Vanished in the Night by Eileen Carr Read Free Book Online Page B

“Not applicable in this case.”
    The urge to tell them both what they could make applicable to themselves and where they could apply it was damn near overwhelming. She walked away, her clenched fists down at her sides.
Zach watched her walk away. Not many women could fill out a set of scrubs in a way that interested him. This one did. Too bad she was clearly furious. It would have been so much better to meet her, say, through work. Maybe he’d be coming in to question a gunshot victim and she’d be there. Their eyes would meet, and . . .
    Damn, his fantasy life was nearly as pathetic as his actual love life. He’d just gotten bored. Hookups with Badge Bunnies were too easy and didn’t mean crap. He’d rather watch the game than deal with the drama and the bullshit that seemed to go along with it.
    He turned around to Rodriguez. “Anything?”
    “Nothing that looks like it’s been used recently, except the lawn mower. I don’t think Osborne is a memberof the garden club.” Rodriguez exited the shed, blinking in the sunlight. “Wanna see what’s doing inside? Or do you want to hide out here and try to avoid the dragon lady?”
    “You scared of that little thing? The ex-husband of Doreen Winston?” Zach grinned at him.
    “It’s not me I’m worried about, bro. You’re the one who went all tongue-tied.” Frank started toward the house.
    “I wasn’t tongue-tied. I was being serious. It’s important she understand the gravity of the situation.” Zach followed him.
    They walked in through the back door. “Anything?” Zach asked the first uniform he saw.
    “No. Nothing obvious. But what did you expect?” The uniform shrugged and kept walking.
    Zach wasn’t sure. Three people had asked him what he’d expected to find here, and he didn’t have a good answer for them. Still, it was the place where they needed to start. They needed to get to know the victim.
    “Hey,” he called after the uniform. “You find any old yearbooks or anything like that?”
    “Yeah. I think there’s a box down in the basement.”
    It would probably be a whole ’nother load of nothing, but they should take a look.
    *     *     *
Veronica was sure Max had never come to this house for help.
    So where would he have gone if he’d come back to Sacramento? Who would he have asked for help?
    Max had had lots of friends. He was one of those kids who was good at sports, and smart but not freaky smart. He was normal.
    As she drove home, Veronica tried to remember their names.
    On the radio on her way home, she heard: “A preliminary identification has been made of the bones found in the construction site in downtown Sacramento yesterday. Stay tuned for more.”
    She sighed. Max had often told her he would be famous someday, a rock star or an NBA player. But his fame had come from a pile of bones trying to get his story told.
    The cops were probably done with whatever investigating they could do. They didn’t seem to know when Max actually died, so how the hell were they supposed to figure out why and how?
    Veronica still felt like she should have known, somehow. It had to have been after he ran away from that Sierra School. She made the turn into her condo complex and pulled into her assigned parking space. Instead of getting out, though, she shut her eyes, trying to remember the names of friends and teammates she’dheard him talk about. Faces floated in front of her eyes and a few first names occurred to her. She’d been so much younger that their social lives hadn’t intersected. Max hadn’t brought friends around their house, nor had she. It hadn’t taken long for her to figure out that other little girls’ mommies didn’t take those long naps on the couch with empty bottles nearby.
    She’d search through the mementos she had of Max. Maybe there would be something there. Because if the police weren’t going to try to find out what happened to her brother, then she would. If Max had come back to Sacramento,