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“AndI’mtelling you there’s no need. It was an accident.”
Frustration lanced him. Why was the man fighting him so hard on this? Mason narrowed his eyes.
“Let him see the file, Daniel.”
Mason and Lacey turned as one to see Catelyn standing in the door of the office.
Daniel let out a low sound of disgust and stomped to the file cabinet in the corner of the room. Tugging open a drawer, he searched until he found what he was looking for.
Turning, he slapped the file in front of Mason. “There.” Fury glittered in his gaze. “I don’t appreciate the insinuation that I missed something.”
Ah, so that was the issue. “I’m not saying you missed something because you didn’t do your job, I’m just saying a fresh set of eyes might not be a bad thing.”
“Whatever. I’m going to get some coffee.”
Catelyn stepped into the room as Daniel brushed past her. She said, “I worked the wreck with him. I don’t know what you think you’ll find, but have at it.”
* * *
With Daniel’s departure, Lacey felt as if she could breathe again. At least until Mason leaned in close to look at the file with her. His unique scent filled her senses, and she pulled it in as though clinging to that, she could have a piece of him to call her own once again.
She appreciated his support even though she knew he still wanted to discuss the past—and Bethany. However, his priority—finding Bethany—matched hers at the moment and she was grateful.
Mason pulled pictures of the wreck from the file and spread them on Daniel’s desk. Lacey stood to get a better view.
When he unveiled pictures of the dead teen still seated behind the wheel, Lacey gasped and turned away from the photo, nausea swirling in her gut.
“Sorry,” Mason offered. “Let me sort through them. Don’t look until I tell you to.”
Gathering her emotions and clamping them under control, she turned back. “No, I need to see them all.”
“Lacey…”
“Just show me.”
With a heavy sigh, Mason did as she asked and placed them in the order they’d been shot. Gulping a fortifying breath, Lacey studied each photo, throwing up mental blocks that this was a girl she’d had in her home, taken to eat pizza and was Bethany’s best friend. She forced herself to go over every detail even as her heart broke for the precious life cut short.
Oh, Bethany, where are you?Please, God, don’t let Bethany be dead. Keep her in Your care wherever she is.
She studied the interior of the car, the exterior, the shadows behind the vehicle.
And then she saw it.
Another gasp slipped from her as she grabbed Mason’s arm without thinking. “There. Isn’t that a gold necklace on the ground beside the back door?”
Mason moved in for a closer look. The warmth of his bare forearm burned her hand and she snatched it back, curling her fingers into a fist. Before, she would have rubbed her hand up and down his arm in a soothing, affectionate motion, then end with entwining his fingers with hers.
Now she didn’t have that right.
“It looks like it.”
Catelyn and Daniel returned to the office just as Mason picked up the picture. He looked at Daniel. “Do you have a magnifying glass?”
Without comment, the man rounded his desk and pulled open his top drawer. “Here.”
“Thanks.” Mason held the glass over the area of the picture Lacey had pointed out to him. “Yeah, that’s a gold chain all right.” He looked at Daniel. “Can we get this blown up?”
“Why?”