Chapter 3

3

"This is like finding a needle in a haystack." Coy tossed a file folder full of papers on the coffee table in front of him. "What do you got?"

"Well, I have two piles." Kenzie said, pushing a stack of files closer to Coy, "I took a break, sorted by year, county, and gender."

Kenzie picked up another stack of files, tucked them away in a box, and pushed them aside. "We don't need these since we are looking for a male missing person, and there's a whole lot more missing females, so our pile just got smaller."

"We've been at this for days, and we're no closer now than we were before. The databases haven't turned up anything either." Coy went on. "We've covered, what, five years?"

"If that," Kenzie replied, grabbing a file off the top of the pile, Coy following suit.

"I'm also surprised by the amount of missing persons there have been in Coyote Creek over the years."

"Many of the missing individuals aren't residents of Coyote Creek ––rather, they're essentially BOLOs from neighboring counties. In the past, with limited resources in small, rural areas, expanding the search beyond borders was standard practice with a be on the lookout, BOLO, until technology picked up the slack."

"So, we don't know if these people are from here or if they just went missing here?"

Kenzie nodded, "Or, neither. You could have a missing person from five counties over who went missing three counties over in the opposite direction. And being a border state with a history of trafficking and cartel activity… the pile is pretty large."

"We really are hunting for a needle in a haystack, then." Coy sighed. "I wish there was more we could narrow it down by."

"Not knowing exactly when, or even a more specific year he went missing, makes it even more challenging." Kenzie shared.

"I blame Nash. It's his fault we found human remains to begin with." Coy chided and dropped the file he was looking at in his lap in frustration. "What the hell happened here? A dead body, Kenz? On top of everything else going on…"

"That's why it has to be connected," Kenzie said. "What are the odds that you make that kind of discovery at the same time as… well, everything else of late."

"Do you realize what that means?" Coy questioned. "If this thing goes back twenty, thirty years?"

"It means your mother and your father kept a very big secret for a very long time."

"It just doesn't fit, Kenz. They weren't those kinds of people."

"Okay, then what? Is the timing just a coincidence? They didn't have any idea what happened or that a body was buried on their property?"

"It's possible, right? This could have happened right under their noses." Coy stated. "An old ranch hand or some riffraff passing through town found a nice rural spot to hide a body."

"It could have gone that way."

"But you don't think it did."

"I don't, Coy. Not given where it is. The barn went up after that, and isn't it awfully convenient it went right there?" she said. "It isn't anywhere near any of the livestock or working parts of the ranch. It's a hobby barn at best –– unlike all the other barns around the property."

"You think it was built to hide the body?"

"Maybe they missed the mark." She shrugged. "Who knows, Coy. At this point, almost anything is possible until we find something more, anything that can shed even a shred of light and give us a jumping-off point."

"Story of my damn life." Coy dropped his head on the back of the sofa. "I'm not used to this."

"Being a crime family? Most people aren't." She teased.

"That isn't funny, Kenzie. Not even a little bit. I'm not used to being so stuck on a case. Sometimes they move slow, sure, but this one… it's like I finally found an adversary who could outsmart me. This isn't sloppy amateur random crap. This is too organized, and the thought of that…"

"It's intimidating." She said, reaching for another file.

"I was going to say, pissing me off. I'm not easily intimidated."

"Keep reading these files, Stone. You aren't going to find what you're looking for by just sitting there." She said. "If we're lucky, something will shed a little more light, and we'll know where to look. Until then, we read every one of these musty files until we find something."

"Out of all the files we've read so far, I find it strange that there isn't a single may be in the group. The ones who were mothers are too old, and the ones in our age range aren't mothers." Coy went on. "What if this is cartel dumping bodies over the border for this very reason? Hard to trace."

"Or, what if it isn't, and there are answers in one of these boxes?" Kenzie tossed her file in a discard pile and went for another one, "You know, I don't think I've ever seen you this way before."

"What way is that?"

"Defeated. Whining."

"I'm hardly whining. It's called venting, and I don't concede to defeat. If anything, it motivates me more."

"That's… venting?" she snickered.

"Yes. Talking it out. Saying it out loud to see if there's something that stands out. Sometimes just hearing it again helps or provokes something from the listener."

