“No.” Jared rubbed his chin as his eyes searched the crowd. “Where is Zander?”
“He headed toward the lake with Jason Thurman.” Mel was grim. Since Jason and Zander were always at each other’s throats, things had to be serious for them to work together. “They’re checking underneath Jason’s balcony. There’s a lot of stuff stored there for the winter. Also ... they’re going to check the shoreline.”
Jared read between the lines, understanding what Mel didn’t want to say. If Zoe Mathers was attracted to the water, it was so cold and choppy that she wouldn’t have lasted long. There was every possibility she could’ve washed up on the beach, which was a terrifying thought.
“What about the state police?” Jared asked after clearing his throat to dislodge the unhappy visual. “Can they get us a dog?”
“They’re trying. They don’t have any missing person dogs right now, if you can believe that. The only two dogs they have are drug dogs, which isn’t what we need.”
“No. Definitely not. I ... .” Jared trailed off when he caught sight of a familiar blond head. Harper, Shawn close on her heels, was pushing her way through the crowd. “Hey.” He took a step away from Mel and pulled her in for a quick hug when she reached his side. “What are you doing out here?”
“Are you kidding?” Harper planted her hands on her hips. “This story is all over the news.” She gestured toward the three local news vans parked along Main Street. “They’ve been doing live reports. A missing little girl right before Christmas is guaranteed to garner great ratings.”
Jared rubbed his forehead. He’d seen the vans, but he’d been doing his best to ignore them. “Yeah, well ... I need to go across the street. Why don’t you come with me and I’ll catch you up?”
Harper agreed without hesitation, gesturing for Shawn to follow. “Come on.”
“Where is Zander?” Shawn called out, drawing Jared’s attention over his shoulder as they crossed toward the guitar shop. “Wasn’t he with you?”
Harper knit her eyebrows. “Wait ... Zander was with you?”
Shawn realized his mistake too late to take it back. He was well aware that Zander and Jared went ring shopping together. He was purposely left behind to make sure Harper didn’t wander into town and catch them looking at rings. He wanted to smack himself for letting the shopping excursion slip.
“I wanted to show Zander something I had my eye on for Christmas,” Jared replied smoothly. “He knows you best, so I wanted to make sure it wasn’t a stupid gift. And, before you ask, I’m not telling you what we looked at. It’s a secret.”
Harper snickered. “I can’t believe you were shopping with Zander. That’s so ... weird.”
“Yes, well, it’s our first Christmas together. I want to make sure you have the perfect gift.”
Despite the serious nature of the situation, Harper went warm and gooey all over. “That’s really sweet, but I don’t need a gift. We just bought a house together. That’s more than enough of a gift.”
“Well, you’re getting a gift, too.” Jared was firm. “As for Zander, he’s with Jason Thurman. They’re searching the beach.”
Harper didn’t recognize Jared’s heavy tone and made a face. “Why would Zander choose to hang out at the beach instead of helping look for Zoe?”
“He’s not hanging out at the beach.” Jared chose his words carefully. “He’s looking to make sure that Zoe didn’t end up in the water and wash back to the beach. They’re also checking the area below Jason’s deck. He’s got a lot of outdoor stuff stored there that might interest a kid.”
“Oh.” Harper was mortified when she realized what Jared was really saying. “That’s ... awful.”
“It is,” Shawn agreed. “I’m going to help. Hopefully they won’t find anything out there, but you know how Zander gets when he thinks Jason is being annoying.”
“Yes, he gets even crazier than normal,” Jared said. “I think it’s a good idea that you serve as moderator. I’ll keep Harper with me.”
“Good luck.”
Jared opened the door of the guitar store and ushered Harper inside. She greeted the man behind the counter — who looked to be in his late twenties and was sporting some ridiculously long hair that would’ve made eighties rock bands stand up and applaud — with a tight smile. “Hey, Cooper. You haven’t seen a little girl, have you?”
