances, I seemed relaxed. But my hands had fisted. “Were you supportive of Emme’s career?”

He chewed thoughtfully on the inside of his cheek, maybe surprised that I didn’t rise to the bait like he wanted me to. But would it ever feel pleasant to crack my knuckles against his nose.

“What’s Emme’s job got to do with any of this?” he asked.

“How about the fact she was taken while in the midst of performing it?” I replied. “I don’t waste time with stupid questions. So how about you do the same with your answers.”

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