Dani stared at Diesel, who shrugged. “No, I don’t have her,” Dani said. “And I’m sorry, but I don’t know if she’s alive or not. I take it you haven’t seen her, either.”

The woman sighed. “No. She went missing from Cincinnati a year and a half ago. Her roommate told us that she’d run off with her boyfriend.”

“She was a med student.”

“She was,” the woman agreed sadly. “Threw it all away.”

“You believe the roommate, then?” Dani asked cautiously.

“I don’t know,” Mrs. Masterson admitted. “I know my brother-in-law is convinced that she didn’t leave of her own free will. Why? How are you connected to Laurel, Dr. Novak?”

Dani hesitated. “I’m not,” she admitted. “Not directly. But I am connected to something that might belong to her.” The boys’ house, she signed to Diesel, who shook his head at her, but fondly. “Can you have your husband call me? It’s very important.”

“Of course.” A baby started crying in the background. “I need to go.”

Dani sighed when the call ended. “I did bad?”

He smiled at her. “The boys’ house? Really?”

“Well . . . LJM owns the house that should belong to the boys. It was their father’s house first. And I’m connected to the boys. So I’m connected to the house and LJM. LJM is Laurel. So yes. Really.”

His smile became indulgent. “Is that the story you’re sticking to?”

She pretended to pout. “Fine. I panicked.”

“Then I take back my comment about you giving up medicine to be a PI. You should keep your day job.”

She laughed. “So noted.”

He traced his fingertip across her smiling cheeks. “You are so pretty when you laugh.”

“I’ve done it a lot more often the past few days.”

“Good. Who are you calling next?”

Dani pulled his hand from her face. “I can’t think when you touch me like that.”

His dark eyes lit up with unfettered joy. “Outstanding.” He waggled his brows. “Do you want to take a break from thinking?”

She kissed his fingers, chuckling. “Yes, but now is probably not the best time. We’ll take a break from thinking later, once Michael’s gone to sleep.”

Diesel sobered. “Yeah. I know.” He lay on his side, propping himself on his elbow. “So who will you call next?”

“I thought maybe the university or her old high school. Maybe Wesley Masterson is wrong and she did leave of her own free will. Maybe Laurel’s communicated with some of her friends.”

“Lots of maybes,” Diesel said, “but all good questions. You need help?”

“No, I think I’ve got this, and I need something to do or I’ll go stir-crazy. I’m not used to sitting still.”

“Me, either. Especially when sitting still doesn’t give me what I’m looking for.”