“Well, even the great Nolan Duffy gets it wrong sometimes, I guess.”
“Nia, that’s not fair.”
“I’m sorry. I’m just feeling frantic. Meri did seem fine last night. She told me she had a nice time with the two of you, and she insisted on wiping down the kitchen for me, even though I told her twice she didn’t have to. She even volunteered to get up early and preheat the oven for the breakfast casseroles and set up the coffee urn. I said that would be a great help.”
“And did she?”
“Yes,” Nia said. “But then she was nowhere to be found. Nowhere to actually help serve breakfast to our guests—I have half a dozen out there today—and nowhere to help with the washing up so we could get an early start.”
“That’s right. Antiquing.”
“I thought she might enjoy it. I was offering an olive branch. If she saw something she liked, I might even have bought it and found a spot for it just to show I didn’t hate her.”
“Or get her not to hate you.”
“Whatever. Stay on topic. I’ve looked everywhere for her, all around the Inn, even in the basement where I’ve never even asked her to go. She left. In a car.”
“She’s got to be around,” Jillian said. “A quick personal errand, perhaps?”
Nia’s exhale rasped with irritation. “We were supposed to leave Leo in charge at the Inn as soon as we cleaned up. I made it clear that even though she wouldn’t be working at the Inn, I still considered it work, and would of course pay her. She didn’t have to count it as time off, so there was no reason for her not to go. Unless she didn’t want to have anything to do with me and just didn’t want to tell me, any more than she doesn’t want to tell her own parents the truth.”
“Let’s not go there.” Jillian poured more coffee down her throat. “Are her things still in her room?”
“You can’t honestly ask me to go look,” Nia said.
“If she’s gone, what difference can it make?”
“If she comes home and finds me there?”
Nia had a point. If Meri showed up, this fret frenzy would be over, but it would be replaced by War of the Worlds—and Meri really would leave. “You’re sure she’s not in the room?”
“Who else would drive away in her car, Jillian? She doesn’t exactly leave her keys on a hook in the kitchen. I can’t leave until the last of the guests finishes eating, but then we’ll go.”
“Go where?”
“To look for Meri. Jillian, what’s wrong with you? Keep up.”
What’s wrong with me? Jillian clamped her lips against the retort forming in her mind and said instead, “But we have no idea where she is.”
“Be here in thirty minutes. She’ll have gotten a head start, but we might still catch her.” Nia clicked off.
Jillian stared at the phone. If Meri truly had a head start, it was much more than thirty minutes. Hours, maybe. And if she had decided to refuse their offers of help and leave—even without her paycheck—what were the chances they would find her now?
She freshened up, filled her travel mug with another round of fortifying caffeine, and prepared to leave the house. Nia shouldn’t be driving in her state of mind. Jillian would take her seldom-used small SUV out of the garage, and if Meri didn’t turn up in the next few minutes, she would insist on being behind the wheel.
Her phone rang again when she had one step out the back door. Sure it was Nia calling off the search, she had a smart remark ready, but a St. Louis area code displayed.
“Jillian Parisi-Duffy.”
“This is Suzanne Plank. I got your message.”
“Oh! Thanks for calling back.” Jillian dropped her keys on the counter and picked up a pen.
“I did know Annabel Rosario from a couple of classes,” Suzanne said, “but I haven’t spoken to her in months. Probably close to a year. I was sorry when I heard she might be dropping out of premed.”
Premed? “Do you have a phone number or an email address—even if it’s old? She’s not in trouble. I’m not a collection agency or anything.”
“How can I be sure?”
“It would be illegal for me to lie to you about that. I actually want to help her.”
Silence, while Suzanne Plank considered what to do.
“I guess it would be all right,” Suzanne said. “I’m really not sure if she’s in classes anymore. The email I have is a Yahoo address, not a university one, so maybe she still has it. I don’t know about the phone.”
“Whatever you can give me will be a great help,” Jillian said. Finally she was speaking to someone at least mildly sympathetic toward Annabel Rosario.
She ran back into her office, where she had an introductory email prepared on her computer, and sent a message to the Yahoo address. While she backed her car out of the driveway and pointed it toward the Inn, she called the phone number Suzanne provided, but a robotic voice informed her it was no longer in service.
Come on, Yahoo. Come through for me.
Nia came flying out the front door of the Inn and jumped into Jillian’s car before Jillian even had a chance to put it in PARK and turn off the engine.
“I still think you should check to see if she took her things before we go on a wild-goose chase,” Jillian said.
“I am not crossing that line again.” Nia’s jaw was set with babysitter authority. “Are you saying you want to?”
“It’s not my house.”
“See. You don’t want to either.”
Jillian puffed her cheeks and whiffed resignation. “We’re jumping to some pretty big conclusions here.”
“So go ahead. Go inside. You be the one to open her door. Open her closet. Snoop in her drawers.”
Jillian opened her car door. Nia glared, dared. Jillian pulled the door closed. She’d made Nia confess her transgression. She didn’t want to have to do the same.
“We should just wait,” Jillian said.
“That’s not what my gut says. This is the first time she’s even started her car since she moved it to the parking space back here almost a week ago. This is not nothing.”
