Page 55 of Begin Again
My birthday.
Beau types in the number and the screen opens.
“Well, that confirms it’s his,” Sheriff Wilson says, rubbing his chin.
“Because the photo didn’t?” I ask, earning a sigh from Beau and a glare from Wilson.
Sergeant Warren rolls his eyes but continues the conversation, trying to ignore the tension between me and Sheriff Wilson. “Why was it over at Nayda? Does he usually go out that way?”
“This is only the second time he’s been out here. He doesn’t usually hike here,” I say.
Max curses under his breath and gives Beau a worried glance, but Beau’s focus remains on the phone. His finger skims across the screen as he searches through it. “The last message to go out is…a failed message to Nina.” His eyes meet mine before he extends the bag toward me and I only look at it, glancingbetween the phone and him. I’m scared to know what the message says, but Beau nods, pushing the bag into my hands.
I look down at the green bubble with a bright red exclamation point beside it indicating it was undelivered.
I smoother the sob that escapes my lips, trying not to break here and now, and look up to meet Beau’s sympathetic eyes. My bottom lip trembles and I pull it between my teeth to settle it, but it doesn’t work as tears build in the corners of my eyes.
“Let’s give her a minute,” Beau suggests, beginning to usher the others away from me.
“N-no.” I clear my throat and dab my eyes. Pinching the bridge of my nose, I take a settling breath. I will not break right here in front of them. I can’t. “No. What else did you find?”
“Nina—”
My voice raises when I have to repeat my question. I won’t like whatever it is, but it doesn’t matter. Now is not the time to tiptoe around my feelings. “What else did you find?”
The sergeant picks up the third bag with the piece of fabric and hands it over to me. “You recognize this?”
“I mean, it could be from one of his shirts. He has a few long sleeves this color, but I don’t know for sure.” Lifting the bag into the light, there’s a splotch of something darker on the fabric. “What is this?”
“We need to test it, but it looks like blood.” Beau doesn’t sugarcoat it this time.
“This was with the phone?”
“Not far from it.”
Gone are the tears and hurt, replaced by pure anger. “We have been here fordaysand you’ve only now found this shit? You were about to call this off! No, youdidcall it off. You gave up before you’d searched everything!” Beau tries to interrupt me, but I hold my finger up. “Shut up, Beau. Not one more word from you or I’ll have your job before the sun rises in the fucking east.”
His mouth clamps shut.
I toss the evidence bag back on the hood and meet each one of their stares. “My advice? Figure out what is going on. I amdone with the fucking games. I want to know what happened to my husband and where he went. And if you can’t do that, then you all better start looking for a new career path.”
It’s barely past five in the morning when I walk back into the house. The officers plan to do a final extensive search of the area later today, but they need to get back to their respective offices and make a few calls first. Beau had released Max from duty but told him to be on standby. They’d probably need him, considering the amount of ground that would need to be covered before the end of the day. Sheriff Wilson tried to argue everyone needed to get some rest before the search—no one would be any good if they were exhausted. Sergeant Warren smirked and shook his head before he patted Beau on the back and climbed into his SUV. Wilson tried to reason with Beau, with me, but the plans were clear, and they weren’t changing. Before I left, I told the sheriff of Puck County that if he didn’t want to do his job, I would find someone who wanted to. I was done playing by his rules, it was time we played by mine.
“You’re up early,” Kai says, entering the kitchen. I can hear his muscles pop and stretch, a few cracks here and there, as he stretches out and rubs his eyes.
“Just got home.” I fill a mug with fresh coffee and lean back against the counter, inhaling the scent.
“You just…You just got home?” My brother’s mouth hangs open. “Nina, please tell me they didn’t—”
“It wasn’t him.” I take a deep breath, another inhale of the rich, warm aroma emanating from the mug in my hands. “It was his stuff, and his shirt had blood on it.”
Looking up to the ceiling, I chew on the inside of my cheek, willing the tears togo away, but this time they refuse to retreat. “What am I supposed to do, Kai? He’s my best friend. My other half. I don’t…I can’t do this without him.”
“You won’t have to,” Kai reassures me, but he hasn’t seen what I’ve seen. “We’ll find him, Nin. We will.”
I swallow back the thickness coating my throat and finally look at him. “I hate you.”
“I know. I hate me, too.”
