Heat assaulted them as they climbed out of the El Camino. Riverside was on the edge of the desert, and summers could get pretty toasty.
The door swung open before they reached it. Standing just inside was a man in his late thirties. Hugging his leg and peeking around from behind him was a little girl.
“Logan Harper?” the man asked.
“Yeah,” Logan said, holding out his hand. “You must be Alan.”
A quick nod accompanied the handshake.
“This is my dad, Harp,” Logan said. “And our friend Barney.”
“Harp. Barney,” Alan said, shaking each man’s hand. He reached down and hoisted the girl up. “This is Emily.”
“Hi, Emily,” Logan said.
The girl tucked a knuckle into her mouth, then turned and planted her face firmly in her father’s shoulder.
“Come on in,” Alan told them.
He led them through a small entryway into a large, open-plan living area. The furniture was a cross between the new and the old, an eclectic mix that worked well together. On the wall hung a TV playing a cartoon, the one with the sponge character Logan had seen on T-shirts.
Alan set Emily on the couch. “Daddy’s going to talk to his friends for a few minutes, okay?”
She looked at Logan and the others warily.
“You want some goldfish?” Alan asked.
Emily’s eyes brightened and she nodded. “Goldfissss, yes!”
Alan looked at Logan and the others. “Give me a second.”
He went over to the kitchen area, and returned a few minutes later with a small plastic bowl of orange goldfish crackers.
“Here you go, sweetie.” He handed the bowl to Emily, and she immediately settled back on the couch and popped a cracker into her mouth, her attention now fully on the TV.
Alan watched his daughter for a moment, then said, “Why don’t we go over here?”
He led the group to the dining room table, a long oak affair that looked like it could have once been a door to an old church.
Once they were all seated, Alan said, “Callie tells me you can help find Sara.”
Logan raised a palm. “I think it’s a little too early to know that yet. If I can, I will.”
“I’ll take whatever you can do.”
Alan’s desperation wasn’t limited to his face. It encased him like a parka.
Across the room, Emily laughed at the TV. Her father’s gaze flicked to her, his eyes softening for a moment before worry filled them once more.
“Why don’t we start at the beginning?” Logan said. “How did you and Sara meet?”
“My job keeps me pretty busy,” Alan said. According to Callie, Alan ran a small accounting firm. “To keep it from driving me crazy, I got in the habit a few years ago of attending some of the free talks they give at the university. I’ve always enjoyed history, so anytime they had a lecture like that, I was probably there. It was a great way to not think about numbers. Sara and I met at a discussion about the terracotta warriors. You know, in China?”
Logan nodded.
“She was with a couple people I knew. We all got to talking, went out for coffee, and, well, she and I started hanging out.”
“Did she start talking to you first? Or you her?”
The muscles in Alan’s face tensed. “I know what you’re thinking, but she didn’t come after me. I went after her. Hard. She tried to break up several times while we were dating, but finally she gave in.”
Logan knew there were manipulators who could make a person like Alan think they’d done all the work. Was Sara one of these? He had no idea, but knew it was best not to share that thought at the moment.
“I love her,” Alan said. “I love her more than I’ve loved anyone in my life. Well, except maybe for her daughter…our daughter.”
“Tell us about the day she disappeared.”
Alan gazed down at the table, then told them about the afternoon in Tijuana. When he was through, Logan took a moment before he asked the next question.
“Who do you think took the bags out of your car?”
“I’ve thought about that a lot,” Alan said, frowning. “But I have no idea.”
“Could it have been one of her friends?”
“Sara didn’t have a lot of friends. Just a couple of the women here in the neighborhood, and a few people at the office. My accounting agency is small, but we do a good business. Sara worked there part-time, office management stuff.”
“What about the people she was with when you met her that first time?”
“She’d actually only met them at another lecture, and were just sitting together. After we started dating, she didn’t really see them much anymore.”
“But did you check them out?”
“Of course I did,” Alan said angrily. He paused. “Sorry.”
“It’s okay.”
“It’s just…I’ve talked to everyone I’ve ever seen her with. No one knows what happened to her.”
“Could be one of them is lying.”
“I guess so, but I never got that sense.”
“Was there anyone you couldn’t find? A friend or acquaintance you haven’t been able to talk to?”
Alan shook his head. “I’ve talked to everyone I can remember. I realize someone must have helped her. I just have no idea who that could be.”
“Can you show me the note?” Logan asked.
Standing, Alan said, “It’s in my bedroom. I’ll be right back.”
“Why don’t I come with you?” Logan suggested. He wanted to take a look at the rest of the house, and try to get a sense of what Sara’s place had been within it.
Alan nodded. “Sure, okay.”
