Across the Vanishing Sky (Starlight Grove, #1)(32)
Fuck.
“Family isn’t always blood,” I muttered. I’d learned that the hard way. Sometimes, blood was anything but family. Sometimes, blood betrayed.
Brae nodded, and I saw pain weave through those golden eyes. “She’s the best person I’ve ever known, and I’m the only one really looking for her. Roger and Travis try to help, but Sheriff Miller thinks Nova just took a tumble down the riverbank, even though she was nowhere close. He designated it a cold case, and the state police followed his lead.”
A scowl twisted my lips. Miller was the leader of the narrow-minded-asshole club in Starlight Grove. He was also lazy as hell. He enjoyed the prestige that came with being the sheriff in a small community but let others do the heavy lifting when it came to casework. Right before he took all the credit.
“I’m doing everything I can,” Brae went on, releasing her hands. “As soon as I realized there was only so much law enforcement could do, I started learning. I got involved with volunteer and support groups for missing persons. I papered message boards with fliers and mailed them to local businesses. I reached out to the media and shared Nova’s case, getting as much press coverage as possible, hoping that someone would realize they’d seen something that could help. I started a website where people could leave tips. I learned about geographic profiling and started mapping what I could.”
I couldn’t help the slight flare in my eyes at that and the curiosity that went along with it. I wondered if she could give our map king, Orion, a run for his money.
“I got involved with K-9 search and rescue. I adopted Yeti and trained her from the ground up with the help of a woman in Cedar Ridge, Washington.”
My gaze flicked to Brae’s cabin as if I could see the dog through the walls. Suddenly, her social media profile made a hell of a lot more sense. SearchingForSunrise. The exercises with her dog. Everything.
“When Miller told me he now considered Nova’s case cold, I knew I had to move to Starlight Grove. I knew I needed boots on the ground so I could keep the pressure on. So I could keep the search going.”
She’d turned her life on its head. For her friend.
“But I suck at tech,” Brae went on. “I’ve tried. But I can never get past the basic stuff.”
My gut twisted as I thought about her venturing into some of the darker places on the internet. With the lack of security software on her computer, she’d be asking for sick bastards to infiltrate her system. Hell, they could hack into her camera and watch her whole life. And so much worse.
“What are you trying to find?” I did my best not to let my emotions bleed into my voice. Not to give myself away. But the words came out strangled at best.
My brothers and I had three rules when it came to missing persons cases: Don’t get dead. Don’t let anyone know our true identities. And never take a local case.
It was too risky. The last thing we needed was the press getting wind that the sons of one of the world’s most prolific serial killers had created a sort of vigilante search group. And we needed law enforcement on our asses even less. Because the lines of legality got a little blurry when you were trying to help find the people the rest of the world had forgotten about.
Little lines formed on Brae’s brow as she tried to decipher my tone. “I need camera feeds.”
“Law enforcement didn’t check them?”
She gave a little shrug, making the wide neck of her slouchy tee slide off one smooth, tanned shoulder. “Sheriff Miller said they did, but…”
“You don’t think it was thorough.”
“No.” Brae let out a long breath. “There is only one road in and out of that canyon. And there are at least a dozen road-condition cameras set up along it.”
I set the plate of cookies on the table just inside the door, needing the freedom to move. To do what, I didn’t know. Run? Pull Brae inside and make her tell me everything? Slam the door in her face?
I scrubbed a hand over my face, doing some mental math. “Even with a dozen cameras on that road, they only take snapshots. They update every thirty seconds. You could catch one vehicle but miss a dozen more. And that’s if anyone saved the footage for this long.”
Brae tugged her lip between her teeth. “But it could be something. An avenue I haven’t been able to explore because I don’t have the tools.”
Fuck.
It would be so easy. The State of California didn’t exactly have its road cameras locked down tight. I knew because I’d hacked them before. But it would break a promise to the people I never broke promises to.
The bond I had with my brothers wasn’t just a simple blood tie. It was so much deeper than that. It had been cemented in terror and torment. In exile. In being so damn alone in the world aside from one another.
“I’m sorry,” I rasped. “I can’t.”
The defeat in Brae’s eyes was like a blade to a kidney or lung. Brutal and agonizing, even after the knife had been pulled free. “Because I’m the worst?”
I knew she was trying to make a joke, but it was so far from funny.
Fucking hell.
“You are the worst, Hellion. But that’s not why. I can’t risk it. The FBI gave me a strong warning when I left, and I don’t exactly have room to fuck up again. Because I didn’t end up working for them because I graduated from MIT.” All true, just not the complete story. And leaving so much unsaid felt like a betrayal to a woman I hardly knew yet couldn’t stand disappointing.