Free Seductive Reasoning (TASK FORCE HAWAII Book 1) by Melissa Schroeder Page A

save her. As of right now, we’ve lost at least three days. Going by Grace, we could have less than two weeks to find her. This is what I need from you right now. We have no evidence, but if you can zone in on something we might be able to find her.”
    She drew in a deep breath and nodded.
    “Let’s go. Everyone, keep us up to date. Maybe she just decided to go off and play for awhile.”
    But deep down, in his gut, Del knew she hadn’t.
    “You don’t think that,” Emma said as they made their way to his truck.
    “No. But, hey, maybe for once we’ll get lucky.”
    “We can only hope,” Cat said.
    “Hope often leaves you shattered if you aren’t careful,” Emma said, as she slipped into the backseat of his pickup cab.
    Cat let one eyebrow rise and Del ignored it. He knew that Emma’s experiences taught her more than any of them would understand. And right now, he couldn’t be distracted.
    Susan Tanaka was depending on them.
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    A fter dropping Emma off , they drove to Susan’s apartment. One knock and the door opened. The young woman on the other side of the door had swollen eyes, and she looked like she hadn’t slept in at least three days. She was Asian American, with long honey brown hair and dressed in what Del considered the college uniform in Hawaii: a T-shirt and board shirts.
    “Captain Martin Delano, TFH. This is Cat Kalakaua. Can we speak to you for a second?”
    She studied his badge, then nodded. Stepping back, she waited until both he and Cat were in the tiny apartment before shutting the door. Another young lady, about the same age, blonde haired and blue eyed, sat on a futon-type couch. She looked like she had been crying also.
    “My name is Diane Fung, and this is my roommate Bethany Brown,” the first young woman said. “Please, sit down.”
    After they both sat down on the available chairs, Del said, “We wanted to talk to you about Susan.”
    Diane shook her head, her eyes filled with regret. “We tried to tell the police. We tried to tell them she had gone missing. We should have just refused to leave.”
    “The important thing is you tried, and we are here to help,” Cat said, her voice in the same soothing tone Del had heard her use before. It didn’t seem to help this time though.
    “It still doesn’t seem to be enough, though.”
    “I understand,” Del said.
    “No, you don’t,” Bethany said, her voice rising. “You don’t know that we just knew .”
    Cat gave him a glance and stepped in to take over. Even with all his training with his younger sisters, this age usually still perplexed him. They weren’t girls, but they still hadn’t gained maturity.
    “I can see that. College life…in each other’s pockets, right? When I was your age, we used the buddy system. I always made sure that friends knew where I was going to be if I wasn’t with them. Safety in numbers, and if you don’t have them, make sure your friends know, right?”
    Bethany sniffed into her tissue and nodded. “Yes. We are all so careful. You remember that rapist they caught a few months ago?”
    Cat nodded as she glanced at Del. A serial rapist had been roaming the college parts of town, preying on tipsy college girls. It had taken two months to catch him. By the time they caught up with him, he had raped at least six girls.
    “So we always check in. Always ,” Bethany said. “But she said she was going to the mainland. That’s what she said. We assumed it was to see her parents, but when she didn’t return, we got worried.”
    “And you tried to call her?”
    Diane nodded. “Yes. It went straight to voicemail.”
    “You were worried that she disappeared when she didn’t show up to work, not school.”
    Bethany offered him a sad smile. “Susan says that life was too short to worry about attendance all the time.”
    “But she wouldn’t miss work,” Diane said. “We’re saving up to take a trip to Australia this summer. It is all she talked about. Missing work means missing out