Have and Hold: (A Geeks and Things Cozy Mystery Novella #4) (Geeks and Things Cozy Mysteries) Read Online Free

franchise.”
    “I just assumed. I’m so sorry.”
    He gave her a toothy grin and boxed up the two pairs of earrings. Ten minutes later she piled back into the car and shoved the key in the ignition. She needed to share what she’d found with Chris. She was about to hit speed dial when a call came through from his number.
    “Well, this is good timing. I’ve got something to show you,” she said.
    “That’s good because we have an ID on the finger.”
    “I’ll come to the station right away.”

 
    CHAPTER FOUR
     
    Kalina’s heart hammered against her ribs as she made her way back across town to the station. She had a bad feeling that one of the men in the ledger was going to have a fiancée with one less finger. The parking lot was emptier as she pulled into a spot and cut the engine. The rest of the officers had returned to their patrol duties and the few townspeople who were in attendance likely had gone back to their day jobs. Kalina stowed the earrings in the glove box just to be safe before heading inside. Jimmy and Chris stood side by side at Chris’s desk.
    “You said you found out who the finger belongs to?” she said without waiting for them to look up from the file between them.
    “Her name is Gabriella Baez,” Chris answered.
    The name didn’t sound familiar. He showed her a photo from a missing person’s report but Kalina still didn’t recognize her. She did, however, recognize the name of the person who filed the report. She pulled up the photo of the ledger she’d taken and toyed with her phone.
    “What’d you find, Kal?”
    “So, um, don’t get mad at me. This was in plain view the whole time. I didn’t even touch the pages. But it looks like a couple of guys bought engagement rings similar to the one we found from Carmichael Jewelers recently and one of them”—she zoomed into the first name—“might be connected to Ms. Baez.”
    Chris and Jimmy both bent forward and examined the neatly handwritten ledger for a Mr. Duncan Westford. Jimmy flipped through the pages of the missing person report and let out a sound of understanding.
    “I think you’re right. Mr. Duncan filed the report. Ms. Baez is his fiancée and she didn’t return home after their engagement party.”
    “When was that?” Kalina returned the photo to its original size while Jimmy skimmed the report.
    “Looks like at least three days ago.”
    “I doubt she cut off her own finger. If she didn’t want to marry the guy she would have just returned the ring,” Chris remarked and rubbed at his chin.
    “But why would he report her missing if he hurt her?” Jimmy asked.
    Kalina and Chris both started to speak but stopped. As they both knew, many things—money, or the promise of it, included—could be powerful motivators to falsely report a person as missing. After all, Jillian’s college best friend had attempted to do just that when she knew her husband was dead and she’d had a hand in it.
    “We need to contact Mr. Westford, have him confirm the ring belonged to his fiancée,” Chris said.
    “You aren’t going to show him the finger are you?”
    “No, we’ve had one of the lab techs remove and photograph it separately. We got lucky that her prints were in the system.”
    “How? She doesn’t look familiar.”
    “She’s a teacher in the state. They have to get fingerprinted before they start teaching and we have access to the database.”
    “Oh. So when is he coming in?”
    “Not until tomorrow morning most likely. We have officers making the notification right now.”
    “So what do you do now?”
    Chris let out a sigh. “Now I got home and celebrate my promotion with my beautiful fiancée.”
    Kalina smiled. “Oh, I don’t know if it helps or matters but you should probably take down the name of the other person who bought a ring like Gabriella’s. If it isn’t her fiancé, there might be someone else out there who is at risk.”
    Jimmy took her phone to copy down the information before he