Free Reckless Pleasures by Tori Carrington Page A

HOUR of small talk had yielded them little more than they already had judging by Jason’s disappointed expression. Dari followed him back outside after accepting another cup of coffee the sheriff brewed himself from beans he chose and ground.
    As soon as the door closed behind them, Dari said, “I take it he didn’t give you anything we can use.”
    “You take right.” Jason let out a long breath, not any happier than Dari at being caught inside—no matter how air-conditioned—wasting precious time. “I already knew the other volunteer search teams had turned up nothing and had been suspended until some of this blasted water dries up. As for the mother and her possible involvement…well, it’s little more than glorified gossip at this point without any solid evidence.”
    They got into the SUV and Jason started it up, blasting the air.
    “Do you think they have it?” Dari asked.
    “What, solid evidence?” Jason shook his head. “If they did, they would have arrested her already. Or at least pulled her in for official questioning.”
    “What do Linc and the FBI have to say?”
    “Unfortunately much the same as you heard in there. They’ve already pulled teams back to Quantico.”
    “So essentially, we’re the only ones still actively working the case at this point.”
    “That’d be about right.”
    “On our own dime.”
    “Yep. Unless we turn something up.”
    “Is there any talk about cutting our own losses and going home?”
    “You mean turn tail and run?”
    Dari grinned at the saying.
    “Not a word. Yet.” He glanced at his watch. “I figure we have a good week before we run out of options. Until then…”
    “We keep spinning our wheels.”
    Jason squinted at him. “We keep trying to find the girl. Hopefully alive.”
    Dari considered him silently. He was mildly surprised his friend held out hope Finley might still be alive. Jason Savage had never been the hopeful type. It was reality and odds all the way. And the odds in this particular case said that if the girl was lost or had been abandoned somewhere, she’d have been dead a few days ago, just from dehydration and exposure to the elements alone.
    If someone still had her…well, then they wouldn’t be finding her in any forests. And while Amber Alerts were still being aired, and tips called in and followed up on, it wasn’t part of the Lazarus team’s job.
    A cell phone buzzed.
    He checked his, then watched as Jason answered his own.
    “Hey,” he said simply.
    Dari settled back in the seat, scanning the trees on either side of the road.
    “We’ll meet you there.”
    He disconnected.
    “What is it?” Dari asked.
    “That was Megan. Our team found the girl’s bike….”

    MEGAN HAD BEEN ON the scene for five minutes before Jason and Dari arrived.
    The radio call had come in while she was busy with Daisy. He was simple and to the point: “Got it.”
    Team #2 had been assigned to retrace their steps from the first day, only a few yards to the east. An hour in, they literally stumbled across a girl’s pink bicycle mostly submerged under a foot of murky standing rainwater, one handlebar bearing a white-and-pink plastic tassel attached to the end.
    Due to forensics concerns, they left the bike where it was, not touching it beyond the initial lift to verify it was what they thought it was and to take photos.
    Now they all stood at the tree line waiting for the sheriff’s office and FBI forensics team to show up.
    “Is it hers?” Jason asked, coming to stand next to Megan.
    She relayed the news to the other team. “It looks like it,” she said. “Do you think I should pull the other team?”
    He appeared to think for a moment. “No. This may be a decoy and the girl was never even in these woods. Tell them to push on. Maybe it will give them added incentive now we’ve finally found something concrete.”
    Megan grimaced. “You mean like the fact that we know the girl and her bike weren’t beamed up by