Holiday Homecoming Secrets

by Lynette Eason

  “I wasn’t here. It’s truth. You’re not rubbing it in. Forget it. Let’s just find Frank.”

  She nodded, opened the door, and stepped over the threshold, wiping her feet on the mat. “Frank? You here?”

  Bryce followed. “Hey Frank, where are you, buddy?”

  Silence echoed back at them. Together, they walked through the house. “It’s neat,” she said, and sniffed. “He just cleaned not too long ago. Probably yesterday.”

  “He does love that pine scent his grandmother always used.”

  “She gave him a case of it when he moved in two years ago,” she said. “I doubt even with his routine cleaning, he’s used it all up yet.”

  “Two years. I missed a lot during my self-imposed exile, didn’t I?”

  She shot him a tight smile and moved to Frank’s desk in the corner of his den. Bryce slipped up beside her to look over her shoulder. That familiar light strawberry-and-vanilla scent he associated with her filled his senses. He stepped back, and she wiggled the mouse on Frank’s laptop. “Any idea what his password would be?”

  “Heather?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Seriously?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. Just a guess.”

  She typed it in. “Nope.”

  Bryce spotted a piece of paper sticking out of the top drawer and pulled on it.

  “What is it?” she asked.

  “A name. Tony Swift.”

  “I know him,” Jade said. “He owns the shooting range where a bunch of cops practice when they don’t want to use the one at the station.”

  “Maybe he was meeting someone there.”

  “Maybe.” They continued the search and made it full circle back to the front door with no other information they could deem useful in the search for their friend, but Bryce was hopeful Tony Swift could answer a few questions.

  “The place is spotless as always. Doesn’t look like there’s anything to be worried about,” Bryce said.

  “Other than the fact that it’s the middle of the night, his car is here, but he’s not home or answering his phone.”

  “He could be asleep in a hotel with his phone turned off.”

  “Why?”

  “I have no idea. You’re right, it doesn’t make sense. I was just hoping...” He paused. “Let me check his closet. Maybe he had a last-minute trip and he just didn’t bother telling anyone.” He didn’t believe that, but...

  Back in Frank’s bedroom, Bryce opened the closet door and hope dissipated. Jade stood at the entrance to the room, her expression anxious. “Suitcases are here,” he said. He riffled through the hanging clothes. “And his jersey’s missing.” The bad feeling he’d had earlier when Jade had pulled the shirt from the dirt returned full force.

  “Could be in a drawer,” she said.

  Bryce shook his head. “He hangs it. At least, he used to hang his jerseys. He wouldn’t change his habits now.”

  “He could have—”

  “No, he couldn’t have. He hangs it up. You remember in high school, he had those two jerseys? He always hung them up. He wouldn’t do anything different now.”

  She drew in a deep breath, obviously looking for her patience. “I was going to say, he could have worn it and tossed it in the dirty clothes basket.”

  “Oh, right. Sorry.” He could have. Bryce stepped into the en suite bathroom. The empty hamper mocked him. He checked every drawer and under the sink. “It’s not there. Washer and dryer are empty, too.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “I’m out of ideas, then.” Her eyes met his. “I’m scared, Bryce.”

  “Ping his phone.”

  She bit her lip and nodded. “Okay.” She put the call in to dispatch and asked for the information.

  Then hit the speaker button.

  Bryce waited, impatience clawing at him. Finally, the operator came back on the line. “I’m sorry, Jade, I can’t get a signal on the phone. It’s either turned off or the battery’s dead.”

  “Thanks. I appreciate you trying for me.” She hung up and pressed her fingers to her eyes. “I really don’t like this.”

  “Me either. Let’s go wake Heather.”

  THREE

  Heather opened the door on the third knock, her bleary blue eyes blinking rapidly. Jade noticed she held her service weapon in her right hand. “Jade?”

  “Hi, Heather,” Bryce said.

