Page 20 of Long Gone

He hesitated, then glanced down at the table before he looked up with a hard look in his eyes. “I’m no longer one hundred percent convinced he did.”

Chapter 6

While I was surprised Detective Jones was willing to admit he might have gotten it wrong, it made me respect the hell out of him.

I nodded. “I plan to find out what happened to him, one way or the other. Anything you can give me to help with the investigation would be greatly appreciated.”

He drew in a breath, then sat up straighter. “It’s still an ongoing case, and you’re not with a law enforcement agency, so obviously I can’t give you everything, but if you’ll give me some time, I’ll put as much information as I can together and send it to you.”

“Honestly, that’s more than I expected.”

He laughed. “I figure fresh eyes are good. All I ask is that you keep me in the loop. And if it turns out he was murdered, and your client had something to do with it…”

“I’ll bring you everything I dig up,” I assured him. “I think we both want the same thing—to find out what really happened to Hugo Burton. And if Clarice Burton had something to do with it, I have no intention of hiding that from you.”

He gave a sharp nod, and I thought we were done, but he sat back in his chair, looking relaxed. “So you decided to become a P.I., huh?”

While I wanted to stay on good terms, I didn’t feel like discussing my life choices with him. “Obviously,” I said with a half smile.

“I guess that makes sense. I hear you have a good track record.” He shrugged. “Other than the shooting, obviously.”

“Is there a purpose to this conversation or are we making idle chit-chat?”

He laughed. “Just trying to figure you out.”

“That’s really not necessary, but I can assure you that I’m a damn good detective, whether I’m wearing a badge or not.”

“It’ll be a lot harder without the badge,” he said, still amiable. “You can’t call in a forensics team.”

“The way I see it, I’ll be taking cases that have already occurred and the crime scene will have been cleaned up.”

“Which means you’ll be dependent on guys like me sharing what we know.”

I wasn’t sure where this was heading, so I sat back in my seat and kept my gaze steady. “I’m not in competition with you, Detective Jones. I was a detective in Little Rock for six years. I know how tough it is to give all your assigned cases the time and attention they deserve. There’s no judgment on my part unless there’s full-on negligence. Consider me your backup team.”

He laughed. “You’re like a relief pitcher.”

“Given how little I know about baseball, I’ll have to take your word for it. Again, I’ll ask you to remember that we want the same thing.”

“You plannin’ on stickin’ around Lone County?”

“Is that information pertinent to this case?”

He gave me a lazy grin. “I guess not.”

“Then I guess we’ll both find out.”

Picking up the file, he stood as he pulled out a business card and handed it to me over the table. “Fair enough. If you leave an email address, I’ll send the files to you, probably later tonight.”

I took the card and got to my feet, extending a hand. “Thank you, Detective. I appreciate anything and everything you can share with me.”

He took my hand and shook, his grip firm but not hard enough to send a message. “Let’s hope you find something.”

After he led me to the front, I headed out to my car. The interview had gone better than expected. Almost too good. Like he’d choregraphed the entire thing.

Anxiety simmered in my gut, shooting out waves of paranoia.

Paranoia. That’s what it was. I had nothing to base my wariness on other than the fact that I’d been burned by other law enforcement agencies. Detective Matthew Jones had no reason to sabotage me. He wasn’t out to get me. He wanted to close a five-year-old case and recognized that I could be the one to help him do it.

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