Page 8 of Instinct & New Identity

“This.Thelogo?”Iclipped. “Wheredid you find this?Whatwebsite are you on?”

I tried to lean in closer and grabbed her mouse, but she blocked me and slapped my hand away.

“Who spit in your coffee today?”Ruthiesaid back to me, full of attitude.

I sighed, realizingIwas taking my sudden sour mood out on her, andIwasn’t sure why.

“If you must know,” she continued. “Archerasked me to look into some places that do website design to help us out with making ours more user-friendly for inquiries and such.”

“Send me the details on that particular one, will ya?”Iasked, trying to sound a little nicer now.

“Okay, but if that one bothers you,Ican take it off the short-list,”Ruthiesaid.

“It’s not that.”Istarted to explain so she didn’t get the wrong idea. “Irecognize that logo.Mightknow who runs that company.”

“Oh, well, in that case, let me know, andIcan move it to the top of the short-list whenIsend it toArcher,” she said with more enthusiasm and a smile on her face.

“Hold off for now.Ineed to make sure it’s the same person, but thanks,”Itold her, grabbing my paperwork for the skip and heading back upstairs to my office with a renewed sense of energy.

I’d know that cat drawing anywhere.Sure, it may be a digital version on the website, but that was not from a generic clipart.

That was the same cat drawing that had haunted me for years.Thesame cat that was tattooed on my chest.Thesame cat my pen pal had drawn in every letter she ever sent me.

Until she ghosted me.

4

VINCE

What felt like hours later,Ifinally finished the report on the skip we had just picked up.Admittedly, it may have taken me longer than usual sinceIspent a considerable amount of time looking into the website with the cat logo.Ifinally had my first clue in years, but the website provided no additional information that was useful, soIgave up and went back to my report.

A knock at my door had me looking up to seeWadeleaning on the door jamb.

“You found her,” he said, grinning.

“Uh, the skip was a one-hundred-and-eighty-pound man with a mustache.Definitelynot aher,”Itold him, wondering why he thought the skipI’dcaught was a female.

He smiled. “No,Imean you found your missing girl.”

I was confused, and he must have seen that on my face.

“Your cat letter girl who ghosted you,” he said, and my body tightened.

“Ruthie came by whenArcherandIwere going over some new clients, and she said to move one of the website businesses to the top of the list because you thought you might know the owner.Wewere curious since you hadn’t brought it up whenArcheroriginally asked, so we pulled up the website,” he said, andIrealized he had seen the same thingIhad. “Thecat logo is the same one she used to put on your letters and why you got that stupid pussy tattoo.”

I rolled my eyes at his comment, which he had made numerous times before.Iwas also not surprised since he knew how much those letters meant to me.Eventhough he andJackused to give me crap, they knew that letters from home could be your lifeline in the tough moments.

“Thought you gave up looking for her.”Hesaid it like it was not a question, but it clearly was.

He knewI’dspent months after we got home to theStateslooking for her and trying to figure out who she was.I’dalways hated things that weren’t solved, closed, or resolved.Itwas whyIwas good at hunting people down like my dad was.Themystery of not knowing bothered me.Itwas also why shows likeUnsolvedMysteriesandColdCasebothered the hell out of me.

“I did give up,”ItoldWade.

“I guess fate has decided otherwise,”Wadesaid with a grin.

“What are you now?AwalkingHallmarkcard?”Ibasically grunted at him. “Iget you’re in love withEllie, dude, andI’mhappy for you, but not everyone else needs the romantic voo-doo speech.”

I didn’t need him trying to make something out of nothing, especially since she was the one who stopped communicating.Inmy last letter,Itold herIagreed to switch to email since she would be graduating soon and wanted to keep the conversation going, and then she stopped.Her.Notme.

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