"Okay." She grinned. "Whatever you say."

"So, Rip." Kenzie prodded, changing the subject, "He's a good guy. Not what I expected."

"He is a good guy," Coy answered, scanning through a file.

"Also seems to have a thing for Dev." Kenzie nonchalantly said, peeking over the top of her file to see Coy's reaction.

"I've noticed. Not going to happen." Coy said, seeming unaffected by her observation.

"Except, I think Dev wants it to happen. Have you seen the way she looks at him? I mean, since she shot him."

"Yep. Noticed that too." Coy dropped his file, turning his full attention to Kenzie. "He's ten to fifteen years older than her. What can they possibly see in each other or have in common?"

"Do they have to have anything in common? There's the whole opposites attract thing."

"They are as opposite as it gets, Kenz. He's over six feet tall, the size of a damn tank, built like one, goes through life like one, and the long hair and tat's… Don't get me wrong, his look is badass, but…"

"But Dev is five foot nothing, petite, proper, scholarly…"

Coy snapped his fingers, "Exactly. Glad I'm not the only one who sees it."

"Oh, I think everyone sees it. Devyn isn't exactly subtle with her feelings, and the way he protected her, even from you yesterday, was somethin'."

"You noticed that too, huh? He had her out there without anything to protect herself with. What was he thinking?"

"That she didn't need anything but him to protect her." Kenzie shrugged and grabbed another file. "And he did a pretty good job of it."

"They don't make sense. They're like, leather and lace."

Kenzie broke out in laughter, "Leather and lace? Are you serious right now?"

"Laugh all you want. You said opposites attract –– there's a major opposite for you. They're never going to happen. Not if I can help it."

Kenzie continued to laugh, "Coy Stone, if there's anyone more headstrong and determined than you, it's your baby sister. Good luck with that leather and lace thing."

"She has her whole life ahead of her. I don't want her to give it all up for… a guy. Especially that guy."

"I thought you said he was good people."

"He is. The best. He may not look like it, but he'd give you the shirt off his back, even if it were all he had left. They don't make them like him anymore. Loyal, dedicated, determined, a real justice seeker."

"Just not good enough for your sister."

"Exactly." Coy shrugged, tossing a folder into the discard file and grabbing another one.

"I hate to be the one to break it to you, but it's her choice." Kenzie said, "Besides. Look at Dillon. She married the President, of all people. She's more the leather, and he's the lace or something like that, and they work. She didn't have to give up her career."

"Ran may be fancy now, sitting in that fancy office in that fancy white house, but at his core, he's just like us. He served his country and grew up a rancher. Not a fair comparison."

"They are still as opposite as can be, Coy."

"Dill's different, though. She was already grown and had a fully established career before she met Ran."

"Devyn may be just starting out in her career, but she took on law school. That's a pretty big feat. May as well already be a full-blown career." Kenzie rested her head on Coy's shoulder. "You realize your baby sister isn't a baby anymore, right? Not even close. You're going to have to let her do whatever it is she wants to do. Not interfere. Support her choices whether you like them or not."

"How long have you been saving up that speech?" Coy chuckled and kissed the top of her head.

"It's been building. Seeing them today, though, that's what sealed the deal. I don't even think they see what the rest of us do."

"I just wish they'd stop growing up."

"Too late." Kenzie laughed.

"Nash and Dev were just kids when I left. Look at them."

"That's how it works." Kenzie looked up at him.

"I missed so much, Kenz. With mom, with those two, with Cut's kids. I mean, man… Cut has kids . That's still weird to me sometimes. I don't know any of them either. I didn't even know my mom anymore when she passed." His voice was full of sadness and regret. "I don't know how to fix any of it."

"Sure, you do. You're doing it. You're here. At least for now. You don't have to get it all figured out tonight, or even this week, or month, for that matter. Just… do better. Do it different."

"I missed a lot with you, too." He said, dropping his mouth to hers. "I don't know how to fix that either."

"Oh, I can think of several ways you can make it up to me." She teased, taking his mouth.

Coy drew her into his lap, their connection unbroken as he lifted her and carried her to his room.