Page 67 of Unhinged

Hannah was under the impression that Sanchez had kept it for evidence, so she would be none the wiser until Luke surprised her with it. The jeweler had soldered the bail on the locket, and it now hung from the new gold chain Luke had purchased.

His plan was to put pictures of both Selah and Hannah inside the locket. Now he just had to find them. Social media was just getting off the ground back in those days, so the quality of the photos online was pretty poor. The local newspaper had printed a picture of the beautiful blonde after her death, but that too was grainy and unclear.

Luke couldn’t reach out directly to either Hannah or Selah’s parents without jeopardizing the case, so he was left to his own devices. He’d come across their high school yearbook on the school’s website and had put in a request to the school’s principal, telling the woman that his security firm was looking into the cold case, but needed a copy of the photo, preferably digital, if they had one.

He’d explained that he didn’t want to contact the family and get their hopes up and left his contact information. He’d yet to hear anything back, but it’d only been a couple of days.

“Give me a day or two to get what I need.” Aiden flicked a look Luke’s way. “You know these aren’t fool-proof, right? Even active, it will only alert us to the general vicinity.”

“Anything is better than nothing. Will you keep it active all the time?”

“That’s up to you.” He shrugged. “I can run perpetual radar on it, or I can activate it if anything goes down. That’ll be a lot cheaper.”

Luke hated the thought of not being able to find her. “Can you hack the system and trace her phone, if necessary?”

The other man raised a brow. “Probably. That’s a little more complex, though, and gives about the same results. Tracker will generally place you within a few hundred yards or so.”

Luke scowled. “That’s hardly accurate.”

“No, it’s not.” He shook his head. “But unless you’re working with the Feds and have access to their system, this is what we have to work with.”

“Well, just put it in the necklace as a safeguard and we’ll activate it if we need to.” Luke turned back to Knox. “I’ve gotta get back over there. Raúl’s holding down the fort, but Hannah should be finishing up soon and I want to make sure I’m there.”

Knox tipped his head toward the door. “Come on.”

Luke gestured at the still-empty receptionist’s desk. “When does Vivi start?”

“Two weeks. I’m flying out for her graduation this weekend, then we’ll drive back. I’m helping her move all her stuff down, so I’ll be out for a few days. I’ll need you to be my backup while I’m gone.”

“No problem.”

Knox shoved his hands in his pockets. “You’re sure you know what you’re doing?”

Luke stiffened. “I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure she's safe, regardless of the cost.”

Knox waved him off. “No, I mean… I understand. Just be careful.”

Again, Luke wondered about Knox’s history and the woman who obviously still had the man tied up in knots. Choosing not to press, he just nodded. “I will.”

Hannah was Luke’s now, and he would do anything for her.

CHAPTER

THIRTY

“Hello, Hannah. Do you have a few minutes?”

As if it mattered now. She glanced to where Fiona stood in the doorway, eyes narrowed at Andrew in blatant disapproval. Hannah offered a soft smile, letting Fiona know it was okay.

“I can spare a moment or two.”

Hannah skimmed over Steve Iverson’s social media page one last time. She had spent a little time each day trying to dig into the man’s life, seeing who he was friends with and what he liked. Though she had learned a little about him while treating him, she was fascinated by some of his interests. She had begun to follow some of his friends as well, trying to find any kind of connection to the recent murders or to herself. Unfortunately, she hadn’t been at all successful.

If she didn’t find anything relevant here soon, she was going to have to resort to desperate measures and invite the man back to counseling. She didn’t particularly want to see him again, especially if he was responsible for the recent upheaval, but she’d do anything necessary to put the killer behind bars.

She closed the window on the browser with a dismayed sigh and swiveled her chair toward Andrew. “How have you been?”

He lifted a brow. “I think the better question is, how have you been?”