Afraid to Die (Alvarez & Pescoli)

“And you’re a liar, Alvarez.” Pescoli was tired of the BS and Alvarez trying to convince everyone, herself included, what a badass she was. “You were in love with him then and you still are. So don’t tell me any differently.” She checked her watch and signaled their waitress. “You said two-for-one. I think I need another beer.”

He’d run out of ideas.

O’Keefe sat in his hotel room, propped against the pillows of the bed, laptop balanced on his legs, an open bottle of beer on the nightstand next to a half-eaten bag of chips, dinner compliments of the minimart down the street. The television on the dresser at the foot of the bed was turned on, the volume low and casting flickering images from a local news program. He’d caught the weather from an earlier newscast and it wasn’t good, more snow predicted, a blizzard blowing in from Canada.

Which wouldn’t help him in trying to find the kid.

“Hell,” he muttered and took another swig, draining his bottle.

With the help of Trey Williams in Helena, he’d checked Gabriel Reeve’s cell phone records, but the phone hadn’t been used and so far hadn’t been located. The GPS system in it had been disabled. O’Keefe had checked the bus station and local hangouts where a kid could get lost, but Gabe had either not shown up or was like a ghost. He’d gone through Gabe’s Facebook account and any other social media he could find, but Gabe’s page was dark, hadn’t been updated since before the robbery had taken place. No help; even the posts leading up to that day hadn’t offered the hint of a clue as to what the kid had been thinking.

He’d been in contact with the Helena PD, who had been working the case and had been closemouthed about it, of course. However, O’Keefe’s one contact, Trey Williams, had been a little more forthcoming and had reported that none of Gabe’s friends were copping to hearing from him.

O’Keefe knew for a fact that Gabe’s family hadn’t had any contact with him.

It was as if the kid had just disappeared.

And that was worrisome. Had O’Keefe spooked him and Gabe had left the area? He could have stolen a car or hitchhiked, or God knew what else. But the boy had zeroed in on Selena Alvarez’s apartment; that couldn’t have been a random act. Really—what were the odds?

Uh-uh. Not a coincidence. Gabe had come here. To Grizzly frickin’ Falls rather than a larger city where he could have more easily blended in and gotten lost. Also, he’d broken into Selena Alvarez’s home. Not a neighbor’s. Not one down the street. He’d beelined for her town house. Weird that. It was as if the kid knew she could be his mother.

O’Keefe had a call in to the attorney who had set up the original adoption, wanted to find out if Gabe had contacted the firm, but so far, O’Keefe hadn’t heard back.

The kid was smart. Near-genius IQ. A computer wizard. But he was still only sixteen. How could he disappear so easily?

Because you screwed it up. You almost had him!

Pushing aside all of his recriminations, O’Keefe glanced at the television again as he noticed that footage of the crime scene at the church was being played again, the camera panning over the snow-covered crèche where the body had been found. Alvarez would be up to her eyeballs in that one.

Selena Alvarez!

His jaw tightened.

Was it bad luck or fate that had brought him face-to-face with her again?

He considered another beer tucked away in the mini-fridge that he’d stocked earlier, then decided against it.

On the news, he caught an image of a man standing in a snowy parking lot with two boys at his side. He turned up the volume and heard the guy’s pleas for his wife to come home. The boys, teenagers, looked miserable and everywhere but at the camera, but the man stared straight into the camera’s lens and asked his wife to come home.

It was obvious he feared the fate that had happened to the woman found in the block of ice could have happened to his wife. Or actually, as the news reporter clarified, his ex-wife. Nonetheless, he seemed worried sick.

Poor bastard.

And the kids ... Jesus.

He clicked off the set, grabbed his sidearm and decided to talk to Selena Alvarez again. Like it or not, she was the one connection he had to Gabe.

Telling Pescoli about the baby was probably a mistake, but Alvarez felt cornered, that the truth was bound to come out soon anyway. Gabriel Reeve had seen to that. As she drove home, she thought about the boy and wondered what she’d say to him once he was found.

“Why did you run into my house?”

“Do you know who I am?”

“Were you looking for me?”

“Do you know that giving you up was the hardest decision of my life?”

Her throat closed as she thought of seeing him fac