Page 63 of The Thinnest Air

For now.

“Thanks for talking to me,” I add.

“Of course.”

“And Harris?” I ask before he hangs up. “Please don’t tell Greer we talked. She’s going to know something’s up.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.”

CHAPTER 28

GREER

Day Eight

I stop at the police department on my way out of town to meet Bixby, the detective who replaced Ronan as the lead investigator on the case, and I’m surprised to find him standing in the lobby, shooting the breeze with a female dispatcher who appears to be on a coffee break.

“Bixby,” I say, my attention trained on his name tag before rising to his smug, double-chinned smirk.

“Yeah? Why?” he asks.

“I’m Meredith Price’s sister,” I say, extending my hand in an effort to make a good first impression. I want him to trust me, to be able to confide in me the way Ronan did. “Greer Ambrose.”

His expression falls, and the dispatcher mutters a quick goodbye before disappearing down the hallway.

He shakes my hand. “Harold Bixby.”

His belly hangs over his belt slightly, and the fabric of his uniform top is pulled taut, held together by small, shiny buttons.

“Andrew said you’re bringing a cadaver dog out today?” I ask.

He studies me. “We’re exhausting all options. This is standard operation. Doesn’t necessarily mean—”

“Okay.” I cut him off before he can finish. “I just didn’t know if maybe there was something you knew that you weren’t necessarily sharing just yet?”

“We’ve shared everything we can with Mr.Price,” he says.

“Is there anything you’renotsharing?” I offer a benign smile, like my question isn’t annoyingly persistent.

“If there is, ma’am, I couldn’t tell you. We share everything as it becomes available to be shared.”

“Yes or no, Detective?” I say, smiling so hard it makes my cheeks hurt. I probably look like a crazy person.

“Like I said, we share what we can,” he says. “Anything that could possibly jeopardize the investigation is unable to be shared with the public.”

“But Andrew’s not the public. He’s her husband.”

“Either way. We have a job to do, and we have to do it in such a way that it won’t jeopardize the case.” He drags his thumb and middle finger down the sides of his mouth, cocking his head. “That said, I’m not saying that we have any additional information.”

“It’s just that the last detective was willing to keep us in the loop about everything,” I say.

“And that detective is currently on leave for his unethical handling of a case that was entrusted to him.”

Fair enough. “We’re looking for her just as hard as you are. If there’s anything that can help us, we’d like to know.”

“I’m sure you would.”

Ignoring his sighs and folded arms, I add, “Anyway, I’m leaving for a few days, going back home to New York. If anything develops while I’m gone, I was wondering if you could call me? I’ll give you my number. My phone’s always on. I can be on the next flight back here.”