Ethan had been up to Lauren’s apartment twice, banging hard enough on the door to attract the stares of neighbors sticking their heads out of their apartments, but Nicole wasn’t there, and no one had seen her since long before dinnertime.
Ethan worried.
Then he fumed. He sent her text after text and left her a string of voice mails. Why didn’t she at least let him know where she was?
When his phone finally rang on Tuesday night, Ethan grabbed it, but it was a slightly irritable Cooper insisting that they had to talk immediately. Ethan had taken Cooper a copy of the photograph of Quinn, apologized for not calling Cooper sooner, relayed everything he’d done all day, and then headed out to look for Nicole again.
In his room at the motel, he hadn’t slept. If Nicole didn’t contact him soon, Ethan intended to go back to Cooper’s office and report another missing person.
Ethan was almost at the hospital to check on Lauren and—he hoped—write her discharge orders if her drain was still clear and the latest scan showed nothing of concern.
When his phone rang and he saw it was Nicole’s number, Ethan swerved to the side of the road and braked hard.
“Nicole, are you all right?”
“Yes. Are you alone?”
“In my car. Where are you?”
“You sound angry.”
Ethan took a deep breath. “I’m worried about you.”
“I’m all right. I’m sorry for not being where I was supposed to be last night.”
“I’ve lost count of how many times I called you.”
“Thirteen. And nineteen text messages. I think you’ll understand why I couldn’t answer them, though.”
“Are you sure you’re all right?”
“Positive. Can you come to Quinn’s house?”
“That’s where you are?”
“Please come,” Nicole said. “As soon as you can.”
“Who is with you? How did you get out there?” What would Ethan walk into?
“Just come.” Her voice cradled promise. “It’ll all make sense when you get here.”
“I’ll be right there.”
Ethan glanced at the time in the dash. He’d been seeing Lauren every morning since the surgery. If the Hidden Falls hospital was like every other hospital in the country, discharge could take hours after a doctor’s orders. The sooner he got the process going, the better, but it would have to wait. Ethan’s heart pounded with relief that Nicole was all right tangled with curiosity about what awaited him at Quinn’s.
It clicked.
Quinn was at Quinn’s.
He dropped his phone into the passenger seat and mentally calculated the fastest route to his old neighborhood.
When Ethan approached Quinn’s house, he could see the difference immediately. Wispy smoke rose from the chimney. While the curtains were still drawn, he could see lights on inside. A sedan with Oklahoma license plates sat in the driveway.
Oklahoma. The phone number that kept calling Lauren came from Oklahoma, whistling or playing the tune Quinn had made up to reassure Nicole when she was a girl.
Ethan pulled in behind the sedan, got out, and let his driver’s door slam behind him. By the time he got to the door, Nicole had pulled it open and leaned on her crutches to greet him. When he kissed her, he tasted breakfast sausage.
Nicole reached one arm up around Ethan’s neck. “He’s here. He’s really here.”
“You scared the daylights out of me.” If Ethan had any lingering doubts how he felt about Nicole, the terror of the night and the relief of the morning resolved them. He squeezed her to him.
“I’m okay. He’s okay. Wait until you hear the whole story.”
Quinn stepped into the foyer. “I’m afraid it was my idea for Nicole not to call you last night, but I’m glad to see you so concerned. It’s just like the old days.”
Ethan let Nicole loose but held her hand. Yes, just like the old days—if she would have him again.
“Quinn.” Ethan offered a handshake, but Quinn opened his arms and wrapped Ethan in a bear hug.
“I’m delighted to find you still in town,” Quinn said. “I had imagined you’d gone back to Ohio.”
Ethan fell into the genuineness of Quinn’s embrace and made no move to shorten it. Finally, Quinn released him.
“Come into the living room,” Quinn said. “We have some catching up to do.”
Nicole led the way in. Ethan sat next to her on the sofa. Quinn paused to put a log on the fire before taking a seat opposite them.
“Thank you for looking after Lauren,” Quinn said. “Nicole told me what you did.”
