Page 126 of State of Retribution

“Why was a seven-year-old playing outside with no one watching her?When I was home, I always went out with her and kept an eye on her.It was rare for me to hang out at someone else’s house because I didn’t like to leave her, and the one time I wasn’t there, someone snatched her?I was outraged with them, and they knew it.”

“Why were you at someone else’s home that day?”

“My cousin Bryce had gotten an ATV and invited me to come check it out.That was hard to say no to.I told Jordan I’d be back in an hour, and we could go outside when I got back, but an hour became two, and when I came home, she was gone, and my grandmother had just realized it.That’s why we don’t know the exact time of her disappearance.I couldn’t believe she’d let Jordan go out alone.I still can’t believe it to this day.”

“Was your neighborhood unsafe?”

“It could be sketchy at times, with people living around us that we didn’t know all that well.Also, I saw the way men looked at Jordan, even when she was that young.They were dazzled by her, which was revolting to me.Six months before she went missing, I got into it with a guy at a restaurant who kept staring at her.I got in his face and told him she wassixand to fuck off.My grandparents were angry with me for making a scene, but I didn’t care.The guy was a creep.”

“Did you investigate him?”

“I did.He died two months after our confrontation.I wasn’t unhappy to hear that.”

“Have you gone back to look for sexual offenders in your area at that time?”

“All dead ends.”

“Have you thought about engaging the press?You could publicize the age-progressed photo and tell your story to one of the true-crime shows or podcasts.”

“That’s something I haven’t considered.Due to the nature of my job, I don’t court publicity.”

“I get that, but at this point, it couldn’t hurt anything.Let me ask my partner, Freddie Cruz, about the podcasts.He’s a fan of them and would know which ones would work best.”

“I appreciate the help and the brainstorming.”

“I wish there was more I could do to help.”

“This was more than enough, and it’s got me fired up again, which I needed.”

“I’ll let you know what Freddie says about the podcasts.”

“Thanks again, Sam.I really appreciate it.”

“Any time.”

As Jesse endedthe call he’d said he had to take, she watched as he plugged his phone into the bedside charger and stretched out next to her.As his girlfriend/fuck buddy/colleague/sorta friend, Memphis Rose Costello wanted to ask about the call but couldn’t bear to witness the devastation that always overtook him when he talked about his missing sister.

She’d learned to tread carefully on that subject.Raised in Memphis by her grandmother and mother to be a strong, competent woman who didn’t need a man, Memphis Rose had made it her mission not to become attached to the perpetually out-of-reach Jesse Best.

That mission had been an abject failure.

Her grandmother, the world’s biggest Elvis fan, had cleaned Graceland for thirty years, and Memphis was born in the same hospital as Lisa Marie Presley, a point of pride for her mother and grandmother.The two strongest women she knew would be appalled by what she was putting up with in her “relationship” with Jesse if they knew about it, which they didn’t.

He’d insisted on the secrecy because technically, they shouldn’t be fraternizing outside of work since he was her boss.To cope with the restrictions, she’d made some rules for herself: never spend the night, never ask questions about where “this” was going and never let on that she loved him or that she hurt for him.

That last part was getting tougher all the time as she witnessed his torment over the ongoing cold case.She wanted to ask who’d called and who was helping him, but she’d learned not to stick her nose into places it wasn’t welcome.Sometimes she wondered if she was nothing more than a warm body at the end of every hideous day on the job.

There would come a time when that wouldn’t be enough for her.If she was being honest, that time had come and gone about two years ago.And yet, here she was, still keeping his bed warm while wondering if anything—or anyone—could permeate the barbed-wire fence he kept around his heart.

When it became clear that he had no plans to further engage with her that evening, she started to get up in deference to rule number one: never spend the night.

“Don’t go.”

She froze because he’d never said those words to her before.Looking over her shoulder at him, she tried to gauge his mood, but as usual, his face gave nothing away.“Why?”

“Does there need to be a reason?”

Memphis Rose swallowed hard against the lump that had appeared in her throat out of nowhere.Two little words from him invoked so many emotions in her, too many to process while she was trying to stay cool in front of him.If he had any idea how she really felt, this would be over so fast, her head would spin.

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