Missing

by Lynette Eason

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Across the street, there’s a photo shop. If I hurry, I could get some flyers printed and get back to hang them around the high school before the bell rings.”

  “That might be a good idea.”

  She fixed him with a determined stare. “But you’ll tell me everything Georgia tells you?”

  “Everything. I promise.”

  She nodded. “All right. I’ll try to be back within thirty minutes.”

  “I’ve got my cell phone. Just call and I’ll tell you where we are. You want a ride?”

  “No, it’s not that far.”

  He shrugged. “All right. If we get done before you’re ready, I’ll pick you up at the shop.”

  She nodded and her gaze softened as she opened her mouth to say something else. She must have thought twice about it because she snapped her lips together, turned on her heel and headed across the street for the photo shop.

  *

  Lacey wanted to hurry. She wanted to get back and find out what Georgia had to say about Bethany. But she knew the faster she got these flyers printed, the faster she’d have Bethany’s face plastered around the city. And beyond if necessary.

  She pushed open the glass door that had enough flyers taped on it to wallpaper her bathroom and entered the store. She jumped when the bell rang to announce her presence. A clerk who looked to be in his mid-fifties and needing a shave came to the counter. “Can I help you?”

  “I need to print some flyers. My daughter is missing and I need to get the flyers put up as soon as possible.” She pulled the picture out and handed it to him.

  He frowned down at Bethany’s picture. “I’m sure sorry to hear that. I’ll be glad to get these printed. You want to add her name and a contact phone number on here?”

  Of course, why hadn’t she thought of that? She was so frazzled! “Um, yes. That would be great.”

  Get it together, Lacey, Bethany’s counting on you.

  “Won’t take me a minute to scan it into the computer, add the information and then get everything printed up. I’ll do it as a rush job for you.”

  Lacey felt tears mist her eyes. “Thanks, I appreciate that.”

  She gave him the information to add to the flyers and while the clerk went to work in the back room, she paced back and forth in front of the counter, thinking of the different locations she could put the flyers. Locations that offered the best traffic where the most people would see it.

  A shadow passed by the door and she turned, expecting to see someone enter.

  No one did.

  She went back to her pacing.

  Again, movement by the glass door caught her attention. Strange movement, like someone bobbing up and down.

  Thinking someone needed help opening the heavy door, she walked over to it, and pulled it open. No one was there.

  Huh, that’s odd.

  Just to make sure, she stepped outside to look to the right.

  Nothing.

  As she looked to the left, something slammed into her lower back propelling her against the wall. The breath left her so fast, she couldn’t even scream. In shock, she felt her face scrape the side of the building.

  Before she could gather her stunned wits, a voice whispered in her ear, “She’s mine now and you’ll never find her.”

  Fear careened through her and she struggled to turn around on legs that felt like jelly. Her face burned and her back felt bruised.

  The blue sky turned dark and for a moment she was afraid she would pass out.

  Running footsteps echoed back to her, mocking her, letting her know she was helpless. With a frustrated and angry cry, she slid down the wall to sit on the ground and weep for her lost child.

  *

  Mason ground his teeth in frustration at Georgia’s refusal to cooperate. The fact that she even had to attend the summer session due to a flunking grade in English had already spiked her attitude. Being questioned about a wreck she claimed to have nothing to do with sent it skyrocketing.

  Her wide gray eyes flicked back and forth between the three adults staring at her. Her lips clamped together in a tight snarl. Mason thought they might need a blowtorch to pry them apart.

  The principal had asked to stay in the room. Since Georgia was over fourteen, they didn’t need parental permission to question the girl although they had given her mother a courtesy call.

  She was on the way.

  He briefly wondered how Lacey was doing, then focused his attention back to Bethany’s stubborn friend. Her body language and uncomfortable shifting when questioned about the wreck all suggested she was lying about not being there.

