“Lieutenant,” Malone said, “you want to bring Agent Hill up to speed on why we’re looking for Josh Hamilton?”

Not really, Sam wanted to say, but instead she cleared her throat and forced herself to meet the golden gaze that had once looked at her with much more than collegial interest. Thankfully, he’d backed off on that bullshit since he got engaged to Shelby.

“Josh Hamilton came to HQ on Friday looking for me. He said he would only talk to me. As you and the rest of the world know, I was suspended. He waylaid me as I was leaving and told me he’d been surfing the net at work and stumbled upon an age-progression photo of a missing child who was a dead ringer for him.”

Other than his eyes widening ever so slightly, Avery’s expression didn’t change.

“Do you know Josh?”

“I’ve met him a couple of times.”

“Captain, may I borrow your phone?” Sam asked.

Malone rolled his eyes, mocking her refusal to upgrade from her trusty flip phone, and handed over his smartphone after punching in the code.

Sam went to the browser and found the link to the photo and showed it to Avery.

“Holy shit,” he said in a whisper.

“That’s what Josh said too. He was totally freaked out and came right to me.”

“Why you?”

“Um, well, you might not have heard, but I have a bit of a reputation for being pretty good at my job.”

Avery groaned. “Christ, I walked right into that, didn’t I?”

“You asked.”

“Children,” Malone said sternly. “Get on with it.”

Sam told him everything that’d happened since she encountered Josh Hamilton on Friday, culminating with the news that he had bolted from protective custody and was convinced his father was out to kill him.

“Seriously?” Avery said. “And you believe him?”

“Detective Cruz and I agreed that his concerns seemed legitimate.”

“Do you honestly believe that Troy Hamilton, one of the most revered and well-respected men in law enforcement, would be capable of kidnapping and murder?”

Sam chose her words carefully, knowing how difficult it had to be for him to hear this about his illustrious director. “I’m sorry to say, Agent Hill, that in my line of work, you quickly discover that just about everyone is capable of murder under the right circumstances.”

“Troy Hamilton is not capable of murder. He’s spent his entire adult life working to apprehend criminals and to make this country safer for all of us. That you would even imply such a thing is so far beyond egregious I don’t even have a word for it.”

“I understand how you feel—”