"Hey babe, I'm home."
The nonchalant way with which he greeted her made something in Lucy snap. She jumped up from her seat to meet him across the room.
"You're home? Now you're home?"
"Yes. Now," he replied coolly.
"That's great. You're here now . . . Where were you when I needed you? Why weren't you here? Why couldn't you have stayed, at least for the trial? I needed you and you just up and left in the middle of the night without saying a word to me."
"I had to get back to my work."
"Your work? You're a musician, Craig. It's not like you're a doctor or a firefighter or a policeman. It's not as if anyone's life was in danger."
"I'm sorry my work isn't important enough for you. Do you have any respect for what I do? We all can't be doctors or lawyers or businessmen."
"Don't turn this around and change the subject. You left when I needed you most. I had to sit through the trial of my father's murder alone with no one to lean on and I'm not sure if I can forgive that."
"No one to lean on?" Craig asked skeptically.
"Yes. What does that comment mean?"
Before Craig could respond, the front doorbell rang. Lucy and Craig stood staring at each other a moment antagonistically, before Lucy shook her head and went to answer the door.
"Mrs.- Lucy," Justin corrected himself quietly as Lucy opened the front door. "I'm sorry I didn't call, but I had to come see you. I think we need to talk about . . ." He hesitated. Noticing Lucy's strange expression, he changed his line of thought. "Did I come at a bad time?"
"Yes, actually. I-" Lucy stopped when she saw Justin look up and behind her. She turned to see Craig standing behind her, staring at her with his arms crossed as if he expected an explanation. She glanced back at Justin quickly, just long enough to see the hurt and confusion in his eyes, before she turned away. She had never felt so caught in the middle.
"Varner, here," Logan answered the phone.
"We talked to Vanessa Summer's stepdaughters and they haven't heard from her. There was no answer at the McAllistars when we tried there."
"We'll try back later. Thanks."
Logan hung up the phone and started pouring through his paperwork again. He was convinced that Vanessa's disappearance had to be linked to the person who broke into her apartment and was sending her the suspicious letters. If he had only paid more attention to them in the first place . . . but he tried to shake those kinds of thoughts from his mind. Regrets would do no good now. He had to make up for lost time. There had to be a clue somewhere in these letters.
"God, I hope they find her," Amanda said as she and Alma sat in the police station waiting for news. "I hope she's ok. If she's not, I don't think I could forgive myself." Amanda paused, wrapped up in her own thoughts. She didn't even notice that Alma hadn't commented. "I never thought anything bad had happened to her, I just thought she left. Why did I think that? Why did I automatically jump to that conclusion? They say it's easiest to find someone if the search starts right away. If they don't find her because I didn't say anything . . . I'll just feel horrible."
"Well, you should."
"What?"
"You've acted horribly towards Vanessa from the beginning."
"Well, I was shocked that we had a half-sister. I needed awhile to adjust."
"That's not it and you know it. You were ok with having a half-sister until you found out who she was. It's just that you can't take it when things don't go the way you want. You've never been able to handle it. You've always been a spoiled brat, Amanda, and it's time you finally grew up."
Amanda started at her sister, speechless. Too stunned to defend herself, she turned away.
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