It was encouraging that the detective no longer resented Cooper’s involvement. “You contact the FBI?”
“I plan to do that. I held off, hoping we’d find Olivia by now.”
Cooper was glad he hadn’t brought them in yet. If they didn’t find Livie in the next two days, he would personally call Sean Danvers, an FBI friend to The Phoenix Three. Until then, he preferred not to have the interference of another law agency. He wasn’t bound by rules, and unlike the police and FBI, he’d break every damn one if necessary to find his daughter.
“Don’t contact them yet. The assistant FBI director is a friend. I’ll call him if we don’t find her today.” He stood. “Call me when you get the video from inside the store.”
He found Kendall sitting at a table in the break room, staring at her phone. Her cheeks were wet with tears, and he glanced at the phone’s screen, his breath catching at seeing the photo of Livie wearing a Braves shirt and ball cap. She stood in front of the Braves’ stadium with a big smile on her face and holding hands with an older man.
“Who is that she’s with?”
“My father. He’s a huge Braves fan, has season tickets and takes her with him to the weekend games. She’s loves baseball and the Braves.”
He dropped into the chair next to Kendall. “I played baseball all through high school. My coach said I was good enough to go pro one day. My dream was to play for the Braves.” That hisdaughter was a baseball fan and loved the team he’d dreamed of playing for was…just wow. They had something in common they could bond over.
“Maybe she inherited her love of baseball from you. Livie says she’s going to be a catcher for the Braves when she grows up.”
He chuckled at that. “She likes to catch balls?” He loved the idea that he might have passed on something he loved to his daughter.
“Yes. She even has a little glove. She loves hitting them, too. Says she’s going to hit a home run in every game when she plays for the Braves.” She swiped to the next photo, then held the screen up to him.
“That’s about the cutest thing I’ve ever seen.” It was a picture of Livie wearing her Braves shirt and ball cap, a glove on her hand, ready to catch a ball.
“I was sick one weekend last year, and Dad had already planned to go to a game. He decided to take Livie with him so I could rest.” She smiled. “When she got back home, all she could talk about for days was baseball, corn dogs and ice cream cones. It’s the only time she gets to eat junk like that, so I think she fell in love with the food first, then the game.”
“A girl after my own heart.” She really was. Baseball and food. Two of the most important things in life. He’d grown up never having enough to eat, and because of that, as an adult, he made sure his refrigerator and pantry were well stocked. “I need to learn how to make corn dogs.”
She laughed. “Livie’s going to like you, Cooper.”
God, he hoped so. “You ready to get out of here?”
“Yes.”
Detective Rossi stopped them in the hallway. “The van was found early this morning by a patrol officer, and it was stolen. It was towed to the police lot and the crime lab is going over it now.”
“Where was it found?”
Rossi sighed. “Why don’t the two of you go home. I’ll call you when we know something.”
And here he’d thought they’d turned a corner. Guess not. “Detective, I feel like we’ve already had this conversation, but I’m going to say it again. I’m either working with you or without you, but I’m not going home and sitting on my ass while my daughter is missing. Just not happening. I’m not an amateur investigator, and if I were you, I’d want all the help available to me. So, I ask again, where was the van found?”
“Not far from here.” Rossi gave him the location.
“Thank you,” he said as he put the address in his phone’s GPS. “I’ll be sure to let you know immediately if I find anything useful and would appreciate the same from you.” He put his hand on Kendall’s back. “Let’s go.”
“Thank you,” she said as soon as they were out of the building.
“For?”
“Not letting him push us aside. I’m not feeling very hopeful right now that Livie’s a priority with the police.”
“Livie isn’t his only case, so she won’t get a hundred percent of his attention. I’m sure he’s doing the best he can.” He wasn’t really sure of that, but she didn’t need more to worry about.
“I just feel so much better with you here. You give me hope that we’ll find her.”
He opened the passenger door for her. “We are going to find her, Kendall.” He’d found children no one thought could be found, children whom he wanted the best for but who weren’t his child. Now that it was his child who was missing… He would go to hell and back to find her.
Kendall didn’t seem to want to talk, so the drive to the location where the van was found was in silence. He stole aglance at her. Damn, she was pretty with those blue eyes and her ink black hair.