Cooper shook his head, his eyes reflecting worry as he tuned a guitar. “No. I heard about that and I went looking through the back alley. She’s not there. I would’ve reported it if I saw her.”
“I know you would have,” Harper said hurriedly. “We’re desperate to find her, though. We have to check everywhere.”
“I’m actually here because I was hoping I could look at your camera footage,” Jared announced, taking Cooper by surprise. “Does the angle you’ve got it set for hit the front of the coffee shop?”
Instead of acting as if Jared was putting him out, Cooper shoved the guitar to the side and hopped to his feet. “I didn’t even think about it. I’m so sorry. Come on.” He gestured for Harper and Jared to follow him into the office behind the counter. “I can’t believe I didn’t think about that myself.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jared offered. “Why would you think of it? It’s just a notion I had. We might not find anything on the camera, but we should at least try.”
“Definitely. Here.” Cooper turned the monitor so Jared and Harper could see it. “I need to go to the playback option, which is here.” He muttered to himself as he hit a few buttons. “Sorry. I only got this system because it was cheaper to pay for the equipment than my insurance premiums if I didn’t have it.”
“I didn’t even think about that,” Jared said, his eyes on the screen. “Wait ... slow down. There she is.” He pointed at the tiny girl who hopped out of the coffee shop. She was far enough away that it was difficult to make out her features, but she didn’t seem distressed. In fact, she was clearly laughing as she stomped in a mud puddle right in front of the door.
“What do you know about her mother?” Jared asked Harper, his eyes never leaving the video footage. “She seemed a righteous mess when I tried to question her earlier. I didn’t have time to mess around, so I just left her in the coffee shop. I’m going to have to question her further if we don’t find Zoe soon, though.”
“Ally is ... I don’t know what to tell you,” Harper said, holding her hands palms out. “She’s pretty together. She’s not dramatic, keeps to herself. She seems devoted to Zoe. I’ve seen them around town. I wouldn’t say I’m close to Ally, but I honestly think she’s a good person.”
“What about Zoe’s father?” Jared asked as he leaned forward to the screen. Zoe was on camera waving through the window and then she went back to her hopping routine, clearly in her own little world.
“Zoe’s father is another story,” Harper noted, distaste evident. “He’s a real ... .” She wasn’t sure what word she could use without coming across as insulting.
“Piece of trash,” Cooper volunteered when she didn’t continue. “Luke Mathers is the biggest piece of trash out there. He’s a terrible human being and Zoe’s better off without him.”
Jared widened his eyes. “Clearly I’m missing part of the story.”
“You are,” Harper confirmed, shifting from one foot to the other. “Um ... the thing is, Ally and Luke dated for several months about four and a half years ago. People thought they were a good match even though Luke has a certain reputation as a womanizer.”
“He’s hit more women than a female boxer,” Cooper muttered, disgusted.
“He’s a little gross,” Harper acknowledged. “We always assumed that he would get over himself and settle down. A lot of guys are wild in their younger days and turn into perfectly good husbands.”
“Okay.” Jared felt as if he was walking through quicksand. “What aren’t you saying?”
“Well, when Ally turned up pregnant, Luke had a bad reaction,” Harper replied. “It wasn’t
completely unexpected. Even Ally said she knew he would melt down. She just thought he would step up to the plate after the fact.”
“And he never did?”
“No.” Harper’s expression turned sad. “He’s never met Zoe to my knowledge. He doesn’t see her. He signed off on custody in exchange for Ally not going after child support. He completely abandoned Zoe. Ally has been raising her on her own.”
“And doing a heckuva job of it,” Cooper snapped, vehement. “She’s better off without that loser.”
“You seem to have some strong feelings on the subject,” Jared noted.
“I was raised knowing that you take care of your children. You don’t abandon them, no matter what. Luke abandoned Zoe without a backward glance. If you think I’m going to respect that, you’re wrong.”
“I don’t respect it at all,” Jared said, holding up a finger as he stared at the screen. “Go back just a few seconds if you can.”
Cooper did as Jared asked, moving so he could see the screen as he started the playback a second time. “What do you see?”