“Her aunt was the one who was alert enough to realize something was wrong.” Ethan soaked up Quinn’s relaxed countenance. Wherever he’d been, and whatever the circumstances, Quinn had come home happy.
At the mention of Sylvia, emotion flushed through Quinn’s face. “She’ll be the next call, but I’ll make that one myself.”
“Call now,” Nicole said.
“She would have been my first call,” Quinn said, “if I hadn’t seen you hobbling around on those crutches. I was surprised to find you still in Hidden Falls and had to know what happened.”
“I wasn’t hobbling,” Nicole said. “I was doing quite well, as I recall, until you came along.”
“Yes, you were.” Quinn chuckled. “I’ll call Sylvia, but we may not have another time for just the three of us. I want to breathe it in for a few more minutes.”
Ethan squeezed Nicole’s hand.
“I’m so glad to see the two of you together.” Quinn raised his hands, palms out. “I know, I know. Your relationship is not my business, and I’ll stay out of the way while you sort things out. But when I think of how many times the three of us sat in this room together, well, it warms me from the inside out.”
Ethan looked at Nicole. As if she felt his gaze, she returned it.
“When I asked you to come for the banquet,” Quinn said, “I had no idea all this was going to happen. Nicole tells me you have jeopardized your career by staying in Hidden Falls.”
“Well,” Ethan said, “it has taken a turn.”
“I’m sorry for that. But I’m glad you met Dr. Glass. If he had any sense, he would snatch you up as soon as your residency is over.”
A smile escaped Ethan’s lips. “As a matter of fact, he made a persuasive argument that my services are needed in Hidden Falls.”
Nicole leaned away from Ethan. “What are you talking about?”
“Persuasive.” Quinn raised his eyebrows. “Did you hear that, Nicole? Persuasive. That implies success.”
“Well, yes,” Ethan said, “he was successful. We sealed the deal yesterday afternoon.”
“Does this mean Gonzalez won’t throw you out of your residency?” Nicole said.
“It would seem Dr. Glass was persuasive with Dr. Gonzalez as well. He pointed out that despite all his threats, when it comes down to it, Gonzalez doesn’t want an incomplete residency in his stellar statistics. He offered to take me off Gonzalez’s hands and supervise the last few months of my residency. Sort of a final medical rotation in rural medicine. That way Gonzalez can graduate me from his program.”
“Like a proctored exam,” Quinn said.
“Yes, something like that.”
Quinn rubbed his palms together. “This is delightful news.”
“Shocking news.” Nicole’s jaw went slack.
Ethan offered her a sheepish grin. “I was going to tell you last night.”
“Now about my note,” Quinn said. “I understand a certain photo came into your possession in a—ahem—creative manner.”
“That was all Nicole’s idea.” Ethan pointed at her.
“I have no doubt,” Quinn said. “She always was the instigator. However, Lauren’s convincing Sylvia to open my box surprises me more than Nicole deciding to break into my house.”
“Would you two like me to leave the room?” Nicole said. “Wouldn’t that make it easier to dispara
ge me?”
“I think we’re doing quite well in your presence.” Quinn grinned. “However it came about, I’m glad you know the truth now. Do with it what you will.”
“Excuse me,” Ethan said, “I realize you and Nicole had all night to catch up, but my curiosity is about to split me open. Where have you been all this time? And who were you with two nights ago when I took your picture?”
“Ah, yes, the photo at the falls.”
“Shall I go get him?” Nicole asked Quinn.
He nodded. Nicole got up, stabilized herself, and swung herself on the crutches to the kitchen. Ethan realized he heard water running and movement from the other room. He’d been so absorbed in the pleasure of seeing Quinn and relief at Nicole’s well-being that he hadn’t noticed the obvious. Someone else was in the house. He squirmed on the sofa to see who would come through the door.
Quinn stood up. “Ethan, I’d like you to meet my brother, Scott Wilson.”
Ethan was on his feet, ready to accept the proffered handshake. “You’re the man in the photo.”
Scott laughed. “We thought we were being so careful, staying off the main trails. It was almost dark. Nobody else would be starting a hike at that hour.”
“I had a telephoto lens,” Ethan said.
