For Livvy’s sake Raine put aside her resentment for the greater good. “Is there any word yet about Livvy and the kids?”
“Nope. Nothing. It’s like they vanished into thin air.”
She pointed to where his father and brother stood at the counter placing their orders. “Didn’t you forget something?”
“They already know what I want, same thing I always order, the Grande burrito with the works. Why don’t you sit down and cheer me up?”
Raine tilted her head, sent him her sweetest smile. “Same old Indigo. As you can see I’m working. Actually, I run the place now. No time for chitchat with the riffraff.”
“I heard your mother turned the day to day operation over to you.”
“Yep. Four years now.”
“Raine…” Mitch tried to reach out and take her hand.
She slapped it away in time to glance over and see Tanner and Garret watching the scene play out from a few feet away. Raine didn’t intend to give them the satisfaction of a second act. “I’m sorry about Livvy and the kids. You should know I don’t believe all those rumors she ran off to Bermuda.”
“We heard Barbados,” Garret quipped and took the seat across from Mitch.
“Not there either,” Raine noted with a smile. She stared at the youngest Indigo brother. “Surfing agrees with you. Your hair’s lighter than I remember, not as jet-black. And to think I knew you when you were still afraid to get your feet wet and mess up your perfect locks.”
Mitch leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest, listening to the normal, familiar banter between two old friends catching up. Why couldn’t the woman do the same with him? She could joke with Garret as if they were siblings or cousins. Why not be as cordial to him? He came out of his funk when Raine tossed out her gold nugget.
“Look, it may not mean anything, but the Wednesday Livvy went missing, she came in here for lunch. She seemed agitated, upset. When I asked her what was wrong, she shook her head and said she was tired of Walker’s BS. From that point on, she pretty much proceeded to pitch a downright hissy fit over something Walker had done. Liv said she’d already let Walker get away with way too much during their time together and she was done with it.” Raine’s voice held a tinge of fondness at the memory mixed with a degree of sadness.
“Did you tell anyone else about this?” Mitch wanted to know.
Raine lifted a shoulder. “No one’s asked.”
“What exactly upset her that day?” Tanner said as he slid in beside Garret.
Raine took a deep breath. “I hate to admit this, but we were swamped that day and I didn’t really pay all that much attention to her outburst.”
“For God’s sake…” Mitch asserted.
“Don’t start with me,” Raine warned, stabbing her finger at him. “Look, it wasn’t all that unusual for Livvy to rant like that. In fact, she did it quite a few times before. She’d get it out of her system and then forgive Walker for whatever it was he’d done. So don’t get upset with me. I’m just the messenger. I hope in some way the info helps find her and the kids. Now, I’ll go see what’s taking so long with your order.”
Mitch watched her storm off before turning to his dad and brother. “See, the people who truly care about Livvy know she wasn’t completely happy with Walker.”
A sick feeling pounded Tanner’s belly. As hungry as he’d been before, the bottom dropped out. “All my accusations about Walker and I’m having a tough time with this.”
Baffled looks passed between Mitch and Garret, but it was Garret who pointed out, “I don’t believe my ears. For four days now all we’ve heard is how Walker is responsible for all this, the root of the problem. Now you’ve changed your mind?”
Tanner scrubbed his hands over his face. “I didn’t say that. It isn’t as black and white as all that.”
“Okay, what then?” Mitch asked.
Tanner huffed out a breath. “I didn’t like the guy, okay? At all. But accepting the realization that Walker did something to Olivia means she’s not coming back. You don’t have kids so you couldn’t possibly understand the implication of that. It means… It means I didn’t do enough to protect my own daughter and my grandkids? Speaking of which, where are they, the kids? Did Walker really have it in him to hurt his own flesh and blood? If so, then why didn’t I see that and do something about it beforehand? It means I let Livvy down. I let Blake and Ally down. I should’ve had a long talk with that son of a bitch four years ago and straightened him out when I saw how distant he behaved around his family. After his mother died I knew something was wrong. But I did nothing.”
