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six.”
    “You were right, Officer Brooks,” the young cop replied. “Do you want me to stick around or—”
    “Yes,” both brothers said.
    The detective continued as he took pictures of the scraped up door with a muddy shoe tread on it. “We can’t process our sister’s case. It’s officially yours, Richards. I just want to get pictures before anyone touches anything. You’ll have to call in someone else to process. We’re here as brothers, not officials.”
    “You haven’t heard from her, either?” Dallas asked.
    “She called a few days ago to apologize for missing my birthday,” Garrett answered. “She said she’d had a bad week and forgot.” He stepped aside as his brother returned from taking pictures of the window. “You have something to do with her bad week?”
    Realization hit Dallas like a fist in the gut. This was his fault, and Kira hadn’t told anyone about what had happened. “Yeah,” he said, “it was my fault. I’ve been trying to get hold of her all week. She wouldn’t return my calls.”
    “And you have the nerve to show up here and put her name out over the entire region? That’s a misuse of the system! We ought to write you up.” Garrett stepped toward Dallas.
    The detective pushed his brother back. “Calm down, Garrett. I don’t think this was personal.”
    Garrett stood his ground. “What makes you think that?”
    “He’s not her type, for one thing. He’s a cop. You really think she wants another copin her life?” The detective put his gloves on. “So, give me the key.”
    His brother didn’t move.
    “Garrett. Let’s see what’s going on here and then we can jump to conclusions.”
    Dallas wanted to laugh, but this was too bizarre. Right now, he just wanted to know where their sister was, that she was okay. He’d deal with the second punch in the ego later.
    Garrett glared at Dallas as he handed the keys over. It looked as if he was used to taking orders from his brother. So Nick was the arrogant detective, and Garrett the one with a temper. He probably had a chip on each shoulder. Dallas crossed his arms over his chest and met Garrett’s stare, as if he could look inside and size the man up. A muscle flickered in Garrett’s jaw. He was trying to prove himself, especially on the job. He was probably the younger of the two, though with his buzz cut, it was difficult to be sure.
    Officer Richards leaned close. “So what didhappen between you two?”
    Dallas really didn’t want to be the one to tell her brothers what had happened. She had her reasons for keeping it from them. “I came to get a statement for an incident that happened when she did a ride-along. I’ve phoned every day, but she’s not returning my calls.”
    “You called in a BOLO just because she didn’t phone you back?” Garrett eyed Dallas with a protective glare. “She didn’t say anything about the ride-along when I talked to her.”
    “Mom said she’d been talking to someone about her new project.” Nick looked at Dallas. “So what makes you think something is wrong, Brooks?”
    Dallas wasn’t getting anywhere with this tack. “I’m just worried. She doesn’t seem like the type to not follow up on business.”
    “Follow up on what?”
    “While I was inside the house that night talking to the mother and son, the mom’s boyfriend must have been hiding in the backyard, and tried to break into the cruiser…with your sister inside.”
    Nick looked as if he wanted to punch him.
    “I’ve done what I could to let her do this in her own timing,” Dallas continued. “Now I need her statement so I can finish my report. I found out she’s not been at work for days, she’s not here, and I found the screen torn off one of her windows. The inside of her condo looks fairly torn up, too. That’s when I called your officer in.” The two brothers stared at Dallas in disbelief. “Are we going to stand here, or make sure Kira is okay?” he asked them.
    “Yeah,” Nick said, with a