Page 524 of Cold Case, Warm Hearts

He frowns, and maybe I haven’t started calling him that, yet. “Come in, Rembrandt. Shut the door.”

Hmm.

He gets up, and gestures to me to sit down, which is a little weird, but I do, on the sofa shoved against the wall.

He leans against the desk and blows out a breath. “Okay, I got some news, and I know it might be just another dead lead, but…”

The way he’s acting, the grim look…oh, no, in all the bombing clutter I’dforgotten?—

“A fisherman found a dead body a couple days ago over in Swan Lake, out in Waconia. They hauled it in and sent it to the M.E’s office. I got a call this morning—it’s on the machine.”

He’s reaching over to play it for me, but I know what it says. My body goes numb.

“It’s my brother.”

Suddenly, I desperately want to wake up. Because I remember this part of my past too. The fact that I was so busy with the bombings that someone else went to talk to my parents.

Someone else, not their detective son, who’d become an Inspector for exactly this reason—to find my brother.

I should have been there when they got the news.

I will be, this time.

“It’s not for sure. It takes a while to get back the DNA evidence, but it was a kid, and there was a backpack…”

“It’s a Return of the Jedi pack, isn’t it?”

He nods and while I know it’s coming, the gesture hits me like a fist.

“I just thought I should give you a heads up. I know the timing stinks?—”

“I’ll tell my parents.” I get up.

“It’s not conclusive yet,” he says. “Wait until the DNA comes back. But…I’m really sorry, Rembrandt. I know that you probably knew he was dead, but there’s always that hope, right?”

I shake my head. “There are no happy endings, boss. I’m used to it.”

The words dig in and now I’m annoyed and frustrated as I head back out into the heat. If I really could dream myself into the past and make some changes, I’d start with the day my brother went missing.

The day I left him behind.

Burke is waiting for me, leaning on his car, his arms folded as I come out. “You in trouble?”

“No,” I snap. But, he doesn’t deserve that, so I add, “Chief just wanted to talk to me about an old case.”

He nods and follows me over to my car. Only then do I notice the flattened back tire. Really?

I give it a kick. “When did this happen?”

“Last night. I gave you a ride home. Remember?”

No, I want to say. Because yesterday was twenty-four freakin’ years ago, and even in my subconscious I don’t have that kind of memory.

But that accounts for why he picked me up this morning.

I pop the trunk and find my jack kit and tire in the back. Taking off my coat, I set to work, and twenty minutes later, the spare is on.

“Can you follow me to the garage? There’s Speedy’s off Lake, and Rusty will have me back in action in a couple hours.”

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