“Stop it,” Mitch commanded, raising his voice. He angled closer to his father. “No one could’ve predicted this. No one. Things like this aren’t supposed to happen.”
Garret held up a hand. “Let’s settle down for a minute and stop jumping to conclusions. We’re letting our emotions lead this thing and we need to follow the facts, follow the actual evidence we know for certain. That’s what the PI is for.”
Tanner nodded. “Let’s do that. From this point forward I’m taking a page out of your mother’s playbook. I’m hoping to God that phone will ring and Livvy will be on the other end saying everything’s okay.”
While his family stuffed their faces, Jackson repeated his route from the night before, expanding his search by several blocks. He wasn’t sure if he felt pissed or rattled. But as each street yielded no sign of her, he hit the fringes of panic.
The clock ticked off the hour till Marcelli showed up. He was running out of time. Should he stop at the police station, let Jessup know he couldn’t find Tessa?
Just as he started to head that way, something caused him to rethink the idea. Better still, he’d ask the private detective what to do about her. Maybe the Miami expert would have better luck locating her.
Chapter Nine
Tessa walked through the doors of The Blue Taco barely missing the Indigos by a mere five minutes.
After ordering the taco special, à la carte, Tessa found a booth at the very back for a little privacy so she could take out her laptop. She booted up the computer and logged into her email account. Each time she did so, hope settled in her heart that somehow her brother had found a way to write a brief message telling her he was okay.
But as she stared at the inbox and all the other emails that were not from Ryan, she realized one more day had gone by with no word. Tears watered her eyes.
Without warning, Jackson scooted in across from her. “Where the hell have you been? You checked out of the hotel and didn’t tell anyone. I’ve been looking everywhere for you. Where’ve you been the last two days? And why couldn’t you return a text message so I wouldn’t worry?”
Tessa frowned. “You were actually worried about me? Why?”
“Why? Five people are unaccounted for in this town. Then out of the blue, you decide to go dark. It made me wonder. I thought I might be dealing with number six.”
In spite of her mistrust, tears welled up and trickled down her cheeks. Embarrassed at the display of hormones, she grabbed several napkins to dab at her eyes. “I’m so sorry. I had no idea you’d take the time to go looking for me.”
“You’re kidding, right?” He held up his thumb and index finger as a measurement. “I was that close to going to Jessup and telling him we had another missing person.”
“Don’t do that! From here on out, I don’t recommend going to Jessup for anything.”
Jackson noticed the genuine panicked look in her eyes. He watched her blow her nose and tried to figure her out. “I thought we were hitting a stride, you and me. I thought we’d made a connection other than this craziness we’re both dealing with. And then you ignore any communication from me. Why?”
She decided to level with him. “Since Sunday I’ve been dealing with a few trust issues, okay? My fault.”
Dumbfounded, Jackson sat back in the booth, clearly shaken. “You don’t trust me or my family? Since when? What gives with you? It’s a disa
ppointing fact that everyone else in town pretty much thinks it’s a done deal that Livvy hit the beach on some Caribbean island somewhere. But you, with your own brother missing, you don’t trust us?”
“Just calm down a minute. Hear me out. After Sunday, after our brief talk about Walker, I needed to spend some time by myself. I needed to wrap my head around all my suspicions that kept whirling around in my head.” Lowering her voice to a whisper, she told him about finding Ryan’s ID bracelet on Walker’s yacht. “That’s what capped all my misgivings.”
Then she told him about the meeting at Royce’s, ticking off everything she’d seen for Jackson’s benefit.
Jackson whistled through his teeth. “I wonder if that might explain why certain people made a stop at our house yesterday to make sure we went in another direction, to make sure the search got fewer volunteers.”
He told her about the cascade of rumors and the stories. “They obviously went out of their way to spread that around town. I doubt it’s a coincidence. Would you be able to recognize Dandridge and Frawley if I pointed them out to you?”