  “Bryce? Bryce Kingsley?” Heather launched herself into Bryce’s arms and hugged him. He returned the hug until Heather leaned back and cupped his face. “Wow, is that really you?”

  “It’s me.”

  “Frank said he’d been talking to you and that you were coming home to open a PI business.”

  “Yeah. At some point.”

  “Well...um...it’s good to see you.”

  Heather gave him one more hug, then motioned them inside. Jade swallowed as Bryce shut the door behind him. She didn’t want to admit she was a little jealous of Heather’s enthusiastic greeting. She’d wanted to do the very same thing when she’d first seen Bryce in the mill. Throw herself against him and hug him, run her hands over his features and reassure herself that he was real. But she hadn’t. The fact that she’d wanted to scared her silly. Bryce had walked out of her life and she’d managed to survive. The fact that he was back in it didn’t mean anything had to change.

  You’re lying to yourself. Everything’s going to change.

  It was just a matter of when. But there wasn’t a thing she could do about it right now.

  Heather set her gun on the counter just inside the door to the kitchen that was next to the small foyer, where they now stood a bit awkwardly. “What are you guys doing? It’s the middle of the night.” Her eyes sharpened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

  “We hope nothing,” Jade said. “Let’s go into the den and we’ll explain.”

  “No,” Heather said. Jade froze at the sharpness and Heather held up a hand. “Sorry. Can we go in the kitchen, please? I’ve torn up the floor in there to start fixing the place up to put it on the market. Frank and I don’t need two places. And besides, I’m thirsty.”

  The three of them took a seat at the kitchen table while Heather retrieved water bottles from the refrigerator.

  “Tell me what’s going on,” she said, unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig from the bottle.

  Jade explained about the attack at the old mill and finding the jersey with the autograph on the left shoulder. “It has to be Frank’s,” she said. “Do you know where he is?”

  “Well, before you asked, I would have assumed he was home in bed. Obviously he’s not.” She rubbed her eyes, a slow fear building in them. “What are you not telling me? Is he okay?”

  “We’re not sure,” Jade said. She should have known better than to try to leave out details. “That jersey we found at the mill? It...ah...it had two bullet holes in the front and is covered with dried blood.”

  “What?” Heather paled. “His Panthers jersey?”

  “Yes.”

  “But...no. It can’t be his.” A short, humorless laugh escaped her. “I mean, he just wore it the other day.” She snagged her phone from her robe pocket and tapped the screen. From her seat, Jade heard it go straight to voice mail. “Frank, this is Heather. I know it’s the middle of the night, but I don’t care. Call me as soon as you get this message.” She hung up and tried four more times before she finally set the phone on the table and clasped her hands in front of her. Her gaze bounced between Jade and Bryce. “There’s got to be some explanation.” She stood. “I’ll get dressed and head to his house.”

  “We’ve already been there,” Bryce said, and Heather froze. “I’m sorry, Heather, but he’s not there.”

  “But his car is,” Jade said. “I know that when he flies, he sometimes takes a car service, but I don’t recall him saying anyt
hing about taking a trip anytime soon—outside of your honeymoon.”

  Heather shook her head. “No trips scheduled. At least, none that I know of. Every so often he takes off and calls me from the road if it’s a last-minute thing with the paper, but—” She checked her phone. “Nothing but your missed calls. He’s got to be here in town somewhere.” She raised her brows. “Or he went to see Lisa.” His sister lived an hour away in Charlotte. As soon as the words left her mouth, she was shaking her head. “But he would have taken his car, so that can’t be. And he would have left me a message that he was going.” She paced from one end of the kitchen to the other, arms crossed, features taut and pale. She turned. “What about his office?”

  Frank worked out of the newspaper office downtown. Jade nodded. “But he’d still have to drive.”

  “Unless one of his coworkers picked him up.”

  “Let’s find out,” Bryce said. “You have their numbers?”