Logan followed him into a hallway, and up some stairs to the second floor. The upstairs hallway was lined with framed photographs, or rather, it would have been if not for the dozen or so empty nails spaced sporadically among the pictures that were left. Remembering what Callie had told him, Logan guessed the blank spots were places where photos Sara had been in once hung. Six weeks on, and Alan had not replaced them with anything. Was he hoping she’d come back and everything would return to the way it was, including the wall? Or did he want the physical reminder that his wife was gone? Most likely, the emotional wound was still so raw he didn’t have the energy to do anything about it.
The master suite took up the whole south end of the floor. In addition to the normal things a bedroom had, there was also a sitting area and a sliding glass door that led out onto a balcony.
Logan waited near one of the chairs while Alan stepped into a walk-in closet. A moment later, he reemerged holding a wooden jewelry box.
“This was my mother’s,” he said. “I gave it to Sara right after we got married.”
He opened it, revealing an empty, black velvet-lined tray. He lifted this out and put it on the chair. Underneath, sitting on more velvet, was a folded envelope.
Alan removed it and handed it to Logan.
Carefully, Logan pulled out the letter and read it. Nothing in it seemed to shed any new light on the situation.
“This was the only thing left in the car?”
Alan was looking wistfully at the letter. “Yes. Everything else was gone.”
“Callie told me about the missing pictures.”
Alan’s face dropped. “You saw the hallway.”
“Yeah.”
“She cleaned out the photo albums, too. Even the computers.”
“I assume they weren’t gone before you left on your trip.”
“No. At least not the ones on the wall. The photos in the albums could have already been gone, and maybe the ones on the computer, too. I didn’t regularly check those.”
Someone had come into the house while Alan and Sara were gone. The same person who’d taken Sara’s luggage? Or were there more than one other person involved?
“So everything she was in?”
“All but one with Sara in the background. It isn’t great, but…”
; “Callie mentioned that.”
“It wasn’t mine. It was my sister’s. I had her email it to me after Sara left.”
“Could you forward it to me?”
“Of course.”
“Besides the photos, what else did she take?”
Alan absently glanced at the closet. “Not much. She left most of her things here.”
“Really?” Logan asked, surprised. “What about the stuff from the place where she lived before moving in with you?”
“She was in a furnished apartment. None of it was hers.” They were both quiet for a moment, then Alan said, “Yeah, I know. I guess that should have been a red flag, huh? But she said she was new to the area, and didn’t have any stuff yet.”
A red flag, yes, but… “Don’t beat yourself up about it. I don’t think anyone would have thought twice about it. I wouldn’t have. Where did she say she’d moved from?”
“Back east. Philadelphia.”
“Did you meet any of her family? Old friends?”
Alan shook his head. “Said she was an only child, and that her mother had died a few months earlier. That was the reason she’d moved out here, you know, to start fresh.”
“What about her father?”
“She said he left when she was young, never really knew him. So it was just her and Emily.”
“Well, then, what about Emily’s father?”
“Sara told me he was a guy she’d gone out with a few times, but it didn’t work out. She never even told him about Emily.”
All nice and neat and packaged so that it sounded believable while being extremely difficult to disprove.
Logan handed back the note. “Thanks for letting me see this.”
Alan returned it to the bottom of the jewelry box, and put the box back into the closet. When he came out, he hesitated in the doorway. “There was something else she left.”
“What?”
Looking like he really didn’t wand to discuss it, Alan said, “It’s…in Emily’s room.”
Without another word, he headed into the hallway.
Emily’s room was near the top of the staircase. There was a dresser and a toy chest and a kid-sized bed, but the star was the walls. They had been turned into a giant mural of rolling hills and rivers and castles. There were knights on horses, a prince and princess in a carriage, and kids playing in a field. This wasn’t some amateur job done by a person with limited skill. This was a beautiful, detailed work of art.
“Sara painted it,” Alan said, as if reading the question on Logan’s mind. “Took her three months to finish.”
“It’s amazing.”
“It is, isn’t it?” For a few seconds it seemed that Alan had forgotten about everything else, and was simply enjoying what his wife had created.
To Logan it was more than just a mural on a child’s wall. It was an attempt by a mother who knew she wouldn’t be around for long to leave something lasting for her little girl.
About two feet down from the ceiling, a narrow shelf ringed the room. On it were dozens of small stuffed animals. Dragons and bunnies and bears and turtles and several other creatures looked down into the room, guarding it from some imaginary evil. Alan used the frame of Emily’s bed to step up and reach between two of the animals. When he came back down, he was holding a small, square box.
“This was at the foot of the bed when I got home,” he said.
He opened it. The first thing Logan saw was a photograph of Alan holding a younger Emily in his lap. They both appeared to be laughing. Alan pulled the picture out, revealing a ring underneath. Turning the photo over, he held it so Logan could read the message scrawled on the back.
Pls. give the ring to Emily when she’s old enough. Tell her it was always worn with love.
Logan didn’t want to ask, but he knew he had to. “Her wedding ring?”
