Without A Trace (Echo Lake Book 1)

by Amanda Stevens

  He cocked his head slightly. “You okay?”

  “Yes. I was just thinking about Dylan Moody. I saw him a moment ago. I wanted to talk to him, but I lost him down Ghost Alley.”

  “What did you want to talk to him about?” His tone sounded mildly curious, but there was a deeper emotion swirling beneath the placid surface.

  Careful, Rae.

  She shrugged, trying to arrange her features in an appropriate mask. “I just wanted to ask him some questions. That’s not so strange, is it? He was the last person to see Sophie before she disappeared.”

  “Besides you, you mean.”

  “Yes, besides me. And I suppose Marty Booker saw her, too. He may also have seen Sophie’s abductor, so I’m not sure why you let him go.”

  Tom propped an arm on the meter as he studied the street. “We don’t hold witnesses in jail indefinitely unless their lives are in danger. I told you yesterday, we’ll keep an eye on Marty.”

  “Do you know where he is now?”

  “I have an officer out looking for him.”

  Rae said in shock, “He’s disappeared?”

  “His sister says he never stays in one place for too long. He’ll turn up.”

  “I hope so.”

  Tom’s gaze found hers. He looked cool and calm in the heat while Rae was sweating bullets beneath her shirt. It was hard to pretend not to know things with him. Hard not to blurt out the truth and plead for his help, but she’d been warned. She took herself back to that split second of terror when she thought Sophie had been shot. Remember that. Use that. Next time could be the real thing.

  Tom took her arm unexpectedly. “I think we need to get you out of the sun. You look ready to pass out.”

  She jerked away. “I’m fine.” His touch sent a shock wave through her battered system and she overreacted.

  He dropped his hand with an apologetic gesture. “Just trying to help.”

  “I know.” She regretted her aggressive behavior, but it was all such an impossible balancing act. Don’t get too close, but don’t push him away. Don’t tell him anything, but try to appear cooperative. The strain was getting to her. Even now Tom’s gray eyes seemed to probe a little too deeply and she worried about how to keep his suspicions at bay. She hadn’t eaten or slept in two days. She felt too susceptible, too in need of his strong shoulder, and that knowledge distressed her even more.

  For as long as Rae could remember, she’d relied on no one but herself. Even after Riley went missing, she hadn’t allowed herself the luxury of a breakdown. Someone had to keep the family together. Someone had to be the rock. But what if she was no longer up to that task?

  I’m just tired, she thought. So bone-deep weary she could hardly think straight. She wanted to sink right down to the sidewalk and bury her face in her hands. Let someone else be in charge for a change.

  “I’m a little on edge these days,” she murmured.

  “If anyone has that right, it’s you, Rae.”

  She gave him a rueful smile. “My mother would say there’s never a good enough excuse for being rude. I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t worry about it.” But those stormy eyes were still watching her, still measuring her by some unknown yardstick.

  Rae glanced away. “I should be getting back to the ranch. Dad will be expecting his lunch.”

  “Doesn’t he have a housekeeper?”

  “Yes, but he gave her the day off. He says her hovering makes him nervous. I drove into town to pick up some food. It should be ready by now, so if you’ll excuse me...” She wiped damp palms on her jeans and told herself to stop talking.

  “Before you go I need to ask about your brother.”

  Despite her fatigue, Rae’s guard shot back up. “What about him?”

  “Let’s step over here out of the way.” Tom took her arm to steer her into the shade, and this time she didn’t object. It was hot on the street and she needed to keep a cool head.

  But even as she tried to remain poised, her gaze strayed to the alleyway. What if Lauren and Dylan were somehow involved in the kidnapping? Shouldn’t she say something? What if they could lead Tom and his deputies to Sophie?

