Page 96 of Lost Hours
Nolan could understand her disbelief. He was nearly on the same page. Nearly. “I don’t believe Anderson abducted her either, but you have him behind bars. The very least we can do is dig deeper into Dr. Osborne.”
“He’s right.” El pinned her focus on Mina. “We need to forget that we know him, that we don’t believe he’s capable of this, and scrutinize him just as we will the other property owners in the area.”
Nolan appreciated that El could put aside her trust in Dr. Osborne. “He’s the only one with a connection to the case thus far. So I say we put him on the top of the list. If we discover the other property owners have a better connection, then we move them up the list.”
“Agreed,” Mina said, but her face had paled. “Which means we visit his property.”
Nolan hated seeing her reaction. Hated causing her discomfort. Hated to put a man with a solid reputation on the suspect list, much less at the top of it.
Didn’t matter what he liked or didn’t like. He—they—had to do the right thing here.
Becca was counting on all of them to save her life and bring her home.
Mina sat back in her chair, the muffin and coffee roiling in her stomach. Even the smell of the nutty, fresh-brewed coffee filling the air made her want to hurl. A deeply intense desire to pick up the phone and call Dr. Osborne to resolve this issue had her reaching for her phone.
No. She couldn’t and let her hand fall. She couldn’t violate the oath she’d sworn to the people. She couldn’t talk to him or give him a heads-up or even an inkling of the fact they were going to visit his property.
Not only did he own the home closest to the tree where the phone had been found, but he also drove a white Ford Explorer, and he could have been in the area yesterday. First, she would find out if he was in the office today. If so, they would be free to visit the cabin without raising any suspicions.
Preparing what she might say, she dialed his cell phone. It rang and the call went instantly to voicemail. A reprieve. For now. She didn’t leave a message but tapped the number for his office instead.
Her call connected and his receptionist Nora’s sweet voice came over the phone.
Nora was known for gossiping, a perfect person to answer as far as Mina was concerned. “This is Sheriff Park. I have some questions for Dr. Osborne. Is he available?”
“I’m sorry, Sheriff,” Nora said. “He’s taking a few days off this week.”
Oh no.Did that mean he was occupied with Becca?
Mina relaxed tense neck muscles to keep her anxiety in check. “My mistake. I must’ve misunderstood him at the autopsy on Monday.”
“Or not,” Nora said. “This was an unexpected vacation.” She took a long pause and came back with a lowered voice. “Between you and me, something had him so stressed he couldn’t even think. Lots of appointments and angry patients left for me to deal with, I’ll tell you.”
“I’m sorry,” Mina said sincerely. “He must’ve really needed the time. Did he say where he was going?”
“No, and that’s odd. He usually tells me, but he must really not want to be disturbed. He made a point of saying not to call his cell phone. He also arranged for the doctor who handles calls for him when he’s out of town to take over.”
“Thanks for the information, Nora,” Mina said, but wished she hadn’t called.
“Of course, sweetheart.” Nora’s soft voice nearly had Mina in tears. “If he checks in, do you want me to tell him you called?”
“No, let’s not stress him out more. I’ll just check the autopsy report and maybe my answer is there.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
If Dr. Osborne turned out to be a killer and kidnapper, Mina could easily imagine Nora’s resulting distress. The woman had worked for him for years and would be devastated. As would all of his patients. As would Mina.
Hah! What was she saying? She was already close to crying. Breaking down. Right here. On the job.
Unacceptable.
She took a moment. Flexed her fingers. Released. Flexed and released. Cleared her mind, then turned to the others. Focused on keeping a flat emotionless tone, she reported the information Nora shared.
“That makes Osborne sound even more suspicious,” Nolan said.
Mina didn’t want to admit it. To say the words aloud, but… “It doesn’t sound good.”
Nolan moved closer, almost forcing her to look at him. He’d been watching her, but she’d ignored him. If she looked at his face and found one of his compassionate gazes pinned on her, she would lose it.
