Secrets Collide (Bluegrass Brothers)

looked almost identical to her sister.
    “I’m looking for my sister. She has to be here. Her name is Gia Perry. Please, can you tell me if she’s here?” Gemma begged.
    The guard must've seen the panic in her eyes as he softened his voice. “I’m sorry, Gia left almost two hours ago.”
    “How do you know? She couldn’t have. She’s not answering her phone and she’s not at home. She has to be here.”
    “She always says good night to me. She’s one of the last people to leave and that’s when I come on shift for the night. She told me to have a good night and tell my wife congratulations on our kid’s high school graduation. Look,” the guard paused, “why don’t you go to her apartment? I'm sure she just went to run errands after work.”
    Gemma nodded. She couldn’t speak but offered him a wobbly smile. She turned back to the front of the building preparing to leave when she remembered the parking garage. “Can I check the parking garage for her car? It would just make me feel better.”
    The guard looked around, unsure of how to handle her request. “Please. I just have a feeling something happened to her and she always answers the phone. Please,” Gemma pleaded. She knew she looked crazy, but she had to know.
    “Okay. I’ll pull up her parking space number. Let me lock the doors and we’ll go down.”
    “Thank you,” Gemma sighed. She didn’t know what to expect. Maybe an empty spot and Gia’s abandoned cell phone. That would explain why her sister hadn’t answered the phone.
    The guard locked the doors and he and Gemma headed to the bank of elevators in silence. He pushed a button and they descended into the garage as instrumental music played in the background. The metallic doors opened and she stepped out into the dark garage.
    “It’s this way,” he said as he started counting off the parking spaces.
    “Oh no!” Tears gathered in her eyes as she looked at her sister’s black Lexus sedan parked in Gia’s reserved spot. “Where is my sister?”
     
    An hour later, Gemma sat crying at the well-worn desk of Detective Peter Greene. “There has to be something you can do.”
    “I’m sorry, Ms. Perry, but your sister has only been out of touch for four hours and there’s no evidence she’s even missing. How do you know she didn’t just go home with a coworker for a one-nighter?” the young and overworked detective asked as gently as he could.
    “My sister would never date a coworker. It’s against the rules and Gia doesn't break the rules. Please, can’t you just take a report?” The young detective pushed back his dark brown hair and glanced at the clock. Hanging her head in defeat, Gemma reached for her purse. It was almost eleven at night and clearly the detective just wanted to get home.
    “Okay, give me her name again,” he said calmly as he pulled up a form on his computer.
    “Gia Eleanor Perry. She’s thirty years old. Five-feet-seven and a hundred thirty-five pounds. She has short brown hair and green eyes just a shade lighter than mine. She's my identical twin and she was last seen leaving the International Press office downtown. Thank you. Thank you for believing me.” Gemma dried her tears and answered Detective Greene’s questions with a sense of relief. She didn’t know what else she could do for her sister, but at least she was doing something.
    “What about your parents?”
    “They passed away a few years ago. They didn’t think they would ever have kids, but surprise—my mom got pregnant when she was forty-six.”
    “That’s all we need, Ms. Perry. I’m sending this out to my officers on the street and I’ll call you soon to give you an update,” Detective Greene said as he printed off a picture of Gia that she had just emailed him from her phone.
    Gemma stood up and slung the big purse containing Fred over her shoulder. As if sensing something bad was going on, Fred had stayed silent in the bag for the past hour. Every now and then, Gemma would reach in to pet him and he would reassuringly lick her hand as if to comfort her. “Thank you, Detective Greene. Thank you so much.”
    Gemma walked past the rows of empty dented metal desks and a few of the other on-duty detectives as she made her way through two swinging double doors and out into the small lobby on the third floor of the police station. She pulled out her phone and dialed her sister as she waited for the elevator. “Hi. This is Gia. I’m not here right now, but I’d love