Page 73 of Shielding Aubree

There was an ease that came over him and while she met his gaze straight on, she felt her heart squeeze in her chest.

"You can be afraid, Officer Cueva. I want to see your fear."

Ruben hatedthe atmosphere in the conference room.

It was, for all intents and purposes, a hive of activity, but the tight knot of stillness at the center of it was the worry of a family which had already lost too much.

Pablo, Aubree's little brother, sat in a chair beside his father, his hand gripping his father's arm as if he was just trying to reassure himself that he had someone to hold onto.

Pablo saw Ruben first and he leaned into his father and gestured at the doorway.

Ruben saw the shock on Antonio's face.

The other man had aged years since the last time that Ruben had seen him.

When he started to get out of his chair, Ruben could see how unsteady he was, and Ruben closed the distance to Aubree's father. "How are you doing?"

A bit of gratitude touched the other man's expression before reality sank in again. "I want my daughter back."

The words unspoken were there, hanging in the air between them.

Ruben nodded, understanding all too well the helplessness that Antonio was feeling. "We're going to get her back, Antonio."

Ruben looked around the room, hoping to find someone he could talk to.

"No matter where she is, she knows we're going to find her."

"No matter..." Antonio's voice drifted off for a moment before his head snapped up and he nailed Ruben with a look. "They said they have her purse and keys."

Pablo seemed to understand more than Ruben did. The teen pushed through the milling LEOs and demanded to see the things they'd recovered.

Antonio moved to the table and Ruben got up beside him. The officers seemed to have the same looks of confusion on their faces as Ruben had on his, but they brought over a couple of plastic bags and set them on the table.

Antonio pulled a pair of latex gloves from a box on the table and snapped them on his hands with practiced ease.

The lost look on his face had disappeared entirely and there was a look of utter determination on his face.

Ruben looked to the side when someone touched his arm.

Liria Cueva handed him a pair of gloves and he put them on without question.

Antonio opened the evidence bags, tearing open the tape that sealed the tops without a care.

Ruben didn't blame him.

If he knew there was something in the bag that could bring Aubree back to them, he wouldn't care about the evidentiary value of it.

A grim smile touched his lips because he knew Aubree would.

Antonio talked as he worked through the bag. "I need to find it."

He lifted his head a moment before he turned the bag in his hands over and spilled the contents on the table.

One of the uniformed officers opened his mouth to protest, but Antonio glared at him. "Back off, Matteo."

The uniformed officer with chevrons on his shoulder stepped back with his hands in the air.

Antonio picked up Aubree's phone and held it out.

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