“Probably. I got a good enough look at them. The one man I did recognize for certain was Jessup Sinclair.”
Jackson’s eyes grew wide. “Holy shit. What the hell’s going on in this town?”
She lowered her voice even more. “Sinclair, the police chief, the one person I went to and reported my brother missing, and who did nothing about it.”
His jaw tightened at the idea he’d trusted the top cop. He glanced down at his watch and stood up. “Right now, I have to go meet with the detective. You need to wrap up lunch and make it there so you can tell him what you saw firsthand. We need to make him aware that we should tread carefully around the local cops. Plus, my family will want to hear all this from you firsthand.”
“Sure. Okay.”
“Meantime, don’t go disappearing on me again.” He leaned down and brushed a kiss on her forehead. “Try to stay out of trouble. See you in thirty minutes. It’s okay to be late.”
After Jackson left, Raine dropped off Tessa’s order. But instead of leaving it on the table and vanishing back into the kitchen, she plopped down in the same seat Jackson had occupied. “You didn’t tell him you slept in that cramped little car of yours last night.”
Tessa made an uncomfortable sound in her throat.
But Raine ignored it. “Don’t bother denying what I saw with my own eyes. I recognized your sports car with the Carolina license plate parked over at the corner of Marina Way and Sand Shell. You were tucked up for the night on the cul de sac trying to get comfy in that tiny backseat. That couldn’t have been a very comfortable way to sleep. Anyway, before you ask, I wasn’t spying on you. The spot you picked is right around the corner from where I live.”
Tessa shifted in her seat and looked around to see if anyone had overheard. She was uncomfortable enough with the stark reality of her financial situation without it getting out that she was strapped for cash. “Please don’t say anything to anyone.”
Raine locked her lips. “It’s our secret. But do I at least get to ask why? Why all the secrecy?”
“It’s embarrassing and it’s a small town. I took off to come here and put my job in jeopardy. In fact, if I can’t come up with a blog post soon, I may lose it for good. If I keep hanging around here much longer without results, I’ll have to chalk this up as a lost cause. So please, I don’t want you mentioning my situation to Jackson until I’ve had a chance to tell him myself. I’ll get around to telling him that I had to check out of the lodge because I’m running low on money. My credit cards are maxed out. The balances are beginning to look like the national debt.”
“Okay. Sure. But if you’ve run out of funds, how do you intend to stay here and still keep up the search for your brother?”
As a distraction Tessa nervously shredded her paper napkin, then cleaned up the mess. “I’m working on that. My dad already sent me some money. After paying on my bills back home—rent, utilities, and making the minimum payments on my credit cards—I’m hoarding the rest. I can sleep in my car until…”
“You could, but you don’t have to.”
“What do you mean?” Tessa began to babble. “You’re right. I could take on a temp job. Don’t worry, I’ll figure something out. The longer this thing plays out, the more I’m getting a bad feeling about ever finding Ryan. Even if I could talk my tightwad of a stepmother into extending me a loan it would only prolong the search for another month. That’s if I eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches every night.”
“Is that a sure thing with your stepmother, or more like wishful thinking?”
Tessa tried for a laugh but it stuck in her throat. “Honestly, it’s wishful dreaming. Suzanne, that’s her name, holds onto my father’s purse strings like a world-class Scrooge. I’m not sure why our dad lets her call all the shots. But he does. It’s as if Suzanne neutered him the minute she dragged him to the altar ten years ago.”
“Ouch.” Raine chewed her bottom lip. “There is a solution without butting heads with the cheapskate, overbearing stepmother.”
Tessa finally focused. “There is?”
Raine lightly tapped the tabletop to make her point. “You’ll come home with me after I get off work and bunk at my place. It’s just two streets over. Everything downtown is within walking distance. You’ll save on gas.”
