He took a menacing step toward her. To her credit, Gretchen didn’t move. “No! I won’t calm down. I want to know what you’re not telling me. I know there’s something you’re holding back. I’ve worked with all of you long enough to know.”
Both Noah and Gretchen opened their mouths to speak, but Josie held up a hand to silence them. “We found a Beretta M9, loaded, three bullets missing from the magazine. There was a coat in his hamper. On it, Hummel found three auburn hairs and dried blood that matched Amber’s blood type.”
Mettner’s eyes widened. When he started to sway, Gretchen grabbed onto him and tucked herself under his arm to keep him upright. “W-what?”
Josie said, “That’s what we were holding back. But that’s all we know, Mett. We have to keep operating as if she’s alive. We have to keep working the case.”
He opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a strangled cry. His hands clutched at Gretchen, and she slid her arms around his waist, holding onto him. Josie put her face within inches of his and caught his gaze. “Now listen to me, Mett. You’re right. I worked a lot of cases where I had personal ties. It was devastating. I don’t recommend it. Right now, only the Chief can reinstate you. None of us has the power to do that. But you can sit with us. No one here is going to make you leave right now. If you happen to have some good suggestions or ideas as to where to direct the investigation, every person here will listen. Do you understand?”
He nodded.
“But those big feelings you’re having right now?” Josie continued. “You need to find a way to set them aside and lock them up for later. If you’re going to help Amber, we need you focused. Stow them, Mett, or go home and wait for us to call.”
He swallowed. “I don’t know if I can.” He looked down at Gretchen, then at Josie and finally, Noah. “I’m not like you guys.”
Noah raised a brow. “Don’t be ridiculous. You’re one of us, Mett.”
“No. I’m not like you. I didn’t have some fucked-up childhood. I wasn’t kidnapped or stalked by a serial killer. I don’t have a bunch of murdered relatives. My parents never tried to hurt me, never tried to leave me. I have a great family. I had a wonderful childhood. I—I’m well-adjusted. I don’t have all this deep trauma that makes it easy for me to feel nothing.”
“You think we feel nothing?” Gretchen said.
“You act like it.”
Noah placed a hand on Mettner’s shoulder. “We feel all of it, Finn,” he said.
“Everything,” Gretchen added. “Every. Single. Thing.”
“Finn,” Josie said softly. “You should be glad you don’t know how to compartmentalize just to survive. I’m happy that you’re well-adjusted.”
“Yeah,” said Gretchen. “It’s not a character flaw.”
“But you need to focus,” Noah said. “Josie’s right. If you want to help Amber, we need your skills as a detective. If you think you can stay calm, stay. Take a seat. We were just going to go over everything and talk about what to do next.”
Gretchen released him. He took a moment to swipe a hand down his face and straighten his clothes. Then he sat at his desk. Once they were all seated, Josie texted the Chief to find out if there had been any progress locating Gabriel Watts. There was none. Josie, Noah, and Gretchen recapped all the other information they had turned up as well as all the other leads they were following, including Josie’s interview with Devon Rafferty and the tenuous “Purdue” connection.
“I’d like to track down all these ex-husbands,” said Josie. “I don’t think anyone has told us the truth about Amber’s family yet. They’ve been hiding something. I think there was much more than them just being toxic or dysfunctional, and much worse than a divorce.”
“Like what?” Mettner asked.
Josie shrugged. “I don’t know. But the only Watts we are able to speak with right now is Hugo, and he disputed nearly everything we’ve already heard from Lydia and both the sisters’ best friends. Maybe we need to widen the circle and talk to people on their periphery.”
“Plus Lydia’s ex-husbands were technically Gabriel Watts’ stepfathers. I know Hugo said that the husbands wanted nothing to do with Lydia’s kids, but that might not be the case. Maybe Gabriel had a good relationship with one of them and that’s where he went to hide.”
Gretchen said, “I’ve got the husband list in my notebook. I can run it down, if you’d like.”
Josie said, “We don’t know what counties these men lived in, though so that might be an issue.”
Gretchen lifted her brow. “Are you implying that I’m not as good an internet stalker as you are, boss?”
Josie grinned. “Maybe I am.”
Gretchen nodded as she started moving her computer mouse around. “Challenge accepted.”
Mettner said, “This is all fine and good, but how does Thatcher Toland fit into this scenario? What the hell was he doing at Amber’s house? She doesn’t even—” He broke off and looked at his lap.
Noah said, “Doesn’t even what, Mett?”
Mettner shook his head. “She hates him. Passionately. Any time he came on television, she insisted on changing the channel, even if it was just a commercial.”
“That must have been awkward,” said Noah. “Considering you had a weddings brochure from his new megachurch together with an engagement ring in your underwear drawer.”
Mettner dropped his head into his hands. “Of course you found that. Well, yeah, I hadn’t even showed her that yet, especially after I realized how much she hated the guy. I mean, I tried to talk to her about him because I had watched some of his videos online. He’s really not that bad. I mean, he’s got a good message. Amber caught me watching one of them once and went ballistic. You’d think she caught me watching porn or something. Then when she found the copy of his book—”
“You were reading his book?” Josie said.
“No. My mom read it and then she gave it to me. She gave one to all her kids. She’s really into this guy. Anyway, with the grand opening of the new megachurch on Christmas Eve, my mom wanted all of us—the whole family—to go to the Christmas service this year.”
“That must have gone over wonderfully,” said Gretchen.
“Amber was horrified. She said we could not go. I told her, ‘It’s just one church service. My mom’s not asking us to join the church, just to go to one service with her,’ but Amber blew a gasket—again. She said he was a liar and a disgusting human being and that anyone who bought into his bullshit was an idiot.”