Kevin felt a little relief. So, this is what it felt like to be on the other side when someone you loved was missing. He’d dealt with parents with missing teens and not fully understood their concern in the past, especially when their wayward kid turned up after some booze filled weekend with friends or secret rendezvous with a boy or girl they’d been sexting for months. Now, he understood how heart wrenching it truly was.
“Listen, I don’t care for your questions or your attitude,” he said to the two detectives, finding his voice despite his distress. “I’m going to tell you what I know and then, if you have any reasonable questions, I will answer them.”
“That’s very magnanimous of you,” Peters growled, “but this is our investigation.”
“Shut up and listen, Peters,” the Captain barked, waving his hand toward Kevin to go ahead.
Kevin spilled his guts to them, including that they had argued and he had left. He also told them why and pointed them in the direction of Kate for copies of the man who had spooked her in the neighborhood. He told them what he knew about her background and anything else he could think of that might help them find her, but he doubted these two yahoos would manage it. Though he had never met them, he knew their names and their less than glorious reputations.
“We’re going to need to know where you’ve been all weekend,’ Peters said when he was done.
“Wait. Jameson? Is her father’s name Derek Jameson?” Lark asked.
Kevin ignored Peters, who seemed to be stuck on trying to pin something on “the boyfriend” - which happened to be him. Instead, he addressed Lark.
‘I don’t know. I don’t think she ever told me her father’s name. They weren’t on very good terms.”
Lark nodded and made a note. Peters attempted to ask another question, but Lark stopped him, holding up his hand to silence him and standing.
“That’s all for now, Officer Wilson. I’m sorry about all of this. We’ll do everything we can to find her.”
“I wasn’t done,” Peters protested.
“Yeah you were,” Lark told him, motioning for him to step out of the office.
Once they were gone, the Captain spoke in quiet tones.
“Kevin, Peters is a shark bucking for a prize. If he can pin anything on you, he will try. It doesn’t matter that you’re a fellow officer. Is there anything else you’d like to tell me without them here? Is there anything I can do to help you? I know you didn’t do this, but I also know that people sometimes can’t say everything that needs to be said for personal or professional reasons.”
Kevin knew what he was getting at and he didn’t like it, but he knew that the Captain was only looking out for his best interests. It was better for him to know now than get blindsided by reading it in the papers if one of his officers had done anything that might be misconstrued.
“Cap, I have never laid a violent hand on a woman, not even in an argument. If I did anything wrong, it was only to overstep some of my bounds in the department to try to protect her from harm from elsewhere.”
“Alright, Wilson. Go on home and try to get some rest. We’ll be in touch if we find anything.”
Wilson nodded and left, feeling like the world was ending. He’d resigned himself to giving her some time over the weekend, perhaps longer, maybe even forever if that was what she wanted, but this was a different story.
“Hey, Wilson. Don’t go far,” Peters taunted him as he passed by where he and Lark were looking at the screen with Kate. She looked up at him with eyes that revealed her dismay. No doubt they’d try to drag her into this somehow. Well, Peters would anyway. Lark seemed to be far more reasonable, but with an idiot partner too quick to point a finger at the easiest target, it would hinder any quality police work that would solve the case.
Tate met him by the back doors. He seemed to have been waiting for him there.
“What’s going on, Wilson? Rose told me someone is missing and you were getting questioned about it.”
Rose was the dispatcher. She knew everything about everyone’s business in the department and would reveal every bit of it to anyone she deemed worthy of being in the know. Apparently, Tate met the standard.
“The girl I’ve been seeing is missing. I have to go. I have to go find her.”
“Whoa. That’s a bad idea, Wilson. Let the other boys do their job.”
“Those two? They couldn’t find water in a tsunami. I’m going to go find her myself.”
“Any idea where to look?”
“No, but I know who to start with. I just need to find out who he is. I’m gonna have to call in a favor.”