  A few hours ago she would never have entertained such a notion, but was it really that far-fetched? Lauren liked money. That was no secret. Her spending habits were so out of control that West had felt the need to call her out in front of her husband. And look how she reacted to the ransom demand. Rae had thought at the time that her sister-in-law seemed uncharacteristically emotional, not to mention desperate, in her response. You can get the money, right? A million dollars isn’t all that much by Cavanaugh standards.

  As for Dylan’s part, it wouldn’t be the first time a teenage boy had fallen under the spell of a conniving older woman.

  Rae tried to rein in her racing thoughts. Maybe she was being a little overzealous in spinning her theory because she’d never liked Lauren in the first place.

  “There you go, drifting away again,” Tom said. “Where did you go this time?”

  She tore her gaze from the alley. “Nowhere. What were you saying?”

  He gave her a dubious look. “Are you sure you’re okay?”

  “I’m just worried about my dad. I need to get back home. You wanted to ask about Jackson. Can we make this quick?”

  He nodded. “I want to talk to you about that argument he had with his wife yesterday. Things got pretty heated.”

  “Couples fight,” Rae said. “They both have tempers, so petty grievances tend to escalate, even under the best of circumstances.” She felt obligated to downplay the significance of the conflict even though she’d thought at the time that something more was going on between Jackson and Lauren. Everyone had secrets, it seemed—including Rae.

  “Do they fight like that often?”

  “I’m not with them on a regular basis, so I wouldn’t know. Jackson has always been able to cut to the quick, but I doubt he gets anything over on Lauren. She keeps her claws sharp, from what I can tell.” Rae paused to scan the street. They’d been standing out there for a long time. If the kidnappers were watching, they might get the wrong idea. She said impatiently, “Why do you care about that argument?”

  “I care about everything going on as it relates to Sophie. You said she came to live with you because of problems at home. Lauren and Jackson certainly seem to be at odds. It must have made for a stressful home life. I’m wondering if some of their problems are financial.”

  He’d managed to surprise Rae again. “Why would you think that?”

  “I’ve been asking a lot of questions for the past two days. I hear a lot of rumors.”

  Her voice sharpened. “About my brother?” About me?

  “Everyone has a theory,” Tom said. “There’s been some talk around town about business difficulties. How are things at Cavanaugh Industries?”

  Now Rae’s defenses really came up. He was poking in places he had no business. Or did he? Everything was fair play when a child went missing. He would expect her full cooperation. She thought about those odd discrepancies she’d uncovered at work. Nothing truly substantial so far, but small bits of cash here and there could add up over time.

  “What is it?” Tom asked.

  Sunlight flickering down through the trees blinded Rae. She used the opportunity to step back, putting a little distance between them. “I’m wondering where you’re going with all this.”

  “Just answer the question. Has there been any trouble at Cavanaugh Industries since Jackson took over?”

  “A few hiccups. Nothing major. The company is fine.”

  “Does either of them gamble?”

  Rae’s brows shot up. “What? Who told you that?”

  “Do they?” Tom moved out of the sun, too, closing the gap between them. His tone remained gently persistent but there was a hard gleam in his eyes that
Rae had never seen before.

  “I take it you don’t mean the occasional scratch-off.”

  He shook his head slowly. “I’m talking high stakes, the kind where a bad streak can put you under for a few hundred thousand.”

  She gasped. “Jackson doesn’t have that kind of money to lose.”

  “Then a debt like that could make a person desperate.”

  Rae stared at him for a moment. She could almost feel the color drain from her face. “You can’t possibly think Jackson had anything to do with Sophie’s disappearance.”

  “Maybe not directly. But the gambling industry attracts a dark element. The kind of lowlifes who wouldn’t think twice about nabbing someone’s daughter to use as leverage.”

  His line of questioning and the implication of his probe worried Rae, but she took a breath and answered candidly. “I’ve never known Jackson to gamble. Not even on his beloved Dallas Cowboys. That’s just not his thing. As for Lauren, I can tell you that she spends money like crazy. You only have to look at the way she dresses and the car she drives to know she enjoys the finer things in life. But gambling...” Rae trailed off. “I don’t know.”