“So I hear.”
Ethan reeled toward Quinn. “If you’d ever told me you had a brother, I would have remembered it.”
“I didn’t,” Quinn said. “I couldn’t.”
“Witness protection,” Nicole said.
Ethan couldn’t keep his eyes from widening. “Seriously?”
“I’ll fill you in on the details later,” Quinn said. “But it was Nicole’s comment on the night of the banquet that set me off. She talked about someone with a birthmark that looked like a peeling red onion on his lower back. It was such a specific description. My mother used to use it. What were the odds someone else would describe a birthmark that way, in that same spot?”
Ethan looked at Scott. “You mean?”
Scott yanked up his shirt and angled his back toward Ethan.
“When I arrived at the banquet hall,” Quinn said, “I had every intention of going through with the evening. I was glad to see you there and have the chance to ask you to stay a few more days. But the longer I thought about it, especially when I was alone behind the curtain, the more I realized I had to go. After more than thirty years, a clue about my brother’s whereabouts that fell into my lap. I couldn’t ignore it.”
“But Nicole would have helped you,” Ethan said. “If your brother was in St. Louis, and he was going to be part of a story, she would have known how to find him.”
“We went all through that last night,” Nicole said. “I’d never actually met Scott, or even spoken to him. But the main thing is that under the rules of protection, Quinn couldn’t tell me why he would want to find this supposed stranger.”
“I wasn’t even supposed to be looking for him.”
“But you have been,” Ethan said. “The envelope Liam found from Santorelli in Pennsylvania.”
“I’m very anxious to see the letter,” Quinn said, “but until now, they haven’t had much to encourage me. After all, I had no leads to give them, not even Scott’s name. Over the last few years, Santorelli investigated cities up and down the eastern seaboard, but none of the scraps of information we started with went anywhere.”
Ethan started to pace in front of the fire. “I still have questions.”
“Shoot,” Quinn said.
“How did you get out of town?”
“Imagine my surprise when I went out to the lot and my car was missing,” Quinn said. “If I reported it, I’d miss my chance, so I walked up to the highway and stuck out my thumb. It was astonishingly easy.”
“It must not have been anyone you knew.” Even casual acquaintances would have heard about the search for Quinn and reported seeing him.
Quinn shook his head. “A very nice young man from Louisiana passing through on his way to Chicago. A person can get lost in Chicago, but they do have trains to St. Louis.”
“When you came back, why didn’t you come here, to your house?” Ethan said. “Where did you spend that night you were on the trail?”
“In the hollow behind the falls,” Quinn said.
Ethan slapped his forehead. “I never went all the way down there to look behind the water.”
“Hardly anybody does, especially in the dark. I haven’t been there in years myself. I’d forgotten how cold it gets.” Quinn’s eyes seemed to drift off to another time and place. “I have to call Sylvia now.”
9:17 a.m.
Her mother so seldom asked anything of Sylvia that when she did, Sylvia hated to say no.
This is why she was in the center aisle of the grocery store on a Wednesday morning when she ought to have been at Town Hall, or on the phone with Cooper, or visiting Lauren at the hospital, or ferreting out whether Ethan ever found Nicole last night, or checking in with Lizzie at Waterfall Books and Gifts before the store opened.
During their regular phone call at seven in the morning, Emma asked her daughter to take her to the grocery store. Their usual system was for Emma to keep a list on the kitchen counter, and Sylvia would pick it up every few days and bring the items by a day or two later. Sylvia suspected that lately Sammie Dunavant had been doing the same thing, because Emma’s lists became shorter and less frequent, yet her cupboards remained stocked.
But today Emma had insisted she needed to go to the store and get ready for winter. Sylvia wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. When she picked up Emma, Sylvia looked for the list, but there wasn’t one. In any event, the likelihood of severe weather was still a few weeks away, and a quick look in the refrigerator showed plenty of fresh food, a pot of soup, and three kinds of cheese. The cupboards had crackers, pastas, and canned goods. Still Emma pressed to go to the store.
Sylvia had called Town Hall to let Marianne know she would be late, and here she was in the grocery store, pushing the cart at Emma’s painstaking pace.
