Page 77 of Stone Vows

I try to stay calm. “Why are you looking for this girl?” I ask, my heart beating so fucking loud, I’m positive he must hear it.

He pulls out a badge and flashes it at me. I grab it before he can put it back in his pocket.

I examine it and then look up at him with a hard stare. “Your badge says Chicago P.D. Looks like you’re a little out of your jurisdiction.”

“Have you seen her or not?” he asks, getting pissed as he rips his badge out of my hand.

The wheels in my head are spinning. I don’t have to reveal any patient information. Not even to a cop. Especially not to aChicagocop. Then again, if this guy is her husband, he might keep pressing the hospital for information until he gets what he wants.

I study the picture some more, as if I’m trying to remember her. “You know, I do remember her. I mean, she’s hot, what’s not to remember?”

He snorts in amusement. Good, I need him on my side.

“How long ago?” he asks.

I shrug. “A few months. Maybe more. She had a cut on her face,” I lie. “Said she was mad because she was heading to . . . I’m not sure, but Boston maybe? Said she was going on some job interview there.”

“A cut huh?” he asks.

“Yup. Four or five stitches if I recall.”

He scrubs his hands across his face and I get a glimpse of a tattoo on his right wrist.Oh, shit!It looks just like Elizabeth’s.

I try to keep him talking so I have a chance to get a better look at it. “Hope her job wasn’t for a modeling contract,” I say, laughing. “Shame really. She had a great face, too.”

“I’m going to need to see her hospital records,” he says.

“Do you have a subpoena?” I ask.

“No.”

I shrug nonchalantly like I don’t really care. “I wish I could help, but hospital records are sealed records. And since it was so long ago, it’s not like I can just get her chart. It’s been archived.”

I look around the room, pretending I’m making sure we’re alone, like I’m about to give him sensitive information. “But, hey, to tell you the truth, I’m not sure you’d get much out of seeing her chart. If I recall, the girl didn’t give us any information. She was a closed book. Maybe she got clocked by a john and was afraid to give her address. Whatever it was, she was in and out quickly. Hell, I don’t even remember her name.”

He sighs in frustration. Then he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a business card.

It’s now when I realize he hasn’t mentioned her pregnancy. Or a baby.Does he not know?

“If you ever see her again, give me a shout. It’s important. She has something I can’t get from anyone else.”

“Hey no problem.” I take the card and extend my hand to him.

When he shakes it, I don’t let go. I turn his hand so I can see his wrist. “Great ink, man. I’ve been thinking of getting one myself. You don’t happen to know of any good places here in New York, do you?”

I check out his tattoo as I speak to him. It’s the same fucking oneshehas. Except his is more manly. And his has a different name.

Alexa.

Chapter Thirty-five

I shake my head.Elizabeth Smith. It’s hard for me to think of her with any other name. But that’snother name.

Alexa Lucas—that’s who she is.

I sit here and stare at a copy of her Illinois driver’s license. It’s her. It’s definitely her.

“She went missing more than a year ago,” Ethan says. “Just up and disappeared without a trace. Family members have been searching for her ever since, but with no leads, the case went cold.”

---