Eileen turned up the radio as she drove away from the airport after seeing her father and Veronica off on their trip. She was excited for them to finally be able to go away on their dream vacation, but she was even more excited for herself. It was the first time in a long time she had the house to herself and the first time she would have it to herself for such a long period of time.
Already, she was making plans for her vacation from her parents. She couldn't wait to get home and take advantage of the freedom and privacy of the empty house, but first she had a few stops to make. She had big plans for tonight that she needed to get ready for.
"Amanda and her sister are at the police station right now," Andrew said as he finished explaining the situation to Lawrence. "I don't know how long she'll be there or when there will be any news."
Lawrence frowned as Andrew spoke, but put his concern for Vanessa aside to focus on business. "I'll call the temp agency and see if they can send someone over to fill in for Amanda today, in case she doesn't make it in."
"Thanks. That means a lot to us. I don't know how Amanda's taking it. She and Vanessa were just together last night and when Vanessa disappeared, she was convinced that she just took off and left her. I'd hate to think how she might take it if something really bad had happened to her."
"Let's hope nothing has . . . Tell Amanda not to worry about missing work today. We'll find someone to fill in for her."
"Actually, I was hoping I could get away for awhile too, to check up on her, find out what's going on."
Lawrence nodded as he picked up the phone. "Let me know as soon as there's any news."
"I will. Thanks, Lawrence," Andrew said as he left the office.
As Lawrence called the temp agency and tried to figure out how to juggle the workload to make up for both of the Martins' absences that day, he heard a voice at the door.
"Hi. I'm not interrupting anything too important, am I?" Eileen asked, as she peeked her head into the office.
"No, come in," Lawrence greeted her warmly. "What are you doing here?"
"I just dropped Dad and Veronica off at the airport and thought I'd stop by on my way home to see if you have any plans for tonight."
"No, none at all. What are you thinking?"
"I was thinking," Eileen said slowly. "since I have the house to myself you could come over this evening and I could make dinner for us."
"That sounds great, but I have to warn you, I might be a little late getting out of here tonight. We're going to be short handed again today with Amanda and Andrew gone."
"Late isn't a problem, as long as you don't stand me up," Eileen said, stepping closer to put her arms around his shoulders.
"I couldn't do that. Not to you."
"You'd better not," Eileen said. After they kissed, Eileen stepped back and headed towards the door. "I'll get out of your hair and let you get back to work so you can get things done. I'll see you tonight."
"I'm looking forward to it."
"I wouldn't have been worried at all, except Vanessa was only staying with us because her house had already been broken into and she'd received threatening notes," Alma explained, as the police officer wrote down the information Alma and Amanda had given him for the missing persons report. "I don't think she just took off without saying anything."
"Did she report this break in and the letters?"
"Of course."
"Let me look up her file," the officer said. As he started to walk away, he noticed Logan walking by. "Varner, do you know who's working on Vanessa Summer's case?"
"I have been. Why?"
"Her sisters here just came in to report her missing."
Logan's expression darkened and his voice was suddenly filled with concern. "Come into my office and tell me exactly what happened."
As Amanda recalled the events of the day before and Alma recounted how she had discovered Vanessa was missing, Logan nodded and took notes. His mind was fast at work, searching for some sort of connection.
"Is there anywhere else she might have gone? Any other relatives or friends she might have gone to that you haven't checked with?"
Alma looked at each other and shrugged, before Alma answered. "I don't know . . . There are her adoptive parents, the McAllistars, but she isn't very close to them. She's mentioned her stepdaughters from her previous marriage."
"What about her ex-husband?"
"He left town and she hasn't had contact with him since. They were never legally married anyway."
"Thank you, ladies. I think that's all I need from you right now, but I'll be in touch."
"In touch? We aren't going to hear anything are we?" Amanda asked. "Are you even going to do anything besides shuffle paperwork around?"
Logan was startled a moment. Her attitude reminded him so much of when Vanessa was in his office, demanding help on her stalker case. He felt a sharp pang of guilt for being so distracted when she was here in his office. He wished he hadn't dismissed her so easily now. He felt terrible that he hadn't done more for her when he had the chance.
"I promise I will let you know as soon as I find out anything. To start, I'm going to look through Vanessa's file and see if there are any leads there. Meanwhile I'll send a few officers out to talk to Vanessa's other relatives and see if they know anything. Hopefully we'll find something to go on from there. If not, we'll keep searching. I promise you I will do everything I can to find her. I won't let you or Vanessa down." He made eye contact with Alma and Amanda as he spoke, hoping they understood this was a promise he intended to keep.
No comments:
Post a Comment