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CHAPTER

FORTY

PRESENT DAY

Logan awoke the next morning ready to get to work. He’d stayed up late again, re-reading Morgan’s journal once more. Every time he read her words he felt as if he was getting to know her even better.

And every time, he felt more and more bothered by the burdens she was carrying that she hadn’t spoken about. Burdens he would have loved to help her carry. Burdens she had hidden away.

Burdens that seemed like the small fractures she always captured in her photos. The brokenness in the beauty.

She’d related more to those photos that he’d imagined.

Really, whenever he read her journal, he was searching for clues. But her entries had been too vague. She never mentioned specifics—only feelings or suspicions. No names.

However, today, he knew exactly what he needed to do.

When he wandered from the spare bedroom where he’d slept for the evening, he saw Simmy making pancakes in the kitchen.

He knew he’d have a hard time saying no to her offer of food, despite the urgency pressing in on him.

“I thought you could use a little nourishment before you set out for the day.” She flashed a soft smile at him.

He sat at the breakfast bar across from where she worked. “You didn’t have to do that.”

“I know. I wanted to.” She offered a sweet smile.

“I appreciate it, Simmy.”

She flipped a pancake. “I really enjoyed meeting Morgan at the wedding, and I regretted I couldn’t go to her award ceremony.”

“Ranger told me Anastasia had a school concert that evening. It’s understandable.”

She placed a stack of pancakes on a plate in front of him, followed by a bottle of syrup and a cup of steaming hot coffee.

Ranger really had found something special when he’d found Simmy. Logan was certain that Simmy would say the same of Ranger.

At that thought, an ache pulsed from deep inside him. An ache Logan hadn’t felt in a long time.

He wanted what Ranger and Simmy had. What Duke and Andi had. Even Mariella seemed happy now that she was dating Jason Somersby.

But maybe that kind of relationship wasn’t in his future. If he didn’t save Morgan, then he had no hope of that possibility.

Because she was the only one he could even imagine being with.

Now she was missing.

A pang of regret spread through his chest at the thought.

He said a quick prayer, and then dug into his breakfast.

Duke, Andi, and Ranger all emerged from their rooms—the scent of breakfast probably drawing them out. Ranger informed them that Anastasia was still sound asleep.

While they ate, they discussed a game plan for today.

Logan planned on trying to track down more information on Walsh.

While he did that, Duke had insisted that Andi get some more rest. And Ranger said he’d be more than happy to help later.

This morning, he was doing story time at Anastasia’s school.

Duke offered to accompany Logan.

He said Logan wasn’t functioning at full capacity.

Logan’s first inclination was to say no. Then he realized his friend was correct.

He was tired and operating on very little sleep. Living off of adrenaline and caffeine. Plus, his emotions were involved, and he wasn’t thinking as objectively as he would like.

“If you don’t mind, that would be great,” Logan finally said.

Before leaving, he left a message with Reeves. He needed to know if their theory was true and another dead body had been found last night.

He knew it was risky to ask her for help. The last thing he wanted was to get his colleague fired or for her to be put on some type of probation.

He waited to see if she would respond. If she didn’t within the next hour, then he’d move on to Plan B.

A few minutes later, Logan and Duke were in Logan’s SUV, and they started down the road.

They were going to Reuben Walsh’s house to see if he was home and to check out his place.

But Logan knew the truth already—the man was most likely dead.

Twenty minutes later, he and Duke pulled to a stop in front of Reuben’s small house. The compact, one-story home had the look of a place where someone just existed rather than lived.

There was peeling paint on the window trim, and the front porch sagged under the weight of accumulated snow and ice. The mailbox tilted at an odd angle, and several Amazon packages sat abandoned by the door.

Everything about the place suggested someone who’d stopped caring about appearances—or maybe someone too distracted by other obsessions to notice.

Logan really hoped he might find some answers here. He was running out of both time and leads.