Stitch by Jaime Lewis (ebook reader online .txt) 📗

with her.  He embraced her while her soft snores lulled him to sleep.

Chapter Seventeen

“Detective McDonnell, it’s nice to meet you,” Ace said as he shook the detective’s hand. “This is my fiancé, Alex.”

The detective smiled. “It’s nice to meet both of you. Follow me, and we can talk in my office. Would either of you like anything to drink?” He offered as they entered a small, bare-bones office. The only things that made it resemble an office space were the desk, a computer that looked like it belonged in a museum, and two chairs.

“No, thank you.” Ace answered.

The detective motioned to the chairs. “Please, have a seat.”

Once Ace and Alex were seated, the detective started to give them an update on Mia’s case.

“I’ll be honest with you. When Tink first called me and explained what happened to your sister, I thought we were dealing with a crime that we deal with daily. I know that sounds awful, but this is a dangerous city.

“But you don’t think that way, now?”

“No. There’s more to this case than meets the eye. I just haven’t found that missing link yet, but I’m feeling optimistic that I’m close.”

“Can you give us any update?”

“Right now, my focus is on Mia’s place of employment.”

Ace sat forward in the chair. “You think someone at her office was behind her abduction?”

“I don’t know if they were behind it, but I have a hunch there is definitely something off about that place, and someone knows something.”

Ace listened as Detective McDonnell explained the facts they had to go on. He hadn’t been lying; there wasn’t a ton of evidence. There were no witnesses to her abduction, and they looked into street cameras but only caught the side of the van they believed was used. Unfortunately, it was just a white delivery van with no distinguished markings. They interviewed her neighbors to see if they had seen or heard anything. The focus there was on the good Samaritan who dropped Mia off at her apartment. The detective was baffled by the mystery person's involvement in the ordeal. Whoever it had benn knew the placement of the cameras around her apartment building. He had been able to avoid every single one of them. All they had to go on was Mia’s recollection from that night, which wasn’t a lot.

The detective told them about visiting her workplace, and what Danny— Mia’s friend and co-worker—had told him about Willow and how they couldn’t locate her.

“So, this Willow girl is missing now, too?” Alex asked.

“We don’t know for sure. According to Dr. Walters, he received her resignation via email during the Thanksgiving weekend.”

“Can’t you contact her family?”

“It appears she doesn’t have any family. From records we were able to locate, she was an only child. Her dad died when she was young, and her mom passed away a little over a year ago. After her mom died, she moved to the city. It seems she’s a loner, doesn’t have many friends. In fact, Mia and Danny were who she would hang out with outside of work.

“You mentioned that Danny said Willow wanted to talk to Mia the night she disappeared.”

The detective nodded his head. “Danny said that both he and Mia had noticed a change in Willow’s behavior. He said it had started about a month ago. Danny also mentioned that Willow gave Mia an envelope and told her not to open it until they spoke.”

“Have you been able to locate that envelope?”

“No. With your permission, we looked through Mia’s apartment but couldn’t find that or anything that could be a clue in her case. I was planning on calling Tink to see if he could ask Mia about it.”

“I’ll see her tomorrow, so I can ask her, if you’d like. I know you have other cases besides hers.”

“If you could, I’d appreciate it.”

“Would it be okay if Alex and I went by Mia’s apartment to have a look around?”

“No, not at all. Would you care if I tagged along? Maybe we missed something when we were there. Since you’re her brother, you may see something out of place that we didn’t.”

“Fine by me.”

◆◆◆

Ace pulled up to the curb by Mia’s apartment. He handed Alex the key to the apartment.

“I’ll let you off here, then go park the car in the off-site lot the detective told us to use.”

Alex could tell that Ace was uptight and frustrated with the lack of information on Mia’s case. She was frustrated as well, but she knew the police were doing everything they could.

She took the key from Ace, then leaned over, putting her hand against his cheek, and smiled.

“Ace, you need to relax a little.”

He blew out a long breath. “I can’t. Not until whoever is responsible for my sister’s assault is caught.”

“I understand. I’m not saying this will happen, but what are you going to do if you get called up, and there are still no answers? You can’t let this consume you. If you let it, then you are putting yourself in danger and your team. Ace, look at the positive; Mia’s safe. We have to give the police some time to put the puzzle together. If this puzzle is anything compared to the ones I’ve worked on, that missing piece will show up.”

From the look in his eyes, Alex could tell she had gotten her message across.

Ace pulled her closer, fisted her ponytail in his hand, and tugged until her head tilted back. “Thank you,” he said before he took her mouth hard in a crushing kiss that sent her heart racing. Damn, the man’s kisses alone made her head spin.

When he released her, she felt flushed, but so loved.

He winked. “Go on; I’ll be up in a bit.”

She smiled, then exited the car and made her way into the building. Finding Mia’s apartment was easy, and in no time at all, Alex found herself standing just inside. She moved further inside and closed the door but left it unlocked for Ace and Detective