“It’s coming up.” Jared was grim. “Right there.” He pointed when Zoe jerked her head to the side. “Someone called to her, got her attention. And there she goes. Whoever it is, Zoe is going to him or her.”
“How do you know it’s a person?” Harper challenged. “Maybe she saw a dog or something.”
“I guess that’s possible, but I don’t think so. Zoe was looking in the opposite direction. The way she turned makes me think someone addressed her directly.”
Cooper played it again, and sure enough, upon second viewing, Harper was convinced Jared was right.
“So someone took her.” Harper swallowed hard. “That means she’s not out there waiting to be found.”
“She’s waiting to be found,” Jared countered. “It just means someone is probably hiding her, which is going to make it that much more difficult to find her.”
“Where do we look first?”
“I think the obvious place is with Luke Mathers. Perhaps he decided he wanted contact with his daughter after all.”
“This is a sick way to get it,” Cooper complained.
“There’s no doubt about that. Come on. We need to talk to Mel and then I want to meet Luke Mathers for myself. I think we’re going to have loads to talk about.”
Three
Jared left Harper in town with Zander and Shawn — and Jason, even though the man still irritated him on a daily basis — and drove to Luke’s house to question him. Once in a vehicle with Mel, he realized pretty much everyone in Whisper Cove felt the same way about the deadbeat dad in question.
“Slimy bucket of entrails,” Mel muttered as he navigated the quaint streets. “I wish someone would castrate him.”
Jared lifted his eyebrows, amused despite the serious situation. “Tell me how you really feel.”
“I really feel as if he’s pretty much the worst man in the world,” Mel replied without hesitation. “I mean ... what kind of jerk doesn’t take care of his own flesh and blood?”
Since Jared didn’t know Luke, wouldn’t be able to pick him out of a lineup, he decided on a pragmatic approach. “Are we sure Zoe is really his daughter? I mean ... I don’t know Ally very well, but is there a chance he thought she wasn’t his kid?”
“There was a DNA test.”
“Oh.” Jared was mostly mollified. “Why was there a DNA test if Ally never intended to go after him for child support?”
“Because he was telling anyone in town who would listen that she was sleeping with other people, something that mortified her. She was embarrassed — and I think there’s probably a chance that she believed if she had proof he would change his ways — but he was even worse when it was proven that the kid was his.”
“It gets worse?”
“He started making noise at the local bars, telling people that Ally probably drugged him so she could eradicate his defenses and purposely got pregnant with Zoe to trap him.”
“That’s kind of low, although ... is it possible she drugged him?”
“You don’t understand. Ally is a good girl. She volunteers her time at all the festivals and even delivers food for seniors with Meals on Wheels. She’s not a bad girl.”
“Even good girls make mistakes.”
“Drugging someone is not a mistake.”
“Fair enough.” Jared’s mind was busy. “I don’t understand why she let Luke off the hook for child support if she was certain he was the father. In her position, I would’ve dragged him to court and gotten every dime I could.”
“That’s not how Ally is. She’s ... sweet, and doesn’t like to fight. She keeps to herself and never causes problems. She never confided in me or anything, but I have a feeling it wasn’t worth the effort for her. She didn’t want to hold on to a man who didn’t want her back.
“He did it to her, broke her heart, and left her with a parting gift of sorts,” he continued, his lips twisting into a grimace. “She’s not the type to want retribution. If she went after child support, then Luke would’ve been granted visitation. Given the way he treated Ally, she was probably afraid that he would be mean to Zoe.”
Jared couldn’t imagine anyone being mean to a small child, but he knew it happened. He knew worse happened. “If he didn’t want anything to do with the kid, why would he take her?”
“I can’t answer that for you. We don’t know that he did take her. It could’ve been someone else.”
“But ... why?”
“We both know the terrible reasons someone might take a child.” Mel was grim. “Let’s hope we’re dealing with someone who simply wanted a child and not the other possibilities. It is close to Christmas. Maybe someone was feeling lonely and saw an opportunity.”
