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when Tain had arrived, or afterward.
    Craig decided to take the opportunity to make one quick call before his partner returned. It only took a few seconds to dial his stepmother’s phone number.
    And it only took a minute to confirm there was still no answer.
    When Ashlyn and Tain arrived at Sergeant Frank Zidani’s office—his temporary office, which still had the name Steve Daly posted outside—Zidani didn’t invite them to sit down or even offer a casual greeting. Instead, he glared at Ashlyn.
    “Have you screwed this up already?”
    Her only response was to stare back. The muscles in the back of her neck pulled tight, and she knew her instinctive retort would lead to more trouble than it was worth, even if it would feel so good for a moment to tell Zidani off, just once.
    “Well, what have you got?” It was supposed to be a question, but he had a way of growling the words so they sounded aggressive, accusing.
    “Four-year-old boy named Jeffrey Reimer. Found at the water park in Rocky Point Park in Port Moody. He—”
    “How’d the call come in?”
    Ashlyn swallowed. Zidani refused to just let them run through the details. He had to keep them off balance and jump all over the place.
    “He was located by Port Moody police officers after an anonymous 911 call about an assault at the park.”
    “I take it you haven’t tracked the source of the call yet.” Zidani leaned back in his chair, arms folded across his chest, scowl firmly in place.
    “We located a witness who’s identified a possible suspect.”
    “Who’s this witness?”
    “Christopher Reimer, the older brother o—”
    “How much older?”
    “He’s eleven.” Ashlyn bit back the urge to slap a sarcastic “sir” on the end of that.
    “Who’d he identify as the killer?”
    “Shannon Reimer, age sixteen.”
    The scowl deepened. “Motive?”
    Ashlyn paused. “We haven’t been able to establish that yet.”
    Zidani leaned forward. “Constable Hart, what exactly have you been doing all this time?”
    “What do you think?”
    Zidani pounded his fist against the desk and then pointed a meaty finger at her. “I asked you a question. I expect a direct answer, not some smart-ass remark.” He leaned back in his chair and proffered a heartless smile. “Now, I’m going to pretend you didn’t just get mouthy with a superior officer. Let’s try this again. What have you been doing all this time?”
    “My job.” Ashlyn felt her chin jut out. As hard as she tried to stay calm she could feel her cheeks flush with anger. Zidani had no right to question the quality of their work. A few hours into the call and they already had an eyewitness who’d identified a suspect. “We worked the scene and did an extensive search. Constable Sims is still on site, in charge. Once we located the witness and identified the victim and potential suspect, Constable Tain and I went to the Reimer house to make notification to the parents, but they insisted on calling their lawyer before we told them their daughter is a suspect and—”
    “Who’s the lawyer?”
    “Byron Smythe.”
    “The dead kid…” Zidani snapped his fingers a few times. “What’s his dad’s name?”
    Tain answered. “Richard Reimer.”
    Zidani didn’t acknowledge Tain and kept his gaze on Ashlyn. “Known criminal connections?”
    “We haven’t been able to check yet. We didn’t know Smythe was the family lawyer until he arrived and right after they left you called us in.”
    “What about the daughter? Is Smythe bringing her in for questioning?”
    “She’s missing.”
    “She’s missing? What the hell are you doing here?”
    “You called us and ordered us to report in.” Before he could do more than snarl at her Ashlyn continued. “We have her photo and information in circulation. We’re going to check her friends, extended family talk to the teachers. A teenage girl is more likely to go to someone she knows, and the uniforms have the streets covered.”
    Zidani glowered