Yeah, it had been great to hold her, to kiss her once again, but he told himself their brief intimacy had been the result of adrenaline from facing Phil and the frustration from where things stood in the investigation. He told himself it had really meant nothing to him.
They ate quickly and without much conversation. When they finished, she settled at her computer at the desk and he got on the phone to check the status of all the arms of the investigation.
When Annalise’s doorbell rang, he jumped up from the table and pulled his gun. He wasn’t about to get caught unaware again. Annalise got up as well and followed him to answer the door.
He opened it to see Rowan. “Hey, Rowan,” he said, and immediately holstered his gun and gestured her into the house. “What’s going on?”
“I just wanted to check in with you before I head back to headquarters,” she said.
“You’re leaving me here all alone with that waste of a police chief?” he asked.
Rowan grinned. “Afraid so. Director Pembrook called me back to Knoxville. Besides, your interaction with Chief Cummings should be fairly minimal at this point. I have confidence that you can handle it.”
“Well, that makes one of us,” he replied dryly.
“Evan, just don’t kill him. It would make a mess of paperwork for everyone,” she replied with a small laugh.
“Rowan, I want to thank you for the personal items you got for me,” Annalise said. “I really appreciate it.”
“No problem,” she replied.
Annalise reached into her pocket and pulled out the cell phone. “I’m assuming you need this back now.”
“That’s okay. Keep it until Evan leaves and then you can give it to him,” Rowan said, and then gazed back at Evan. “It’s actually good that you two relocated here. When I left the hotel, there were about a dozen people from the compound already there for some sort of protest against law enforcement and the FBI. They have big signs declaring police abuse and all kinds of crazy things.”
Evan grimaced. “Sounds like the police are going to have their hands full there.” He smiled once again at Rowan. “Thanks, Rowan, as always, for everything you did to support the team.”
Her eyes twinkled with humor. “I have to admit there were a couple of times when I wanted to hog-tie Chief Cummings and toss him in a barn far, far away.”
Evan laughed. “There were definitely times I would have helped you with that.”
“Okay, then I’m off,” Rowan replied. She smiled at Annalise and then looked back at him. “I know you, Evan, and I hope you aren’t beating yourself up about how this has turned out so far. I know you’ll get these SOBs.”
“Thanks, Rowan.”
Evan walked her to the door, and once she was gone he had just sat back at the dining room table when Annalise’s computer dinged with a notification. Hope speared through him as he jumped up and Annalise raced across the room to the desk. A nonsensical sentence had appeared on the special page.
He couldn’t help the excitement that roared through him. Was this it? Was this finally what they had been waiting for? A note from Sadie letting them know where she was being held?
“It’s not from Sadie,” she said flatly. “It’s from Emily.”
Evan’s heart plummeted. “What does it say?”
“It says, ‘Sadie, I know you’re missing. Where are you? We’re all worried about you.’”
“You need to get on there and ask the other girls not to post anything to the page until Sadie is found,” he said.
Annalise nodded and sat at the desk. She typed what looked like an equally nonsensical message and then hit enter. “Now, let’s hope the next person who posts here is Sadie,” he said.
He sank back down in his chair and released a deep sigh. “When I heard that notification go off, I was sure it was her.”
“I feel like this is some form of terrible torture...waiting for her to make contact with us,” she said. “What happens if she doesn’t? What happens if I’m wrong about this or she doesn’t get any opportunity to get on the page?”
“Right now Jacob and Gretchen are on every wanted list in the nation. Law enforcement agencies all over the area will be on the lookout for them. Sooner or later they will make a mistake, and we’ll find them.”
She held his gaze for a long moment and then with a nod she went into the kitchen. With disappointment weighing heavily in his heart, his thoughts turned to the woman who had just disappeared from the room.
What was wrong with him? He could face an armed gunman locked in a building with his wife and kids as hostages without breaking a sweat, but being in the same space as Annalise was...difficult.
He was haunted by the ghosts of their past, tormented by how badly he’d misread her at the time and the love he’d thought they had shared.
He had to stay focused on the fact that she was an important piece of the puzzle of a missing child and nothing more. However, it did bother him that after almost three years apart he still had such strong emotions where she was concerned. It had been far easier to ignore these emotions when he had been in Knoxville and believed she had been in Missouri.
Now he was in her home and still desperate to find a little girl who was missing and in extreme danger. He drew a weary sigh and recognized his thoughts were flying all over the place. It was probably the lack of sleep. All he needed was to fuel himself with some caffeine.
When Annalise came back into the room, he asked her about coffee. “I’ll get you a cup,” she offered. “But while you’re here, I want you to feel free to use whatever you need in the kitchen or anywhere else.”
“Thanks,” he replied.
Minutes later they were back at their computers. He
