Five Stories

We go inside and Chase and I enter the office while Jenn starts making dinner. He shows me the inbox from the email, and the voicemail inbox. We have a lot of work to do.

"Jenn sorted through the first fifty or so. Half were infidelity, which we replied by saying we don't do. Missing persons started this hole thing. I want you to take those. I'll take the criminal defense, and Jenn will help us with both."

The first case in the deck is a twelve-year-old boy who went missing two years ago. The parents don't believe the police did enough. Another is a woman who went on a business trip and never returned. Another child wandered off the property and was never seen again. I can feel the desperation grow with every request.

"I'll get started by prioritizing the most recent. Warmer trail," I say, and he nods in agreement. "You?"

"Criminal defense investigation. He was arrested for drugs. Says the police planted them. We'll see," Chase says and kind of shrugs. "Use Lance to get a deep dive on them. He's worth every penny."

"Thanks for this," I say, and he's not immediately sure what I'm talking about. "For the job. For giving me a purpose again."

"That's why I hired you. Being a detective wasn't your job, it was your purpose."

"What's your purpose?" I ask.

"My mom wrote me a letter before she died. Before she killed herself," he says, and I reflexively reach out to touch his arm as an act of comfort, but restrain myself. "That I was the kind of person who did the right thing for the sake of itself. The right thing because it was right. People like me felt crushed by the world because we try to hold it on our shoulders. And man, do I know that feeling. I can't hold up the entire world. But I can carry my own small piece of it. Make that better. Tend to my own garden...yes, I know," he says before I comment on his black thumb. "Welcome to my small part of the world. My purpose is to make it a little bit better every day."