Page 6 of Keeping Collette

Did she want to be prideful and walk out of there and go back to the police, where it would be pointless, as they didn’t care one iota about her sister? Or did she want to go back upstairs and work with the people who were doing more than the police had even done? The authorities hadn’t bothered to ask her for her sister’s number. To them, she was just another police report. Another number.

It was common knowledge they were overworked, under paid, and likely, understaffed. Didn’t make it any easier for her to accept it.

“Thank you.” What else could she say? She had no choice. She wanted to find Courtney, and she honestly believed that the man in front of her and the others upstairs, were the ones that could help achieve that.

At least she hoped they could.

With each passing minute, the chances of locating Courtney were dimming. Collette couldn’t lose faith, she had to believe her sister was still alive out there somewhere.

What would they think of her if she walked back into the room after the way she’d spectacularly stomped out of there?

Would they look at her differently?

Or would they see that she was balancing precariously on an emotional tightrope, fearful that the next step would have her tumbling down with no one to catch her?

It was just her against the world when it came to finding Courtney.

“Do you want to head back up?” Deal asked softly, as if he could see the dilemma she was wading through in her mind. “It’ll be okay. Everyone will be fine with you.”

Yep, he did know.

“Yes.” At the end of the day, all that mattered was finding Courtney.

Deal stood and held out his hand toward her. A peace offering? A way of showing her that he was on her side?

None of that mattered, after Courtney was found, she was never going to see him again. She put her hand in his, her palm tingled and sparks of warmth sizzled in her veins at the contact. His fingers flexed.

Had Deal felt it as well?

The touch was grounding. Soothing and needed in an unexpected way.

Neither one of them made a move to untangle their fingers as they rode the elevator back up.

Would he keep the connection when they got back to Alliez’s office? Or would he let go?

It would make sense for him to let go, because it wasn’t like they were a couple or anything. Yet, the idea of losing this link between them didn’t sit well with her. A totally irrational reaction, considering not five minutes ago she didn’t want anything to do with him. Perhaps it was because of all the emotions running through her, that was causing her to react this way. Not to mention lack of sleep.

They exited the elevator, and disappointment flowed through her when he gave her hand a quick squeeze before releasing it to open the door. Collette shouldn’t miss his touch— it had only been a few minutes—but she did.

She sighed and rubbed her eyes tiredly as she walked back into the office. It was all becoming too much. The weight of responsibility sat heavily on her shoulders. She’d weathered more than this in her life, and she would get through it this time too. At the end of it all, her sister would be safe, and they’d work through whatever happened to her.

Chapter Four

Deal surreptitiously flexed his hand and gave it a small shake. The lingering tingle from holding Collette’s hand remained, even though they’d been sitting at the conference table for the last hour.

Everyone had gone except him, Collette, Cass, and Irish.

“I’ve believe I’ve got Courtney’s last known location before there were no more pings off her phone.” Cass tapped the keyboard, and the large television screen lit up with a map of Los Angeles and surrounding areas, with half a dozen blue and red dots, and one lone green dot. “The blue is for where Courtney was three days prior to her going missing. The red ones are the day of her disappearance and the day after. Obviously the green one is the last location.”

“Are any of these places familiar to you?” Deal asked Collette.

She got up and moved closer to the screen, as if that would help her determine her answer. “There are some that are.” She pointed to one spot. “That’s where she goes to school. This one here is my apartment. And that one there, is the house she lives in with our parents.”

Deal noticed she said “house” when referring to where Courtney lived. “Right. What about the other spots? Particularly, the last place where her phone was pinged.”

Collette’s sigh was heavy and telling, he had his answer before she even said it. “No. I don’t know why she’d be there. It’s too far away from my place and her school. She doesn’t know anyone in that area either. She doesn’t have a lot of friends—no one wants to hang with her. Given how our parents act, I’m not surprised. Which is why I’ve always done everything I can to give her a safe place to land. I don’t understand why she wouldn’t come to me if she was in any type of trouble. I wouldn’t judge her. I would do everything I could to help her.”

The urge to go to where she stood and give her hug was one Deal battled with. The way she’d clung desperately to his hand earlier, which he didn’t even think she had any idea she was doing, told him she craved the personal touch he’d given her. The simple gesture was probably more than she’d had in a long time.