Page 42 of Forensics of a Fable

Griffin swore before thanking the deputy, and crossing his well-defined arms over his chest, he turned back to Bel. “We can still hold Orso for possession of the ring and concealing evidence from an investigation. Something’s off about him. We don’t have enough to charge him, but until we find Gold, I want him in custody. I’m not taking chances this time.” He tried to hide the pain from his features, but Bel saw it flicker briefly. They had lost two other deputies besides Garrett during Alcina’s killing spree, and as worried as she was about losing her partner, Griffin feared he might lose a fourth officer. “Also, he kept looking at you like he was surprised. I can’t put my finger on his expression, but I feel like he knows something.”

“I get the same feeling—wait, he said she stopped answering his calls last night after she left the station, right?” Bel said, fixating on Ewan’s words from earlier in their interview, and her boss nodded. “So, Olivia walks to her car and vanishes… just like Alana Drie.” Her face paled. “This one is just right… Sheriff, I think the killer took Gold.”

“No… no, she’s just…”

“What if that’s why he broke his M.O. and sent me the card? He wants me to know who he took, that he has his right one.” Bel turned as if a different view of the station would help her thoughts focus. “If he’s taunting me, she might still be alive. The APB on Foley Locks? Has he been located?”

“No.”

“Sheriff,” a deputy interrupted them. “We found Detective Gold’s phone.”

“Where?” Bel practically jumped down the man’s throat.

“It was in her car out in the parking lot.” The deputy stepped away from her in an act of self-preservation. “One of the guys noticed it on the driver's side floor. Looks like she dropped it while trying to get in her car.”

“Sheriff, it was one thing when we assumed she was ignoring calls for a date,” Bel said, panic crawling up her throat. “Gold may not be experienced in homicide cases, but she isn’t dumb. She wouldn’t leave her phone in the car and just disappear.”

“Emerson.” Griffin placed a hand on her back and guided her into his office to shield her freak-out from the prying eyes of the other officers. “We don’t know anything yet. We don’t even know if he has her.”

“But what if he does? What if he has her, and I can’t find her until it’s too late?”

“It’s not too late. Calm down and think it through. We’ll find her.” His words were encouraging, but his features tensedas they both tried not to remember the way Garrett’s blood had stained the station’s tiled floor.

“The Reale Estate?” She forced herself to breathe, to think rationally. No one had seen or heard from Gold in over twelve hours, and a lot could happen in half a day. If Olivia was still breathing, she needed Bel at her best, at her clearest, to save her. “Does its records list the hunting cabins on the property?”

“I’m not sure. Maybe?”

“I need to see them.” She strode for the door on a mission. “We don’t have proof the killer took her, but the card? It was from him. He has her, and he’s taunting me. I’m not sure why, but he wants me to know he has her. Gold is smart, though. She won’t eat the porridge willingly, and I’m going to find her before he forces her to.”

“Emerson, go home.”The sheriff’s command startled her, and Bel jerked to attention. The sun had long since set. Her lunch and dinner had consisted of vending machine trail mix, a protein bar, and two bags of potato chips, and she was running on the fumes of her fifth coffee of the day. Deputies had searched Gold’s apartment. They visited everyone she knew. They contacted everyone Foley Locks knew, but both had vanished. Ewan Orso either had no information to offer or was refusing to give it, ensuring his words were helpless. Bel had spent hours combing over every record in search of hunting cabin locations on the Reale Estate, but all she found was that Eamon’s property was unreasonably massive. The archives offered no clues as to where the killer might have taken her partner, and the less Bel learned, the harder she tried. She pulled up all their case notes, the autopsy reports, and the lab results, praying she’d missedsomething. She studied the crime scene photos, hoping to notice evidence that wasn’t there. Her head ached. Her eyes burned, but she hadn’t stopped. She needed to find Gold before someone else she cared about died on her watch.

“Sheriff,” she started to argue.

“Go home,” he said with forceful kindness. “You’ve been here longer than anyone. You need sleep and actual food. I understand how you feel, I do. She’s been missing for twenty-four hours, and every minute that passes puts her in more danger, but I cannot lose you too.”

“I’m fine. I can still help.”

“We have a night shift. They’ll call if they find anything, but I need you to take care of yourself. You can’t help Gold if you’ve run yourself into the ground.”

“I sat in here while he took her.” Bel fought back tears. “I was right here, and he grabbed her from our own parking lot.”

“Emerson, this wasn’t your fault.”

“I—”

“It wasn’t your fault.” Griffin stepped closer and placed a hand on her shoulder. “You didn’t do this, and I can’t let you kill yourself. I need you to go home and sleep.”

“Are you leaving?” The fight left her, and Bel hunched in her chair.

“Yes, for a few hours.”

“All right.” She stood. “I’m coming back when you do, though.”

“I can live with that.” Griffin waited for her to gather her things before walking her to her car. “Emerson?” He said as she unlocked her vehicle. “Be careful. Watch your surroundings. Keep your dog close and your door locked. I know you like to walk him, but not tonight. Promise me you’ll stay inside.”

“I will.”

Griffin nodded, the vulnerability on his face conveying how much he cared for Bel, and she reached out, squeezing his forearm. They said their goodbyes, but she waited until the sheriff was safely in his car to pull out of the parking lot. She drove home, scanning her yard for anything unusual before exiting the vehicle. Cerberus greeted her homecoming enthusiastically, pulling for the trees as she clicked his harness into place, but she held him firmly in the square of light cast by the open front door. He continued to tug, wagging his tail at the darkness, and Bel scanned the tree line in confusion. She always sensed when her stalker was there, guarding her from evil, but the air felt too empty, too still. Eamon wasn’t there, and she regretted ever telling him to stop following her. Of all the nights she needed his death-black eyes, it was now.

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