Page 63 of Falcon

My mouth dropped open. “Missing person? And wait—what does that say down there?” I asked, pointing to the bottom of the screen. She had opened another window and a news article from the local paper was covering part of my missing person report.

Falcon grinned at the woman and grabbed the mouse, scrolling the screen. “Who is Danielle Miller?” He got closer to the screen, blowing up the grainy picture. “Is that your cousin or something?”

Leaning in, I read a snippet below her picture and gasped. “She’s in the hospital?” The woman was murmuring into the phone and I kept reading while Falcon waited for an answer. “And I was listed as a missing person? By who?”

“Daisy, who’s Danielle?” Falcon asked again with his calm tone.

Confused at all I was reading, I finally said, “My mom.”

The woman hung up the phone. “I am sorry you found out this way. The officer is on the way to talk to you.”

“But I haven’t done anything wrong?”

The woman’s brows shot up. “Oh, no dear! But with the missing person file and your mom…well they just need a statement.”

Falcon tucked some loose hair behind my ear then asked the woman. “Why is her mom in the hospital?”

“Oh, there was an incident, but I think it’s best to get that from the officer. Oh, my. Let me get your birth certificate handled before he comes. I’m sure they’ll want you to go in to talk and you’ll need that.”

Falcon interjected. “Why didn’t the DMV know about this? We were just there.”

The woman scoffed. “Like they care about anything. The alert came up as soon as I put her name in. I’d like to believe they didn’t notice the big flashing box, but I’d also like to believe in Santa Claus.”

“Is she alright?” I asked.

The woman shrugged. “I’m not sure, honey. I heard from my neighbor that she was in and out of consciousness. Let me grab this from the printer then I can seal it for you.”

The woman stood up and walked a little further down the hall. Falcon gripped my chin. “Are you alright?”

“I don’t know.” It was an honest answer. We hadn’t had the best relationship, but I never wanted to see her hurt. From what little I read, there was a home invasion gone wrong. “She wouldn’t have reported me missing. I’ve been gone for a while. I didn’t go too far, but we haven’t spoken in years.”

The woman came back and pulled a notary seal from her desk. “Officer Lincoln will be here anytime. He wasn’t far.” She handed me the document and passed back the printout of my license. “Can I get you a water or something, honey? Or something for your gentleman friend?” she asked with a slight blush.

He waved her off and I shook my head. The woman’s phone rang, and she said, “Okay, I’ll come get him.” She hung up then smiled. “He’s outside. If you want to wait here, I’ll get him. There’s an unused office down the hall.”

“Thank you, ma’am,” Falcon said as she stood.

Less than a minute passed before a man not much older than me greeted us. He wore a typical uniform with short cropped brown hair and a clean shave. “Miss Miller, I’m Officer Lincoln. I just need a quick statement. I’m sure you’d like to visit your mother.”

The older woman led us down the hall into the unoccupied office. There was a desk and several chairs, but the walls were bare. There wasn’t a window either, and the fluorescent light needed a bulb change. We sat down and the woman closed the door.

The officer pulled out a notepad and put a tablet down on the desk. “Miss Miller, you were reported missing approximately eight months ago. Our leads ran cold pretty fast.” He looked over at Falcon. “Are you safe?”

I reached over and took Falcon’s hand. “I am now. But who reported me missing?”

He glanced down. “Chad Bowers. He claimed to be your live-in boyfriend.”

The cackle that escaped me was almost embarrassing. “Are you kidding? I filed a restraining order against him. Twice.” I emphasized by holding up two fingers. “I reported him for stalking. Nothing ever held up and I had to run to get away from him.” These idiots.

Falcon’s grip tightened around my hand. I hadn’t really gotten into details with him except that I had a shitty ex-boyfriend.

The officer cleared his throat and I noticed Falcon glaring at him when I looked over. I squeezed his hand back as the officer went on. “I didn’t take the report ma’am. And I wasn’t the detective on the case. I just have to clear this report since you’ve been found, but I’ll be sure to make a note of that.” He jotted something down then asked, “Do you have any reason to believe Mr. Bowers would harm your mother?”

I shook my head. “I never really talked about her. I guess he could’ve found her easy enough. But I thought she was recently hospitalized?”

“That’s correct.”

“If it was Chad, wouldn’t it have made sense if he did that when I went missing, not months later?”

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