  Heather’s lips quirked even though the action didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m a cop. I don’t think getting their numbers is going to be a problem.” The smile didn’t last long. “But I’ll call his boss. If anyone would know what Frank was up to, it’d be him.”

  “If Frank told him,” Bryce muttered.

  Heather scowled. “Why would he not tell him? His boss is the one who approves the stories that he works on.”

  “I’m not sure he was working just one story.”

  “Then his boss can tell us that.” Heather dialed the man’s number and waited. “Hi, Larry, it’s Heather.” She tapped the screen to put him on speakerphone. “I’m so sorry to wake you, but I have reason to believe that Frank’s in trouble. Can you tell me if he had to go out of town suddenly?”

  “Ah, no, not on the paper’s dime.” He cleared his throat. “What makes you think he’s in trouble?”

  Heather explained. “What was he working on?”

  “A couple of things. Nothing I can discuss with you. I’m sorry.”

  “Larry—”

  “No, I’m not budging on that. Frank’s probably just looking into something. And truthfully, he didn’t tell me a lot of details, just that he was on to something big and hoped to have the full story on my desk sometime next week. Seriously, Heather, he’ll most likely turn up when he’s good and ready. Now, go back to sleep and quit worrying.”

  Click.

  Heather slumped, frustration stamped on her drawn features. “Okay, that was a dead end. Hold on a second.” She left and returned with her laptop. “Coworkers would be the next step, right? Let’s see who we can find that might be able to tell us something useful.”

  Thirty minutes later, they were no closer to having an answer about Frank’s whereabouts, and Heather’s emotional state had quickly gone south. She turned to Bryce. “What was he working on?”

  “I’m not at liberty to say. He asked me not to.”

  “Well, he’s not here, so...”

  “I can’t. I gave him my word that I’d keep his confidence.”

  “Is it something that could land him in trouble? At least tell me that.”

  Bryce sighed. “Yeah. If certain people discovered he was doing some snooping into their business, then they wouldn’t be happy about it. But I don’t see how they could know.”

  She snapped her lips shut. “He never said he was doing anything dangerous.”

  “He was protecting you,” Jade said softly. “He didn’t want you to know he was putting himself in that kind of situation because it would have distracted you.”

  “So, you know what he was working on?” Heather asked.

  “No. I just know if it was something dangerous, he would have kept it from you. You and I walk into potentially dangerous situations every day. He wouldn’t want you worried about him, too.”

  Heather shook her head and lasered Bryce with a hard look. “It’s up to you to help us find him.”

  “Heather—”

  Her friend lifted her chin and gave Jade a stony glare. Jade sighed and snapped her lips shut. There wasn’t any sense in telling Heather there would be no “us.” Heather wouldn’t be working the case. If there even was a case.

  In her mind, there was. All evidence pointed toward Frank being missing. Or worse.

  “I’ve already said more than I should have,” Bryce said, “but I’m worried.”

  “So am I.” Heather rose. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

  “Where are you going?” Jade asked.

  “To get dressed, then I’m going to find my fiancé.” She paused. “Stay in here, will you? Like I said, the den’s a mess.” She blew out a breath. “And I know that’s just not important right now, but it’s a stressor.”

  Jade held up a hand. “We’ll stay here.”

  “Thanks. I’ll be right back.”

  True to her word, Heather returned to the kitchen in record time, dressed to face the day. After several more unproductive phone calls, she dropped into the nearest chair and raked a hand through her still mussed hair. “What are we going to do? We’ve called everyone. His sister hasn’t heard from him since he stayed over at her house last weekend. His parents talked to him yesterday, and he didn’t say anything about going on a trip. Where could he be?”

  Jade stood. “I think it’s time to put a BOLO out on him and get help.”

  “I agree,” Heather said with a slow nod. “I’ll do it.”

  While Heather made the call, Jade walked over to stand in front of Bryce, who leaned against the sink, sipping his second cup of coffee. “What was he working on, Bryce?” she asked softly. “We need to know so we have some direction.”