  He leaned forward. “Look, Bethany’s missing. From all appearances, she wouldn’t run away. In fact, from what her mother says, she was scared of something, nervous all the time. She felt like her life might be in danger. That, coupled with her disappearance, sends up a big red flag. She might be counting on you to help find her.”

  Georgia licked her lips. Some of the attitude faded as she finally looked him straight in the eye. “I don’t know where she is, I promise!”

  Deflated, he realized he believed her. She didn’t know where Bethany was. But she sure knew something. “What are you afraid to tell me? To tell us?”

  Georgia jumped to her feet. “Nothing! There’s nothing to tell!” Tears leaked down her cheeks and she palmed them away leaving black streaks of mascara behind. “If I could help you find Bethany, I would. But you’re right about one thing. She was scared of someone.”

  “Who?”

  The girl slumped back into the chair and slapped a hand on the table. “I don’t know! I wish I did, but I just don’t. But she can take care of herself. She’s got a first-degree black belt in karate, you know?”

  Mason started. Lacey hadn’t mentioned that. “What?”

  “Yeah, she’s like addicted. Does all kinds of competitions—and wins. So she can handle whatever comes along.” Frustration slid over her face. “But I don’t know where she’s hiding out. I promise.”

  “Hiding out?” Mason jumped on those two words. “So she left on her own?”

  Georgia groaned. “No! I don’t know! I don’t know what she’s doing or where she is. She didn’t say anything about leaving before she disappeared. That much I do know.”

  Catelyn blew out a sigh and looked over at Mason. He shook his head. They weren’t going to get anything from Georgia. However, he had to ask, “Were you with Kayla the night of the accident?”

  “No! Why do people keep asking me that? No! I wasn’t there, all right?” Her breath came in pants and sweat broke across her upper lip.

  She was lying. But he wasn’t going to get her to admit it. Yet. “All right, thanks for meeting with us.” He slipped her his card. “But if you think of anything at all, will you please call me?”

  “Sure.” She slipped the card into her back pocket.

  Mason stopped her. “Do you feel like you’re in any danger, Georgia? Because I can help, if you do.”

  “No,” she mumbled. “I’m not in any danger. Now I gotta go.” She escaped the room as fast as she could. Her mother hadn’t even arrived yet.

  Mason looked at Catelyn. “She’s definitely scared.”

  “But of what? Of who?”

  “I don’t know, but I think Lacey may have been on to something when she said that Bethany’s disappearance had something to do with the car accident. Georgia was involved in it—no matter how adamantly she denies it—and she’s scared to death about something. Bethany was probably with the two girls, too, and now she’s missing.”

  “Kayla is dead, Bethany’s missing and Georgia’s scared. I think I’m going to have an officer keep an eye on her for her own safety.”

  Mason tapped his chin and watched Georgia disappear into the throng of students ready to get out of the building and go do something fun. “I think that’s a good idea. I also think we need to revisit that accident. Who was the lead investigator in it?”
/>   “My partner. Daniel Ackerman.”

  Mason felt his gut clench. He hadn’t spoken more than three sentences to Daniel since the day he’d caught Lacey kissing his friend. Even though it wasn’t Daniel’s fault that Lacey had come on to him, the man was a reminder of one of the most painful times of his life.

  And even though Daniel had married and moved on, Mason couldn’t get the betrayal out of his mind.

  “Fine,” he muttered. “Then let’s find Daniel and get all of the evidence about the accident back out. I want everything sent back to the lab. Since it was ruled an accident, the forensics people probably didn’t go over everything quite as thoroughly as they would a murder.”

  “If that car wreck wasn’t an accident, then it was murder.”

  “Yeah.” His phone rang and he saw Lacey’s number pop up. His heart squeezed. “Hello?”

  “Mason?” Her shaky voice put him on instant alert.

  “What is it, Lacey?”

  “I was attacked.” She sobbed. He heard her trying to catch her breath. “But I think I have something to add to the investigation. Can you come?”

  Heart in his throat, he promised to be there in less than a minute. He looked at Catelyn. “Come on, this is a police matter.”

