“Any luck on that missing person’s case?” Caid looked up to see Pax leaning in his office. He shook his head and went back to the file he was looking through for probably the hundredth time.

“I know you don’t want to hear it, but is it possible she really did just leave? Maybe she was robbed afterwards.”

“You know as well I as do that would be one hell of a coincidence.”

“True, but still a possibility. You haven’t found a single thing that proves she was taken.”

“The duffle--”

“Could have been she wasn’t supposed to have the gun, so she left it and bailed. You can’t even find anything proving Jemma is her real name. Come on, King, her last name is listed as Saige, which, if you remember, is a damn spice. It’s obviously a fake.”

“She didn’t just leave, Pax.”

“You met her twice. Maybe your read was off. It’s time to start focusing back on The Runner case. He needs to be your priority.” She stepped back into the hall, and Caid bit back a curse. It had been nearly a month since he and Mikel had gone to Jemma’s apartment. Twenty-four days of not knowing whether she was alive or dead.

Every day he called to see if anyone matching her description had been admitted to the hospital or brought into the morgue. She was a ghost, and he was not getting anywhere in his search. A more detailed look into her background had proved she had appeared out of nowhere three years prior. Sure, there was a pretty substantial paper trail prior to that, but he knew enough to look deeper.

It had been a cover meant to hide who she truly was. So here he was, once again asking himself the question plaguing him ever since she disappeared -- just who the hell was Jemma Saige?

A knock on his door had him lifting his eyes from the file again.

“What do you want?” He looked back down as Brittany walked in with a Tupperware container.

“Henry said you’ve been having a rough time lately. Something about some missing woman.” She set the container down on his desk. “They’re your favorite.” She smiled. “Bet you didn’t think I’d remember.”

Caid lifted the container and handed it back to her. “You baked fucking cookies? Are you serious? I don’t want them, Brittany, and I don’t want you to ever step foot in my office again.”

“You can be such an ass. This is why we didn’t work out.”

“No, we didn’t work out because you couldn’t keep your damn legs closed when it came to my partner.”

She stared at him open-mouthed, and Caid wished a fly would have flown in it. That would have at least made this situation bearable, and he definitely needed a good laugh. “How dare you talk to me that way. I came here to offer some support, and you shut me out like this?”

Here come the water works, Caid thought to himself. She was always damn good at putting on a show.

“Goodbye, Brittany.” He looked back down and ignored the slam of the door. “Dammit,” he cursed when he saw she left the container on the desk. He made a mental note to make sure he trashed the damn things.

“So where are you, Jemma?” he asked aloud to the empty room. “And why would someone want to toss your apartment?”

She had obviously been hiding from someone, but who was it? He pinched the bridge of his nose. It seemed like no matter what he did or where he looked, he was always coming up empty-handed.

His phone rang, and he answered without looking at the ID. “King.”

“Hey, little brother.”

His sister’s voice brought an instant smile to his face. “Hey, Soph, what’s up?”

“Not much. Trying not to eat everything in sight.”

His sister was seven months pregnant with her second baby. She had married her high school sweetheart, granted they had been separated for a few years before they finally reconnected. Dave had come back into her life after the panic attacks had started, and he had stayed through the worst of it. He was a good man, and Caid was happy to call him a brother-in-law.

“Well, I hear that happens when you’re eating for two.”

Sophia laughed. “How are things with you?”

“Eh, they’re going. Just the typical crap.”

“Any word from the whore?”

Caid let out a laugh at his sister’s nickname for Brittany. “Actually, she was just here.”

“No! Really?”

“Yep, brought me cookies.”

“What a bitch.”

“That she brought me cookies?”

“Absolutely! After what she did to you, she shouldn’t even be showing her slutty face anywhere near you.”

“I hope Maddox isn’t anywhere nearby,” Caid said, mentioning his nephew.

“Of course not. He’s taking a nap.”

“She spouted off some crap about how I was an ass, and then slammed the door on her way out.”

“I may be pregnant, but I can still kick her ass. You just say the word, and I will unleash pregnancy hormones that would scare even you big bad FBI agents.”

Caid let out another laugh. He knew she absolutely would too. “No need for that momzilla. I’ve got things covered.”

“Everything else going all right? You sound a little off.”

Growing up, he and Sophia had been best friends, and their bond had only strengthened as they became adults. She knew him a whole hell of a lot better than he even knew himself, and it worked the other way around too.

“Just having a long day. I’m good though.”

“Any pretty girls catch your eye lately?”

Jemma’s face flashed into view. He instantly felt a crushing guilt because he had just been laughing when she could very well be out fighting for her life.

“A girl at the gym.”

“Oooohhhh, tell me more!”

Caid smiled. “Maybe another time. I need to get going.”

“You better fill me in, King! I’ll call Mom if I need to.”

“Please don’t. I promise I’ll tell you more. Love you, Soph.”

“Love you too.”

He hung up the phone and leaned back in his chair. “Fuck it.” He stood, pushed his chair into his desk, grabbed his jacket, and stepped into the hall.

“I need to talk to you.” Jameson was coming toward him, and by the look on his ex-partner’s face, Brittany had talked to him. She was damn good at playing the victim.

“Not interested.”

“The hell you’re not. You don’t get to talk to Brittany that way. I warned you.” Jameson got nose to nose with Caid, and it took everything in Caid’s power not to plant his fist in the man’s face.

“Get the hell out of my face, Jameson.”

“Not until you agree to apologize to Britt.”

“I have nothing to say to either of you.”

“Hey!” Pax walked up and crossed her arms in front of her chest. “Get in my office now, you two.”

They continued staring at each other.

“If I have to tell you again, I’ll fire both your asses.”

Caid broke off and headed toward Pax’s office. Once the door was shut, she whirled around to face them. “I don’t understand why the fuck it is that whenever I turn around the two of you are going at it again.”

“Boss, I can--” Jameson started, and Pax held up her hand.

“What you did to your partner was bullshit, Jameson, and had I been here when it happened, I would have fired your ass on the spot. You don’t fuck with family, and that’s what King should have been to you.”

Caid, feeling smug, crossed his arms over his chest and turned to face Jameson whose cheeks had paled.

“And you” -- he turned back around to face Pax -- “you need to let it go. Or at the very least, be professional when you are in this office, you hear me?”

Caid nodded and looked at Jameson, “tell your wife to stay out of my office. She has no business coming to see me.”

“That’s fair, wouldn’t you say so Jameson? I wouldn’t want my spouse spending extra time with their ex.” Jameson nodded and Pax pointed to the door, “now get the hell out of my office.”

“This isn’t over,” Jameson muttered under his breath as they walked past each other.

The elevator took longer than normal, but once it reached the bottom floor, Caid headed for his car.