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wouldn’t be right.” She mustered her courage for what would come next. “Before we get into what happened to April, I need to tell you what I just learned about Patience.”
    ***
    Cobb pushed Luke into a seat in the lobby and called dispatch for a cruiser to pick him up.
    “Whew. What—you take a bath in alcohol?” Cobb waved his hand in front of his nose.
    Luke sat there. No emotion on his face.
    “What’s your deal? You like to beat women?” Cobb asked.
    Luke’s eyes were watery and fixed on him. “She wouldn’t tell me where my daughter is. She said I needed to talk to the police. So, where is Patience?”
    “We found a girl up at Taron Hills this morning. She fits the description of your daughter. We’ve been trying to reach you all morning."
    “They’ve killed her.” He sobbed as tears drenched his cheeks. “It’s my fault. I couldn’t… ”
    Luke stared past Cobb, his eyes bulged. His face changed from red to ashen. Cobb turned to see what he saw. Three men and three women stood huddled together talking. He only recognized Jack, the supervisor in the group.
    “Oh, God. They’re here.” Luke jumped to his feet. He trembled. “I’m dead. Do you hear me? I’m dead.”
    “Sit down,” Cobb said.
    “I need protection from those people.”
    Cobb pushed him back into a seat.
    “Calm down or I’ll gag you.” He glanced back at the group. “Who are you talking about?”
    “I swear, I need protection.”
    A couple of police officers entered the building. Cobb recognized one of them from this morning.
    “Kirkpatrick, process him, but keep him isolated. He might need a psych eval.”
    “Got it.” Kirkpatrick dragged Luke from his chair and out the door.
    Cobb walked in the opposite direction, past the group, and returned to the conference room. Nicolet sat at the table as he thumbed through his notes.
    “Where we at?” Cobb took a seat beside his partner.
    “There’s a development. Patience ran away from the Frosts two weeks ago.”
    “What? Where’d you hear that?”
    “First from Angela Frost. And just now from Kari.”
    “Kari? Kari Marchant? You’re getting real informal with her. Why didn’t she tell us this morning?”
    “She’s overprotective of her friend, Mina Steele. Long story short, the Frosts called, Kari wasn’t in, so Mina took the message. The note got lost in some of her files, and she didn’t find it until last night.”
    “Damn it.” Cobb’s hands balled into fists. “These goddamn people are unbelievable. That little girl never had a chance. Steele and Marchant both need to have obstruction of justice charges filed against them.”
    “Hold on.”
    “Hold on, my ass. Don’t let that little head of yours make decisions for you.” Cobb rose. “Kari Marchant should have told us this morning. I don’t care what her excuse is, it’s not good enough.”
    “She just wanted to…”
    Cobb put up his hand. “I don’t want to hear it.”
    Nicolet sighed.
    Cobb made his way to the door and turned. “I hope she’s worth it.”
    ***
    Cobb cooled off, returning with a cup of coffee for both of them. “Just watch your back. You don’t know what her intentions are. I’ll leave it at that.”
    “Thanks. I appreciate it.” He couldn’t fault Cobb. Nicolet would’ve treated anyone else a lot differently, but she was special.
    Jack entered the conference room. “Detectives, I’m about to let everyone go for the day. Will this take long?”
    “It’ll take as long as it takes,” Cobb responded.
    “Let me go first then,” a buxom blonde woman with blue eyes said from the doorway. “I don’t know anything. Can I leave now?”
    “No, and you’ll be the last one we interview, so get comfortable,” Cobb snorted.
    Jack stuck his head out of the room and called for someone named Grey.
    A bald man in a blue blazer, yellow shirt, paisley bow tie, and blue slacks strolled in and took a seat.
    “Full name, please,” Nicolet said.
    “I-I-I’m G-G-Grey