  He raced from the room, Catelyn following along behind him, his mind looping with Lacey’s first three words, I was attacked… and realized with some surprise that he wanted to hurt the person who’d hurt her.

  Forty-five seconds later, when he saw her sitting against the side of the building with an ice pack on her cheek, the rage inside him tripled and he knew without a doubt that past or no past, betrayal or no betrayal, he was going to fall for Lacey Gibson once again.

  And wondered how he was going to keep his heart from being ripped in two when it happened.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Lacey pressed the ice pack to her head and stood. The feel of Mason’s solid grip on her upper arm scrambled her brain more than the knock against the side of the building.

  He and Catelyn had arrived almost immediately, the poor store owner having time only to offer his help and fix the ice pack, which she insisted she didn’t need.

  He insisted she did.

  The print shop owner stood with the pictures of Bethany clutched in his left hand as he attempted to answer Catelyn’s questions. “I’m sorry, I didn’t see anything. I don’t usually have any problems around here.”

  Lacey shook her head and winced. “It wasn’t your fault. Whoever it was knew exactly who they were attacking.”

  “Why do you say that?” Mason frowned.

  “Because he specifically said, ‘She’s mine now.’ Who else would he be referring to except Bethany?”

  His frown deepened. “Did you see him? What was the voice like?”

  Squinting against the throbbing in her head, she replayed the scene in her mind. With a shudder, she swallowed. “No, I didn’t see him. Just a glimpse. And his voice was low, raspy, like someone with a bad cold….” She shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m sure the person disguised his voice.”

  Mason sighed and guided her over to the car. “We need to get your head checked out.”

  She waved him away. “It’s fine. Just a bump and a scrape.” It hurt, but she didn’t have time to deal with it now. She scrambled back out of the car. “I forgot the flyers.”

  Before he could stop her, Lacey made her way back up the store owner. He handed the package to her. “Take them.”

  Lacey reached for her wallet—another indication the attack had had a specific purpose. He’d left her purse when he could have easily snatched it.

  A hand on her arm brought her gaze up and she looked into the man’s kind eyes. “No, ma’am. This is my gift, my part to help you find your daughter.”

  Tears choked her once again and she stared at him through the blur. “Thank you.”

  Mason placed an arm around her shoulders and steered her back toward the car. “Now, let’s get you checked out.”

  Weariness tugged at her now that the adrenaline had faded. However, Bethany came first. “I’m not going to a doctor.” She shivered. “Somehow, deep down in my bones, I feel like time is running out for Bethany. We need to find her now.”

  A frown creased his brows. “All right, but if you start feeling sick, I want you to tell me. Promise?”

  His concern set off all kinds of warm sensations in the depths of her being. She swallowed hard and steeled herself against the longing just being around him stirred up. “Promise.”

  Catelyn joined them at the car. “All right. I think we’ve done all we can do here. I’m going to see if any of the security cameras around here picked up anything.”

  Mason nodded. “I want to look at the investigation file from the wreck.”

  “You’ll have to talk to Daniel. He was the lead investigator on that one and will be able to help you out there.”

  Lacey bit her lip and shot Mason a look even as she thought that Daniel might be able to help them, but would he?

  Mason cleared his throat. “I’ll talk to him.”

  A ringing phone made her jump. Then she realized it was hers. Bethany? Yanking it from her pocket, she glanced at the caller ID and bit her lip as a wave of grief nearly knocked her over. Not Bethany. “Hi, Mom.”

  “Have you heard anything?”

  Her parents had accepted both of them back into their lives with open arms. As always, guilt pierced her. She’d been so wrong to keep Bethany from people who would have loved her. And yet, they’d been the ones to send her off in the beginning and it had taken her a long time to get past that.

  When they’d started begging for reconciliation by Bethany’s sixth birthday, Lacey had enough bitterness and resentment flowing that she’d repeatedly refused.

  Until God got ahold of her three years ago, after her landlady led her to know Christ.