Nia had a point. Again. If Meri had bolted, no matter what she’d said last night and the seeming peace treaty with Nia, the behavior would be consistent with her overall emotional state and rising anxiety. “Did she give you her cell number?”
Nia banged her head on the headrest twice. “Jillian.”
“I know, I know,” Jillian said. “Even if she did, she doesn’t answer it. So where are we going?”
“I’ve been racking my brain, and I’m coming up with nothing.”
“Nia, we need a plan.”
“I don’t know where she goes,” Nia said. “She’s only been here a week, and she hasn’t had that much free time. Who does she know besides you and me and your dad? She spends a lot of time in her room or out on the patio on her laptop. She doesn’t actually go anywhere unless I send her on an errand.”
“Then maybe she hasn’t actually gone anywhere now,” Jillian said. “Everybody needs to, I don’t know, go to the drugstore every now and then. Makeup. Hair spray. Shampoo. Whatever.”
“And exactly why would she do that in the precise window when she was supposed to be helping me so we could go to the antique stores in Leadville?”
“Fine. We’ll drive around town and look for her car. If you spot it, let me know, and I’ll park.”
“Maybe Digger’s Delight,” Nia said. “She and Carolyn seemed to connect the other day.”
“It’s a little early for Carolyn to be open, but we can try.” Meri at least had been interested in the building’s history the day she visited the shop. Jillian swung around the block and headed toward the candy store.
“There’s a note on the door,” Nia said.
“You know how Carolyn is. She closes at her convenience.”
“Stop. I want to read it.”
“It won’t be about Meri.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Look, Nia,” Jillian sai
d, “if Meri left, there’s nothing we can do. If she didn’t, she’s going to turn up at the Inn wondering where you are.”
“I thought you wanted to help her.”
“I did. I do. But you can’t always help people who don’t want to be helped.”
“Just park the car.”
They got out to read Carolyn’s note. Closed until further notice. Her usual notes said something like Back soon or Grabbing lunch.
“Something’s wrong with Carolyn.” Jillian could see yesterday’s leftover candy in the displays but no additions from this morning and no sign Carolyn had been on the premises. She strode next door and knocked on Kris Bryant’s ice cream parlor. It was also too early for Kris to be open, but she’d be inside preparing for the day.
“What’s going on?” Kris answered the door waving a long metal ladle.
“Have you seen Meri?” Nia asked.
“And where’s Carolyn?” Jillian asked.
“No, and with her daughter.” Kris pointed to each inquirer in turn. “Carolyn got a call that her daughter was in bad shape, so she went down to Golden. You know it’s been a rough pregnancy. No, I don’t know when she’ll be back.”
“If you see Meri, call me,” Nia said.
“Have you misplaced your new Carlotta in only a week?” Kris said.
“Not in the mood.” Nia marched away.
They circled through downtown Canyon Mines three times before agreeing they could be positive Meri’s car was not parked in front of any of the shops or in any of the rear lots. Jillian headed back to the Inn.
No sign of Meri’s car there either.
“Should we check with Leo?” Jillian asked. “Maybe he’s heard from her.”
“He was up and out early with his truck to get a load of wood. Some big project.”
“So no one has been minding the Inn?”
“Technically, no. But don’t lecture me. He’ll be back soon. That was always the plan. Leo goes early. We feed the guests. He comes back. Meri and I leave.”
“I could leave you here and look on my own,” Jillian said. The mound of work on her desk multiplied mentally every time she thought of it. Even if Meri left her personal things at the Inn, it was possible she just needed some space. Shouldn’t they let her have it? If Nia wanted to be hard-nosed and dock her pay later, she could.
“Not a chance,” Nia said. “Drive west, on the old highway out of town.”
“Toward the old mine?”
“Yes.”
“Wouldn’t she just take the interstate if she was actually leaving?”
“Not if she was trying to stay out of sight.”
“Okay. There are some good hiking trails out there. Maybe she just wanted to clear her mind.”
They drove out toward the mine. In a couple of hours it would open to tours every two hours, but for now there wasn’t much traffic.
And there was no sign of Meri’s tan Camry.
Jillian glanced over at Nia. Meri could have turned on the oven to preheat hours before breakfast and be anywhere in Clear Creek County by now—or across the state line into Wyoming. Nia picking random destinations and saying, “Go there,” made no sense.
“Nia, I really think we should just go back to the Inn.”
“We’re here now. We might as well have a look around.”
“Her car is not here.”
“There are trailheads all along this area with little parking lots.”
“Then we’ll keep driving.”
“I want to get out.”
“Nia.”
“Jillian, I did this. I have to do something to fix it.”
Jillian parked the car and turned toward Nia. “Fine. We’ll get out and look around—for a few minutes. But for the record, you didn’t do this. Meri arrived with a burden as deep as this canyon. Your heart is just as big, but that doesn’t mean you can fix whatever went wrong in her family and chased her a thousand miles from home.”