“That would be the best-case scenario,” Jared agreed. “The odds of Zoe being hurt by an individual who is lonely and looking for company are low compared to ... well ... you know.”
“Yes. That’s why we’re hoping that Luke decided to become a father, and did it in a terrible way, or there’s some lonely woman out there who wants to dote on a kid. If it’s something else ... I don’t even want to think about that just yet.”
“Let’s focus on Luke,” Jared suggested. “He’s our best bet.”
IT WAS A GOOD THING Mel and Jared weren’t expecting a warm welcome, because when Luke opened the door, he practically slammed it shut in their faces.
“Oh, geez. What do you guys want?”
Mel was calm as he regarded the blond man standing in front of him. “Can we come in?”
“That depends on what you’re here for,” Luke replied. “I don’t want to donate to any police gala fund or anything, so if you’re selling tickets, you can move right along.”
Mel didn’t as much as crack a smile. “We’re here about Zoe.”
For a moment, Luke’s veneer cracked. It was brief, but Jared recognized a sliver of something he couldn’t quite identify before the man turned jovial. “What? Does she need Christmas presents or something? Is this one of those ‘Shop With a Cop’ things?”
“No. If she needed gifts, I would simply buy her gifts.” Mel’s ire was on full display. “I wouldn’t bother you over something a real man was needed for. You can be sure of that.”
Luke’s green eyes flashed dark. “Why are you here?”
“Zoe is missing,” Jared interjected, legitimately worried Mel would lose his cool and pop Luke in the face rather than ask the questions they needed answers for. “We need information from you.”
“What do you mean she’s missing?”
“I mean that someone took her and now we need to find out who that someone is.”
False bravado fleeing, Luke pushed open the door and allowed Mel and Jared entrance. Jared gave the house a long scan, his eyes taking in the empty beer bottles on the kitchen counter and the empty pizza boxes stacked on the floor in the corner.
“I don’t understand,” Luke said as he led them into the kitchen, gr
abbing the two nearest beer bottles and shoving them in a cardboard container. “How did she go missing?”
“She was downtown with Ally,” Mel replied. “She was standing in front of the coffee shop, hopping up and down, when something drew her attention. We have her on camera, and someone very clearly said something to get her to look in that direction. Then she took off, and we haven’t found her.”
“But ... who would take her?”
“Why do you think we’re here talking to you?” Mel challenged. “On our list of people who might want to do Zoe harm, you’re pretty much at the top.”
Luke reared back as if he’d been struck in the face. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“You clearly don’t want to take care of her either,” Mel shot back. “When was the last time you saw her?”
“I don’t see her.” Luke swallowed hard. “I’ve never technically been introduced to her. I guess I’ve seen her and Ally in town a few times, like at that big pumpkin carving thing they had around Halloween. I saw her that day. Ally was helping her carve a pumpkin.”
“Did you talk to her?” Jared asked.
Luke shook his head. “No. She doesn’t know who I am. Ally said she wouldn’t tell her until she was old enough to start asking questions. I stay out of their way because ... well, because it’s what seems best for both of them.”
“Yes, you’re a real prince,” Mel drawled. “Has anything changed about your relationship with Ally in recent months? I mean ... has she decided to take you to court for back child support or something?”
“Why not ask her that?”
“Because she’s ... very upset,” Jared replied, remembering the woman who could barely form words in the face of her daughter’s disappearance. “She’s having trouble holding it together.”
“Well, then maybe she should’ve paid more attention to the kid.” Luke’s tone was biting. “If she’d been watching Zoe, she wouldn’t have lost her in the first place.”
Jared instinctively grabbed Mel’s arms before his partner could pummel Luke’s face. “Don’t,” he hissed, his eyes flashing with warning. “It’s not worth it. I need you to help me find Zoe. If you go to jail for assault, I’m going to be on my own. Neither of us wants that.”
Ghostly Visions: A Harper Harlow Mystery Books 10-12 Page 22