  Clearing her throat, she turned from Mason and Catelyn and faced the car. “Not yet, Mom, but Mason agreed to help me.”

  A pause. “Did you tell him?”

  “Yes.”

  “How did he take it?”

  “Um…better than I expected, I think. Actually, I’m not really sure yet. Can I get back to you on that one?”

  A sigh filtered through the line. “Of course.” Lacey thought she heard her mother stifle a sob, then she cleared her throat and reported, “Your boss called. He wants to know exactly how long you plan to be gone.”

  Anger at the man rose up inside her and she turned to see Mason and Catelyn deep in discussion. Louder than she wanted, she blurted, “I’m not sure, Mom. As long as it takes, all right?” Mason’s head lifted at her tone and he lifted a brow at her.

  She closed her eyes and dropped her head. She’d just started a new job as a graphic artist. A big project sat on her desk and she knew her boss was concerned about getting it done by the deadline.

  In a quieter voice, she said, “If he calls back, tell him I’ll try to get to it as soon as I know I can’t do anything else for Bethany here—or we have her back. I need to go. I’ll call you if I find anything out.”

  “Will you be here for supper?”

  Lacey met Mason’s gaze and her heart thudded. “I don’t know. I’ll let you know a little later this afternoon, all right?”

  “Fine. Keep me posted, darling.”

  “I will.”

  Lacey hung up and leaned against the open door of the vehicle. Mason and Catelyn walked over. Catelyn held out a hand. “If you’ll give me the flyers, I’ll ask some of Bethany’s classmates if they’ll hang them up around the school and town.”

  “Sure.” Bethany peeled off half the papers and gave them to Catelyn. “Thank you so much.”

  The detective smiled. “No problem.” Then she looked at Mason. “I’ll be in touch.”

  Mason nodded then leaned over and placed a hand on the roof next to Lacey’s head. “Who was on the phone?”

  “My mother. She’s worried, but I can tell she’s not quite sure Bet
hany didn’t just take off. I know she didn’t but Mom’s not convinced.”

  “Why’s that?”

  Lacey blew out a sigh and shook her head, wincing at the sting incited by her hair moving across the scraped area on her cheek. Gentle fingers reached out and removed the strands. The breath left her lungs and she just stared at the man before her.

  He blinked and curled his fingers into a fist at his side. Sorrow for what might have been pained her. “Bethany’s threatened it more than once. Said she was tired of waiting around on me to—” she sucked in a deep breath and let it out slow “—to get up the guts to tell you about her and she wasn’t sticking around if I wasn’t going to come through.”

  Mason turned his back on her and placed his hands on his hips. She’d seen the flash of fury before he’d hidden his eyes. The fact that she probably deserved it didn’t lessen the hurt. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I know now I was wrong.”

  “Why were you so hesitant to tell her about me? What did you think I would do?”

  “I didn’t know what you would or wouldn’t do! When you believed the lies Daniel told you, all of a sudden you weren’t who I thought you were. How did I know you wouldn’t accuse Bethany of lying to you? How did I know you wouldn’t break her heart and send her home permanently damaged because of your rejection?”

  He whirled back to her, the agonizing hurt in his eyes nearly undoing her. But she held her ground. He’d wanted the truth. Now he had it.

  His lips moved but nothing came out. The tense set of his jaw said he was biting his tongue. Then he simply whispered, “How could you think that of me?”

  She sighed. “After what you put me through, how could I think anything else?” When he closed his eyes, she decided to change the subject. “All that aside, Mason, she wouldn’t willingly leave home. Bethany would never do that.”

  “How do you know, Lacey?” He opened his eyes, but narrowed them at her. His soft tone couldn’t hide the steel undercurrent in his words.

  “Because I know Bethany. She was full of empty threats, but she would never go off on her own.” Biting her lower lip, she wondered if she should tell him exactly why. Bethany would be mortified if she ever found out Lacey shared one of her deepest, darkest secrets with him.