They got out and walked down the trail that circled around the old mine, occasionally calling Meri’s name and peering through trees at clearings just off the road where someone might leave a car whether or not they were legally designated parking areas. Jillian let Nia push ahead of her. Burning off some energy might put Nia in a more reasonable frame of mind. But this was going to be a time-limited effort because it just didn’t make sense beyond Nia’s grasping for redemption. Slowing her own gait, Jillian pulled out her phone to check her emails and voice messages. She wouldn’t out-and-out return calls in front of Nia, but if she at least knew what was waiting for her once she got back to her desk, she might be able to manage her own frame of mind.
When she looked up from her phone, Nia was nowhere in sight.
“Nia!” Jillian picked up speed, scanned the path, and called again. “Nia!”
“Here.”
“Where?” Jillian spun around and still didn’t see Nia.
“Down here.”
Jillian followed the sound of Nia’s voice and found her sprawled on the slope just off the trail twenty yards ahead.
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. One minute I was up and the next I was down.”
“Are you hurt?”
“My knee.”
Jillian reached to examine the injury.
“Don’t even think about touching it!”
Jillian backed off.
“It’s not broken,” Nia said. “I’m sure of that. But you can take my word that it’s a bad twist. This is not one of those situations where you have to examine the data for yourself.”
“I believe you. But how are we going to get you back to the car?”
Jillian’s phone rang, and she looked at the ID. “My dad.”
“Hey Silly Jilly,” he said. “Just checking in to make sure you’re not drinking too much coffee.”
“I can honestly say I’ve had hardly any today.”
“That doesn’t sound like you at all,” Nolan said. “In fact, it doesn’t sound like you’re in your office.”
“I’m not.”
Nia moaned as she gripped Jillian’s shoulder with one hand and pulled herself upright.
“Who’s that?” Nolan said. “Where are you?”
“Nia and I are out by the old mine.”
“Um, what? That’s never been your favorite excursion.”
“Meri’s missing. Nia wanted to look for her.”
“At the mine?”
“That’s right.”
“Random. Was that a reasonable decision?”
“Doubtful.” Jillian kept her responses cryptic. At least Nia couldn’t hear Nolan’s skeptical end of the conversation.
“Why the groaning?” he asked.
“Twisted knee.”
“I see. I take it Meri’s car is missing as well.”
“You got it.”
Nia grunted as she tested the damage on her injured leg. Jillian dug a heel into the slope to brace them both.
“Wish I could come home to join the search party, but I just barely got here,” Nolan said.
“I know. It’s all right.” If Meri was taking a breather, she’d show up. If she had taken her stuff and left, even Nolan couldn’t catch her now. At some point logic would prevail.
“My last meeting is not until midafternoon, down at the Anschutz campus of the university. I’ll try to head home right after that. If she hasn’t turned up by then … well, we’ll get our heads together about what makes sense.”
“Thanks, Dad.” Jillian ended the call and returned the phone to a pocket.
Still leaning on Jillian, Nia pointed. “I think we should go that way.”
“You’re kidding, right?”
“I’m not giving up now.”
“I dare you to let go of me and try to walk.”
Nia glowered.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll make it back to the car before we become dinner for coyotes.” Jillian shifted her weight to better support Nia’s and put an arm around Nia’s
waist. “Your knee needs some attention, even if it’s just ice and elevating.”
“But Meri.”
“Meri is a big girl. When she’s ready for help, she’ll get help. Now prepare to hop.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Nolan had long ago made peace with the reality that his chosen profession required billable hours, or at least justifiable flat fees for set services. Helping someone out of the latitude of his heart was not frowned upon as long as he generated his share of the firm’s income. Today’s final meeting was a happy blend of those priorities—an old friend who steadfastly refused any legal favors Nolan offered over the years and called to inquire where his invoice was if he didn’t receive one within ten days. After two mediation meetings earlier in the day—one that brought understanding and fairness and one still fraught with hostility—Nolan was glad to see his old college buddy, now an academician and hospital administrator, about updating his will to provide a trust for a suddenly disabled grandchild. They could have met in Nolan’s office, but he didn’t mind the ten-mile drive in the Colorado sunshine and a peek into what his friend’s daily life was now. He arrived with a standard set of questions to ask about the purpose and parameters of the trust and left with the answers necessary to generate the document for signature and a promise to meet again within the next couple of weeks.
Nolan stepped out of the building and squinted into the late-afternoon sunlight to reorient himself to where he had left his car. Far away. He remembered that much. The university had two campuses, the downtown one nearer his office, where Jillian had studied, and this one in a medical complex. The presence of a large teaching hospital complicated parking, but Nolan never minded parking in what felt like the far reaches of civilization to many people. A walk was always welcome. He pointed himself toward his reliable truck that withstood winter in the mountains and stretched his long legs in a pace he didn’t have to worry about anyone else matching.
Then he stopped. He hadn’t checked for a message from Jillian in more than an hour. Shielding his phone from the glare, he woke the screen.
Nothing. With a sigh, Nolan dropped the phone back in a pocket and blew out his cheeks. He’d have to go straight home, and those ten miles of goodwill in the wrong direction for his friend’s convenience now meant recovering them in the opposite direction bogged down in rush hour traffic.
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