“How about some yogurt-covered raisins?” Sylvia suggested. Maybe her mother was looking for snack foods.
“How much are they?”
“Not too much.” If Sylvia was more specific, her mother would recoil in horror at the cost of the item. She’d already done so at least six times. After forty-five minutes, only seven items lay in the cart, and Sylvia intended to distract her mother when the cashier rang up the total even if Emma found nothing else she wanted. Sylvia tossed the raisins in the cart, certain her mother would enjoy them.
“I can’t decide what I’m in the mood for,” Emma said. “There’s so much to choose from. Has the grocery store always been so confusing?”
The store had remodeled five years ago, but its selections had not changed substantially, and even a year ago Emma shopped fairly well if Sylvia left her alone in the store. Emma’s slide away from independence was slow but steady.
“I’m going to look at pudding. Where’s the pudding?” Emma said.
Fortunately, they were in the correct aisle.
“Take your time.” Sylvia pulled her phone out of her purse and dialed first Ethan’s number and then Nicole’s, as she had already done several times that morning. Neither of them answered. It was bad enough when Ethan said he couldn’t find Nicole last night. Now it seemed that he’d gone AWOL as well.
What was happening to this town? Was she living in an episode of The Twilight Zone?
Her phone rang in her hand, making Sylvia jump.
Quinn’s home number. Quinn’s number.
“Quinn?” Sylvia said.
“Yes, it’s me.”
His cheerful voice made Sylvia go weak in the knees. Quinn. “Where are you? How are you?”
“I’m at home and I’m just dandy. Can you take a few minutes out of your busy day to drop over?”
Quinn was a master of understatement. His voice dripped over her spirit like honey. Oh, Lord, thank You!
“
Sylvia? Are you there?”
She recovered her voice. “Yes, I’m here. Are you really all right?”
“Positively.”
Tears heated her eyes, the first time Sylvia had allowed them to take full form since discovering Quinn was not standing on his mark behind the curtain at the banquet hall.
Quinn’s voice dropped. “I really am all right, and I want to see you. Please come.”
“Of course I’ll come. I’m at the grocery store with my mother, but if I have to I’ll pick her up, put her in the cart, and roll her out to the car like a squalling toddler.”
He chuckled. “Give Emma a kiss for me.”
Sylvia’s grip on the phone trembled even after Quinn’s voice was gone. “Mom, we have to go.”
“Are we finished shopping?” Emma said.
“As soon as we get your pudding.” Sylvia took chocolate, butterscotch, and tapioca off the shelf and dropped them into the cart. “Let’s get them all. That way you can decide what you’re in the mood for later.”
“I like to mix peanut butter in my chocolate pudding,” Emma said.
“You have peanut butter at home.” Emma had been doing that since Sylvia was a little girl. The day would come when Emma could not operate a microwave to warm up the pudding the way she liked it, but today was not that day.
Today was the day Quinn was home.
Sylvia aimed the cart toward the checkout counters, knowing full well that Emma could still keep up if she decided to.
“You can start a list,” Sylvia said. “If you forgot anything, I’ll get it later.”
“You’re a good daughter.” Emma spoke matter-of-factly.
Sylvia’s brimming tears threatened a deluge. “Thank you, Mom. Let’s get home and put these things away.”
Sylvia handed the checker in the express lane two canvas bags, swiftly unloaded the cart, and swiped her debit card before her mother could ask any more questions about what the items cost. Still, it was another thirty minutes before she got Emma home, offered her a snack, put the groceries away, and started for Quinn’s house.
She parked on the street and took in the scene. Ethan’s car in the driveway assured her he and Nicole hadn’t disappeared. The other vehicle was unknown to Sylvia. Had Quinn rented it and driven home? When he asked her to come, Sylvia had imagined a more private reunion. Realizing others were present, she stood on the front step for an extra minute to compose her face and mood. When the curtains in the front window parted, Sylvia startled. Nicole grinned out at her. The front door opened before she knocked, and Ethan hustled her into Quinn’s home.
Hidden Falls Page 60