Tessa’s eyes grew wide. Her jaw dropped. She shook her head. “I couldn’t…”
Before Tessa could protest more, Raine leveled a finger at her. “Don’t be an ass. I have a perfectly good spare room that’s going to waste. The bed there has to be a lot more comfortable than the backseat of your car. The room’s yours for as long as you need it.”
“Why?”
“Because every time I watch the news all the talk is centered around the missing Buchanans, which is great. But somewhere along the way, I think your brother’s been overlooked as a potential victim in all this. Whatever all this turns out to be.”
“I don’t know what to say. You’re incredibly generous.”
“Thank you usually covers it. By the way, I want you to know, Ryan never came in here during the time frame Jackson suggested on Sunday during his press conference, at least, not that I know of. Maybe your brother didn’t get a hankering for tacos while I was on duty. I don’t know. I checked our surveillance tapes myself from around Labor Day. Your brother wasn’t on it. But I could ask around to other restaurants and see if they’ve looked at their security tapes. It’d be a longshot because some businesses tape over their surveillance video right away…but you never know.”
“It’s something,” Tessa stated. “Thank you. Each time there’s the slightest bit of cooperation from anyone I get ecstatic.” She nibbled on her bottom lip, fought back tears. Emotions took over. “I’m blown away by your offer. Thank you,” Tessa repeated. “It comes at a time when I wasn’t sure how I was going to stay in town. But I won’t hold you to it. For all you know I could be a serious drug addict who has the potential for being the roomie from hell. I’m not, by the way.”
A corner of Raine’s mouth lifted. “That’s good to know. Any sister who’d go to this much trouble for this long to find her brother is all right in my book.”
Tessa picked up on a vibe that bore the seeds of something deeper. “So you have a brother?”
“I did. His name was Danny. We lost him in Afghanistan four years ago. It broke my mother’s heart so much that I took over running this place for her. My grandmother’s still around so she helps my mom get through the day.”
“I’m so very sorry.” It was then Tessa zeroed in on what Raine had mentioned earlier. “So you don’t believe that the Buchanan family just decided to go on vacation in the middle of the week without telling anyone?”
“Nope. I knew Livvy. That woman had just gotten both kids in school for most of the day. Little Ally was so excited about first grade. And Livvy looked forward to making the Vitamin Hut a huge success. She thought it mig
ht shore up her marriage.”
Tessa tilted her head. “Whoa. So there was trouble there? Was it serious? I mean, serious enough for Walker to do something drastic?”
“Livvy never made a habit of opening up to people about what happened at home, especially to her mom and dad.”
“So the Indigos don’t know? I ask because I spent some time with them the other night. It’s a fifty-fifty split down the middle as to whether they completely trusted Walker or not. Lenore seems to believe there’s no way he would ever hurt Livvy or the kids. But then there’s the fact that Walker told Ryan in an email that Livvy spent his money faster than he could bring it in.”
“His money?” The words came out of Raine’s mouth like acid. “That sounds like Walker. Selfish bastard. See, that’s what I’m talking about. That statement’s another Walker lie.” She shifted closer and whispered, “There were rumors all over town that Walker was having an affair, some woman who worked at a strip club down in Key West named Harlow. Which makes sense when you think about all the trips the guy made down there at least once a week.”
“Really? I don’t think the Indigos know about this Harlow woman because it didn’t come up, not with me there anyway.”
“Hey, Mitch was just in here. He didn’t say a word to me about an affair. We’ve known each other…” Raine stopped in mid-sentence before filling in the blanks. “Let’s just say, we go way back. And yet…if he doesn’t feel comfortable talking to me about this situation, then I don’t feel that it’s my job to tell him his brother-in-law was screwing around with some stripper.”
“Good point. But I don’t have the luxury of tiptoeing around the family’s dynamics. I’m not part of their past.” She thought back to the kiss she’d shared with Jackson. She couldn’t let emotions stand in the way of finding out everything she could about Walker. “For almost two months the man refused to pay Ryan the money he owed him. That’s why he came to town, to collect.”
[Indigo Brothers 01.0] Indigo Fire Page 14