Page 13 of Little Stolen Memories

“Right again. I never told you this, but it was one of the conditions I set before I became a detective again. We agreed when I wasn’t busy working on another case, I could take another crack at this one to see if I could find anything new.”

“Does Harvey know?”

Whitlock shook his head. “I’m not trying to keep it from him. I didn’t want to say a word until I found a new lead. No sense getting his hopes up without a fresh angle, after all, something to crack the case wide open. And right now, I have nothing.”

I sat in silence for a moment, taking it all in.

“Are you aware that Cora hired me this morning?” I asked.

“I’m just learning about it now.”

“Does she know you’re looking into the murders again?”

“Yes, she does.”

I wondered why she hadn’t mentioned it to me.

“What about the victims’ families?” I asked. “Do they know?”

“Some do, some don’t. I haven’t been back on it for long.”

I shook my head, looking at Foley as I said, “We have an interesting predicament, don’t we? I’ve already accepted her case. What happens now?”

“Depends. How do you feel about it now that you know Whitlock is already working the case?”

I didn’t know.

I hadn’t had time to process it.

“I need to talk to Cora, to find out why she hired me when she knows the case has been reopened by the police department.”

Whitlock placed a hand on my arm. “Way I see it, two heads are better than one, as they say. You and I … we work well together, don’t we? I have no problem with us both investigating the case on our respective ends and seeing what we can come up with this time around.”

“I understand what you’re saying, but I don’t abide by the same set of rules that you do. It’s one reason I quit this job and opened the detective agency. More loopholes. Less red tape.”

“You do you,” Whitlock said. “I’ll do me. I don’t see why it needs to change things. Do you?”

But it did change things.

It changed everything.

CHAPTER 8

I stood on the Callahans’ doorstep, trying to keep my temper in check as Cora gave me a nervous look, a look that told me she might already know the reason for my impromptu visit.

“We need to talk,” I said.

“About what?”

“If I’m going to take your case, I need to be able to trust you.”

“You can trust me.”

“I need to know you’re telling me everything, including the fact that Detective Whitlock reopened the case.”

“I … yeah. I should have told you.”

“Why didn’t you?”

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