  “You don’t like her much, do you?”

  “Is it that obvious?”

  Tom gazed into her eyes, causing her pulse to flutter. “Put it this way. You should never play poker.”

  Was she that much of an open book? Rae swallowed. “Luckily, I’ve never been a gambler, either.”

  “Have you and Lauren had any trouble?”

  What was behind that question? “We’ve had words on occasion. I don’t like the way she treats Sophie and I think she brings out the worst in Jackson. But mostly I try to stay out of their business.”

  “Except when they asked you to take Sophie in. They made her your business.”

  “Yes. I think we all regret that move.”

  His voice softened. “None of this is your fault, Rae.”

  “So you’ve said.”

  “She and her friends were sneaking out to the Ruins before she came to stay with you.”

  “Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any less responsible.”

  “I know about guilt,” he said. “I know that it can eat you up inside if you let it.”

  She avoided his gaze. She didn’t want to see the compassion in his gray eyes. Didn’t want to think about those strong arms and how good they might feel around her now. “I’ll be okay. We just need to find Sophie.”

  “That’s why I’m here. That’s why I’m asking all these questions. I know they’re unpleasant. I know you think my time would be better spent out beating the bushes, but anything you can tell me is important. Even something seemingly insignificant has the potential to lead us to Sophie.”

  Rae nodded, gulping down a sudden lump in her throat. If only he knew what she was holding back. “What else do you want to know?”

  He hesitated. “Were you aware that Sophie’s trust fund has been emptied?”

  “I’m only vaguely aware that she has a trust fund. What do you mean it’s been emptied? By whom?”

  “According to Dylan, Sophie believed the money was used to pay off her stepmother’s gambling debts.”

  So that was the reason for all the gambling questions. Rae pushed back her damp hair as she tried to square the revelation with the encounter she’d witnessed in the alley. Had Lauren tried to persuade Dylan to keep his mouth shut about the trust fund?

  She gave Tom a hard stare. “I don’t think I like where you’re going with this. You said you didn’t think Jackson was directly involved in Sophie’s disappearance, but you seem to be trying awfully hard to implicate him.”

  “No. I’m just trying to gather as much information as possible. Like I said, we need to know everything there is to know about the people around Sophie.”

  “I don’t know what more I can tell you.”

  “Let’s start at the beginning with Jackson and Lauren,” Tom said. “Tell me how they met.”

  “How can that possibly matter?”

  “Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t. Think of the investigation as putting together a puzzle. You can’t always know where a piece fits until you start to see the bigger picture.”

  She nodded with a weary sigh. “Okay. They met on vacation in the Cayman Islands. They hooked up in a bar and came back home engaged.” How well Rae remembered the day Jackson had brought Lauren home to meet the family. The shock of his impetuous behavior. The uncomfortable and slightly nauseating displays of their infatuation. The mumbled congratulations that had rung hollow even to her ears. “Jackson was head over heels at first. A real goner. His first wife was lovely and sweet. The girl-next-door type. Lauren was something different, a gorgeous and exotic model, of all things. Jackson bought her a huge ring, a new house. Gave her a stack of credit cards. They seemed happy enough for a while, but things started to go south in the second year. For one thing, Sophie never warmed to Lauren. For another, Jackson led her to believe that he had money. I guess he does by Belle Pointe standards, but not ten-carat-diamond-ring money. Not three-weeks-in-an-exclusive-resort money.”

  “So they do have financial problems.”

  They were back to his original question. “I guess they do,” Rae said.

  He looked pensive. “Okay. That’s all I wanted to know.”

  “Tom?” She touched his arm. It would have served her right if he’d pulled away, but instead a half smile tugged as he gazed down at her. She dropped her hand at once. “Why are you smiling?”

  “I like the way you say my name.”

  She frowned. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Nothing. I just like the way you say my name.”

