Page 24 of Cassidy

She felt guilty over that too, but at the time they hadn’t known about the break-in at Gabe’s home, or his missing half brother. “I’m sorry. I hope there’s still some evidence left behind.”

“It’s not your fault,” Gabe said. “I’m the one who can’t remember anything useful.”

As they approached the off-ramp, Gabe leaned forward. “Head left, Steele. Maybe two miles down the road.”

Steele followed his directions.

“Here, pull over here,” Gabe said. “I was in that field.”

The area was familiar; several of the team members had rendezvoused nearby several months ago. Gabe bolted from the car. She and Steele quickly followed.

“Spread out,” Steele said. “We’ll cover more ground that way.”

She nodded in agreement. Several areas of the ground were trampled by footprints, but none that could be isolated enough to be of use.

Then she heard an agonized cry. Spinning toward Gabe, she reached for her weapon, half expecting to see an attacker.

Instead, Gabe was kneeling on the ground, his expression grim. She rushed over to see the remains of a destroyed phone. By his despair, she knew it was likely Travis’s.

Their only connection to the missing teenager.

ChapterSix

Seeing the smashed phone gutted him. The phone case featured the latest video game called Sorcerer’s Sword, and he instinctively knew it had belonged to Travis.

Gabe abruptly surged to his feet, raking his gaze around the area. “We need to look for him.”

“Easy,” Cassidy murmured, putting a hand on his arm. “Let us do that. You stay back out of the way.”

A flash of anger hit hard. “This is about me,” he said sharply. “I don’t know how or why, but this is about me!”

Cassidy’s blue eyes widened in surprise at his vehemence. “I know that, Gabe. We’re here to find out what happened. But if a crime has been committed, we can’t trample the crime scene more than we already have.”

A crime had taken place, the lump on the back of his head was proof of that. But he understood what she meant. It wasn’t easy to bite back his frustration, but he managed a curt nod. “Okay. You and Steele spread out to see what you find.” He gestured to the damaged phone. “And this should be taken in as evidence.”

“I’m on it,” Steele said, pulling a bag from his coat pocket. Turning the bag inside out, he scooped up the phone remnants. Gabe swallowed hard as he wondered what had taken place. Had Travis been kidnapped? And if so, why?

He watched as Steele and Cass spread out to examine the area. The way they swept their gazes over the ground, as if searching for the smallest indication of a crime, gave him hope. If clues had been left behind, he trusted the officers would find them.

“There’s some blood here,” Cassidy called.

He turned, then grimaced. “It’s probably mine. I think that was where I was when I woke up and realized I’d been attacked.”

“Okay, we can check it to make sure.” She glanced at Steele. “You have evidence markers in the SUV?”

“I’ll grab them.” Steele strode to the SUV, opened the back, and removed a handful of neon yellow markers. “We’ll need the crime scene techs out here too.”

It was on the tip of his tongue to offer to make the call, then he remembered he didn’t have a phone. He made a mental note to stop on the way back to the precinct to get a replacement. Something he should have done earlier.

He tried not to show his impatience as Cass and Steele continued to comb the area. After a solid twenty minutes, they returned to where he stood waiting.

“I didn’t find anything else, did you?” Cassidy asked Steele.

“Nope. I guess that’s good news,” Steele said with a shrug. “If the blood we found belongs to Gabe, it appears as if Travis wasn’t hurt here.”

“Maybe he was hurt somewhere else,” Gabe said, unable to let it go. “I could have come here to meet with Travis only to realize someone else had his phone.”

“That is possible,” Cassidy said. “But so are lots of other theories. We’ll get your phone records and Travis’s as well. That should reveal a significant part of the story.”

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