White Space Season 1

child, and Brady had barely been able to say hello before leaving her alone in the office.
    She wiped her brow, then turned toward the door as she heard it open behind her. Brady entered his office with a half-smile, dropped a fat manila folder on the top of his desk, then plopped into his seat and turned toward Cassidy.
    “Hi Cassidy,” he said. His smile seemed genuine enough. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting. Tons of stuff happening on the island, all of it sudden. Paladin’s helping, but with just the three of us on day shift, we’re all chicken, no head.”
    Cassidy was surprised by Brady’s gentle voice. She hadn’t had an actual conversation with him in maybe five years, and hadn’t seen much of him, save for a few times in passing, and once when he happened into The Shipwreck about six months ago.
    Brady pulled a notepad from the corner of his desk, scattered with scribbles, and turned it to a clean sheet. He moved his eyes from the fresh page to Cassidy. “How long has Emma been missing?” he said.
    “I dunno. I woke up this morning and she was gone. Last time I saw her was last night when I put her to bed.”
    He looked down, moved his pen across the page, then turned his eyes back to Cassidy. “What time was that?”
    “I dunno, maybe 9 p.m. I’m not sure.”
    “So she could have disappeared last night?”
    Cassidy swallowed. “I suppose that’s possible.”
    Writing, not looking at her, he said, “And where were you last night, after you put her to bed?”
    “Home, with Emma and my mom.”
    “All night?”
    “Yes, all night.”
    Brady scribbled for another few seconds, then looked up. “You sure?”
    She hated the way his right eye seemed to hone in on her, matching his rising brow.
    “Yes, I’m sure. My mom was sleeping her wine off to Seinfeld. I fell asleep not too long after that. When I woke in the morning, Emma was gone.”
    Cassidy wasn’t sure if she was sweating through the lie or not, and wasn’t brave enough to check the dew on her brow. She held Brady’s eyes without a quiver, and found herself distractedly tracing the scar on her left wrist with her right thumb, both obscured from Brady by his desk.
    “Emma ever done anything like this before?”
    “What, disappear? No, Kevin, she hasn’t! What kind of question is that? Emma didn’t just get up and run away. I wouldn’t be here if she did, I’d be out looking.”
    Brady shook his head. “It’s possible. The girl just lost her mother, after all. You don’t know the power of grief. She could’ve done anything. Did you check Sarah’s house?”
    “Yes, I went over there right before I came here,” she said.
    “I’m sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
    “It’s fine. No, Emma’s never done anything like this before. And yes, she’s hollow as a ghost. But being sad would keep that girl inside with us , not out of the house, wandering the island.” She could feel the tears leaving her eyes, and hated allowing Brady to see her vulnerable and in need of his help. “I think she’s in trouble. I don’t know what else to say, except that I can feel it. And I need your help.”
    “Okay,” Brady said. He then did something Cassidy never pictured him doing. Brady opened both his palms, extended them across his desk, and invited Cassidy to lay hers inside the cradle. She didn’t want to, but surrendered anyway, her hands shaking as she set her pink scars face down just above his fingers.
    “Everything will be okay,” Brady promised. “We’ll do everything we can to help.”
    Brady then went over all the details with her, asked her what Emma was wearing last, and if she had a picture of the girl. She hadn’t thought to bring a photo, and felt like an idiot. But then she remembered that she had a photo of Emma, taken just last week, on her cell phone.
    “Here,” she said, pulling the photo up on her screen. “Will this work?”
    “Great,” Brady said. “Can I take this to our tech guy and get him to upload it to our system?”
    “Sure,” Cassidy said, and Brady was out the door before she thought about her phone history, and calling the dealer last night.
    Shit.
    She waited patiently, for Brady to come back, hoping like hell he wouldn’t be digging through her phone without permission.
    He’d have to ask for something like that, right?
    No, you’re a suspect now. They can search anything they want, sister. Plus, you handed it to him, so he can use anything he finds.
    Shit.