  Her tone chilled. “You realize this isn’t the time or place for frivolous banter.”

  “I do realize that. I wasn’t trying to be frivolous, Rae. I meant what I said.”

  She shook her head, trying not to read too much into that smile, his stare. The way he said her name. “My niece is still missing.”

  “I know that.”

  “Is my brother a suspect?”

  “Yes.”

  “Am I?”

  “Technically.”

  That gave her another long pause. Then she nodded. “I understand. The family is always looked at the hardest. I remember what we went through when Riley went missing. My poor dad...all those questions he had to endure... Please don’t do that to Jackson.”

  “I have to do my job, Rae. You know that.”

  “Yes, of course.” She glanced out over the street. “Let me know if you need anything else. I’ll help in any way I can. Right now, though, I have to get going. Dad’s fried chicken is getting cold. You’ll let me know if you hear anything?”

  “The very minute. But you already know that.”

  She started back to her vehicle and then turned. He was still standing in the shade, head slightly canted, staring after her. He had the oddest look on his face, an unnerving mixture of desire, compassion and suspicion.

  Why suspicion? What had she done to give herself away? Rae wondered. Was she really that easy to read or was Tom Brannon getting to know her a little too intimately?

  As if intuiting her distress, he dipped his head and then turned to walk away, leaving Rae to stare after him.

  Chapter Eleven

  Tom didn’t get home that night until almost midnight. He was so tired he wanted nothing more than to fall into bed, pull the covers over his head and sleep right through his alarm the next morning. But he hadn’t eaten all day, so he fixed a quick bite and then took a long shower, propping his hands against the tile wall and bowing his head so the hot water could pummel his neck and shoulders. Then he stretched out on top of the covers and stared at the ceiling while time ticked away and the quiet of the house deepened.

  It had now been forty
-eight hours since Rae had first called in to the station about Sophie’s disappearance. The hope that she had taken off on her own volition dwindled by the minute. Still, the possibility couldn’t be discounted. She had a history of running away and, according to her closest friends, had talked about it incessantly. She fit the profile. Problems at home. Craved attention from her dad and hated her stepmother. Wouldn’t be the first time a teenager had hidden out for a few days to teach her parents a lesson. But Tom didn’t buy it. He couldn’t imagine that Sophie would have intentionally left her cell phone behind at the Ruins. And what about those drops of blood that had yet to be identified? Too many people had motives. Too many people had secrets.

  Tom had his problems with the Cavanaughs, but his heart went out to that family, especially to Rae. He knew what she was going through right now. How the guilt and worry would eat at her. The torment of her own thoughts would keep her tossing and turning all night. What was it she’d told him yesterday? The waiting wears on you. All the terrible things that go through your head. Your mind never shuts down. You can’t sleep. You can’t eat.

  He pictured her pacing the floor and staring out the window. Pictured the shimmer of fear in her eyes and the soft tremor of her lips. The image made him wince. Rae Cavanaugh was the last person he should be obsessing about tonight. Nothing good could come from that distraction. Too much history and bad blood stood between them.

  But he had to admit she was different from what he remembered. She could still be touchy and standoffish at times and he had no doubt she could still carry a grudge. He only had to bring up her sister-in-law’s name to glimpse Rae’s belligerent side. But she could also be compassionate and understanding. She’d done a lot of growing up since their high school years. Tom liked to think that he had, too. They were not unalike in a lot of respects. She worried about her family just like he did.

  His sister would be thirty in another few months and Tom still felt the need to boss her around. Not that she would let him. He’d given up persuading her to move back into town. He figured she had something to prove to herself and to the monsters that chased her by living out there on the lake. He admired her courage and determination, but that didn’t stop him from fretting, especially now when another girl had gone missing. What if Silas Creed really had come back? Or worse, what if a predator had roamed the streets of Belle Pointe for the past fifteen years, hiding his true nature as he mingled with his neighbors?