Alan nodded. “This is the picture she used to keep in her wallet. It was right in front so anytime she opened it, she’d see us. Why would she leave this here?”
Logan didn’t immediately reply. Some definite ideas were running through his mind, but he wasn’t sure how much he should say because there was no way to know if he was even close to being right. He realized, though, he had to say something.
“If you ask me, I’d say she didn’t leave you.”
Alan stared at him. “She’s been gone for a month and a half. It sure looks that way to me.”
“What I mean is she didn’t leave you. Yes, she’s gone, but you’re not the reason. There’s something else going on. Something that made her think she had no choice but to go. I don’t think it has anything to do with you.”
Alan seemed unsure.
“Look at it this way. When people go on the run, the thing they fear even more than getting caught is for anything to happen to those important to them.” Logan moved his gaze to the mural. “Look at the wall. That’s the work of a parent who truly loves her child, and wanted to give her something special. The woman who painted this, if she was leaving her husband because she wasn’t happy…” He pointed at the wall again. “This woman would have taken her daughter with her. She left Emily with you because she knew Emily would be safe here.”
“I…want to believe that,” Alan admitted. Logan could tell he’d been hoping that was the case.
Logan touched the photo still in Alan’s hand. “Believe it.”
Ten minutes later, Logan, Harp, and Barney climbed back into the El Camino. Logan started the engine, but didn’t put the car in gear.
“Well?” Harp said.
Logan eyed the house, saying nothing.
“Are you going to help him?” his dad asked.
Logan remained motionless for several more seconds, then he put the car in reverse.
“Yeah. I’m going to help him.”
CHAPTER SIX
The sky had grown dark as the thunderstorm moved in. Nearly every afternoon they’d come, big billowy towers of clouds around lunchtime that turned into a dark menacing mantle covering the sky a few hours later. Sometimes the rain would last only a few minutes, sometimes for an hour or more, but always, there was the lightning.
And the thunder.
Sara knew she should have been used to it by now, but she wasn’t. Every time the thunder clapped she’d jump, then pull the blanket tight around her as she huddled on the couch, as far from the windows as she could get. That was the only place she felt even remotely safe.
She’d tried the bathroom once. It had only the one frosted window, and not being able to see turned out to be worse. So she stayed in the main room, and cowered as the bright flashes and thunderous roars of each storm ran its course.
As much as it terrified her, it was, in an odd way, her favorite part of the day. For however long a storm would last, she could forget about everything else, and think only of the light and the sound and the rain and the darkness. Because when the clouds cleared away, the real world returned, and when that happened, everything came rushing back.
Even when she tried to draw, something that had always been her escape before, she couldn’t forget and would end up pushing her sketchbook away.
Her overriding worry was that she had waited too long to disappear. It didn’t matter that nearly seven weeks had passed without anything happening. They’d already been closing in, forcing the change of plans and hastening her departure.
“A quick trip to celebrate,” she’d suggested. She smiled, though inside she’d never felt more horrible. “Just the two of us, in San Diego.” She had already arranged for Rachel to watch Emily, and though she knew her husband had work he’d been planning on doing that weekend, she’d convinced him to go.
But even rushing things, had it been too late? If yes, she didn’t know what she’d do. The pain would be…unbearable.
Outside everything suddenly glowed white. She didn’t see where the lightning struck, but it was close. She barely blinked when the house rattled with an explosion of thunder.
She didn’t even know she
was yelling until the noise in the sky began to die. Without a doubt, that was the closest she’d come to being hit since she’d arrived.
Putting her hands over her head, she curled into a ball.
All she could think about was the nightmare outside.
Terrifying and nerve-fraying.
And freeing.
If only for a little while.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this,” Callie said over the phone. “Anything you need, just let me know and I’ll take care of it.”
“I’d like to talk to that PI you hired,” Logan told her. He was sitting in the El Camino in the parking lot of the University Place Inn. Harp and Barney were in the office arranging rooms for the night.
“Absolutely. Let me give him a call and see when I can get you in.”
“Thanks.”
Three minutes later, Logan’s two traveling mates walked back outside. Instead of getting in, Barney headed down the walkway along the three-story motel, while Harp walked around to the driver’s window of the El Camino, motioning for Logan to roll it down.
“We’re on the first floor near the back. One twenty-three and one twenty-four,” Harp said. He handed one of the keys through the window, then headed off after his WAMO buddy.
As soon as Logan was parked in front of the rooms, they all got their bags out of the back and split up. Logan’s room was a balmy eight-two degrees, so he fiddled with the thermostat until the air conditioner clicked on. The temperature was just starting to get bearable when his phone rang.
“Fulkerson said he’d see you whenever you could get to his office,” Callie told him.
“Hold on.” Logan searched for paper and a pen, finding them in the nightstand drawer. “All right. What’s his address?”
She gave it to him. “Call me if you need anything else. Whatever it is, I’ll make it happen.”
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