Page 12 of Vanished in the Mist (A Mystic Lake Mystery #2)

He wanted to reassure her that he’d protect her.

But it was a catch-22. Although they clicked together as if they’d been friends a long time, the truth was that they didn’t know each other all that well.

Acting as if he wanted to be her bodyguard at this point could make him seem like the controlling one, like the ex she’d fled.

Making her uncomfortable around him was the last thing he wanted to do.

Which meant the next time he was tempted to take her hand in his, or even kiss her forehead as he’d done earlier, he’d have to quash those desires.

She was coming off a bad relationship and didn’t need to worry that he was coming on to her.

That, and their lives being based so far apart meant one thing.

Shanna was off-limits. He knew it. But his heart, not to mention the rest of his body, was going to take some convincing.

Her gaze searched his. “I’m sorry. That was a lot to lay on you. If you want to head back to Charleston now and leave all of this to me, I totally get it.”

He was shaking his head before she finished speaking.

“You haven’t managed to chase me away just yet.

And both of us have businesses to get back to.

A week is all we’ve got. Let’s make the most of it and see if we can figure out what happened to Tanya.

Her parents deserve to know.” He motioned toward the ominous stacks of paperwork.

“My investigations are completely different than the type you do. You’re the lead here. How do we start?”

“Thank you, Kaden. Thanks for your support, especially even after you’re aware of the potential danger.” This time she was the one who reached across the table and took his hand in hers.

A spark of desire shot straight through him. But he did his best to keep any sign of that from his expression. “Of course. We’re in this together. For a few more days, anyway.”

She pulled her hand back. “I’ll check with the police back home tomorrow to see if they’ve located Troy yet. At least if they have, that’s one less thing to worry about.”

“You mean besides a killer being in Mystic Lake, a killer whose identity we have no clue about? Let alone the identity of his victim?”

“Right. Besides that. Heck of a vacation, huh?”

“At least it won’t be boring.”

They both laughed and she began scooting some of the piles of papers to the side. Then she retrieved a yellow legal pad and pen for him from the brown leather satchel she’d set beside the table earlier, after they’d finished eating. For herself, she pulled out a laptop and set it in front of her.

He motioned toward the legal pad and computer. “If that’s what you brought when you were planning to do nothing, you need some serious coaching on how to relax away from work.”

“My satchel of supplies and my computer are my security blankets. I always take them with me. Always be prepared, right?”

“Are you quoting the Boy Scouts to me?”

She blinked, then grinned. “I guess I am. It’s a good motto.”

He laughed and nodded his agreement.

She picked up one of the larger stacks of papers and set it in the middle.

“This is the official copy of Tanya’s investigation file from the police.

On most of my investigations, like the divorce cases, I have the luxury of time on my side.

But we don’t here, so we’ll have to take some substantial shortcuts and hope we don’t miss anything.

Where I’d usually try to start the investigation pretty much from scratch, not relying on someone else’s work, on this one we’ll need to rely a lot on the foundation the police built.

We’ll note any inconsistencies or holes that will need more follow-up.

But we can’t start from nothing and hope to make enough headway to make a difference fast. I’ll need you to be my devil’s advocate, the person to question everything I do so you can help me see any gaps. ”

“Makes sense. But I’m at a disadvantage.

I read everything your sister sent and used that to formulate a plan of where I’d scan the lake.

I’m not sure what to do aside from that.

Do we go talk to Tanya’s family? Her friends at school?

Try to get a better timeline of what happened the day she disappeared? ”

“All of that, to an extent. But, again, we have to take some shortcuts. The police investigation, at least initially, would have been focused more on quick action to find someone they believed could still be alive. That’s very different from what we’re doing now, trying to find a body.”

She swallowed, obviously feeling sad about Tanya, then continued.

“We’re more in the cold-case phase of the investigation and need to look at it that way.

We’ll build on what was done, and try to narrow everything down as much as possible to see who we actually need to reinterview, so as to cause the least distress to the family. ”

“Officer Fletcher mentioned she’d notified Tanya’s family that we’re looking into her disappearance,” he reminded her. “Do you still want to talk to them?”