  Bryce set his coffee down and pursed his lips. “He made me promise not to say anything. I don’t want to betray that confidence.”

  “Not even if it means helping us figure out if he’s in trouble or not?”

  He closed his eyes, obviously torn. “What if I tell you and he’s fine?”

  She planted her hands on her hips. “What if you don’t tell me and he’s in trouble?”

  * * *

  More than anything, Bryce wanted to tell her, because not for a moment did he think she would be involved in what had Frank investigating the local police department. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jade. Rather, it was a matter of confidentiality.

  But she was right.

  What if by keeping his promise, he was putting Frank in further danger? He couldn’t think how that might be, but...what if?

  Before he had a chance to decide what he should do, Heather returned to the kitchen. “The BOLO is out and my brain is so scrambled, I can’t for the life of me think what we should do next. How’s that for being a detective for you? I’ll never judge family members of a missing person ever again.”

  “You should stay here,” Jade said, “in case Frank shows up. Bryce and I will call you if we find him. And you call us if you hear from him.”

  “Just sit here and worry?” Heather scoffed. “Not happening.”

  “Come on, Heather, you know you need to stay. Just in case he shows up.”

  “He’s not going to show up here, I don’t think. He’d go home.”

  “Well, you can’t go there. If he’s truly missing, his house will be treated like a crime scene. Bryce and I were careful, but even our searching may have disturbed something. Don’t add to it.” She knew she sounded bossy, but she also knew Heather might be tempted to throw caution to the wind in her desperation to find Frank.

  Heather pursed her lips and looked like she wanted to argue, but finally nodded. “If I decide to go over there, I won’t go inside. I may just sit and watch the house.”

  Jade nodded. “If you feel like you have to be there, then yeah...okay. I don’t think we’re going to be doing much of anything else tonight.”

  Heather hesitated, then gave a groan and a nod. “Fine. But p
lease stay in touch.”

  “Absolutely.”

  “Okay, so, tomorrow...we need to what?” Heather gave a short laugh. “See? I told you I couldn’t think.”

  “We need to find out where he was last seen.”

  Heather rubbed her forehead. “No one seemed to be able to tell us that,” she muttered.

  “I talked to him on the phone around ten o’clock this morning,” Bryce said. He glanced at the clock. “Or, rather, yesterday morning. So we just need to find anyone who saw him after that.”

  “Heather,” Jade said, “why would Frank have Tony Swift’s name written down? Was he meeting with him for something?”

  “At the shooting range?” Heather shook her head. “I don’t know. He didn’t say anything to me if he was. He could have just been practicing.”

  “True.” Jade looked at her watch. “All right. I need to grab a couple of hours of sleep before we get started looking for him again—assuming he doesn’t show up in the next little bit.”

  Heather nodded. “I won’t be able to sleep, but I can make a list of more people and places to check with.”

  “Do you want me to stay here?” Jade asked. “I can crash on your couch.”

  “No. It’s not that comfortable. We’re getting a new one, but not until after the wedding. Just go home. You have to help your mom in the morning with the kids anyway, don’t you?”

  “Kids?” Bryce asked. “Are your parents still taking in foster children?”

  Her face blanked for an instant. Then she nodded. “They are.” She rubbed her eyes, then narrowed them at her friend. “Are you sure you’re going to be all right?”

  “Yes. Go and help your mom. I think we should get some sleep if we can. None of us will be any good if we’re so tired we get sloppy and miss something. Besides, there’s probably some logical explanation for where he is. Missing sleep isn’t going to help finding out what that is.”

  She had a point, but Bryce was itching to keep looking. The only lead they had was the shooting range. He glanced at his watch. Three o’clock in the morning. It had been seventeen hours since he’d talked to Frank, and he needed to know his friend was okay. Even if he went back to his sister’s and tried to sleep, he knew he’d be tossing and turning.