“Probably. But let’s review the reports from all of their previous interviews to be sure it’s necessary.

I’d rather not bother them if we don’t have to.

Let’s organize everything into piles that are logically related.

All interview reports can go in one stack.

Any physical evidence reports, like logs of what may have been seen or taken from Tanya’s bedroom, her school locker, anything the police may have collected from the outdoor area where we were today, let’s stack those together.

Photographs should go in a separate stack too.

Once we get all of the information sorted, we can go through each group together. ”

“And after we do that? What’s next?”

“Normally, interviews and reinterviews. Then, I’d dive into cell-phone records, the missing person’s computer, a health-tracking device if they wore one to see if we could get location data from it.

Really, any technological devices associated with the missing person to help formulate who they’ve been talking to, what was going on in their life at the time they went missing and where they might last have been.

I’d also look for a journal, or diary. Those can be a gold mine of information about daily activities and people the missing person has been interacting with, people her parents might not even know about.

Many young girls keep diaries or journals without their parents ever knowing. ”

She powered up her computer.

He chuckled. “Doesn’t sound intimidating at all. I’m sure if we don’t take time to eat or sleep, we can get it done.”

“Right? I know it’s a lot. And that’s not even all that I want to do on Tanya’s case.

We’ll have to prioritize, decide what we think we can accomplish versus what we’ll have to set aside.

At least for now.” She tapped her computer keys, presumably entering a password.

“I definitely want to research her social-media accounts looking for anything suspicious, maybe someone bothering her online, or references she made, posts, telling us her plans in the weeks and days leading up to when she went missing so we can establish a solid timeline. I’d love to check any forensics reports too, see what the police may have found that Cassidy and Tanya’s parents don’t know about.

But we’re going to do all that as one step, or as few steps as possible.

I don’t want to overwhelm you, so I’ll stop right there. ”

“Too late. I’m totally overwhelmed. I wouldn’t have thought of half of that on my own. The main thing I wanted to know when I started my own research before coming here was whether she could swim, and whether she was the type to get near the water.”

Her eyebrows raised. “Those are exactly the sorts of questions we need to explore. You might have more of an instinct for this sort of work than you realized.”

“Doubtful. I’m just the kind of guy always focused on water. That’s my job.”

She shivered. “I’m grateful there are people like you to do that.

I sure couldn’t. Looks like we’re a good pair.

Our skills complement each other’s. Maybe we’ll get lucky and solve this together.

But we honestly won’t have a chance if the police didn’t do a lot of the important groundwork—like cell-phone records and forensic searches of her cell phone and other technology.

That stuff takes a lot of time. If our base of information from them is solid, and if we build an accurate timeline, then our work should point us to where we should search.

If it all goes back to the lake, then it’s on you to find her remains.

But if this isn’t a simple drowning in a place that likes to keep its bodies and hold on to them, then it could be something else entirely. ”

“Murder. Possibly connected with the body we found.”

“That’s a leap I wouldn’t normally consider this early in an investigation. But, yes. I think we have to explore that as a potential theory as part of our short-cuts.”

He sat silent for a moment, taking it all in. “Then we need to look into our John Doe. Search for connections between him and Tanya. Right?”

“Absolutely.” Glancing at the dark windows that formed the corner of the cabin where the table was positioned, she asked, “What time do you normally turn in for the night?”

If he hadn’t cautioned himself about trying to quash his burning attraction for her, he’d make some lame sexy joke in answer to that question. But he had to focus. Keep the personal stuff out of this.

No matter how much he longed to make it far more personal and a hell of a lot more intimate.

He checked the dive watch that he always wore, and winced. “It’s a lot later than I realized. But it doesn’t matter. I’m keyed up and won’t be able to sleep anytime soon. If you’re okay staying up for a while, count me in.”

“I was hoping you’d say that.” She moved half of the stacks of paper toward him and pulled the others closer to her. “We’ll get as much done as we can tonight. Then, tomorrow, be prepared to get going really early.”

“Where to?”

“The scene of the crime.”