Part 28 - Chapter 1 - The Morning After

"Are you coming? We're going to be late," Andrew called to Amanda as they were going out the front door on their way to work.

"I'm coming. I'm coming," Amanda grumbled as she gave her hair one last pat. She frowned at herself in the mirror. She had really liked the style at first, now it just reminded her of the trip to the stylist and how it had gone wrong.

"I should have known better," she said, more to herself than Andrew as she met her husband at the door. "I always knew there was something suspicious about her. I can't believe I fell for her trick."

"I still don't believe it," Andrew said. "I don't believe Vanessa would have run off and left you stuck there with the bill and no way to get home. That's not like her. Are you sure . . ."

"Yes, I'm sure," Amanda snapped before he could finish his thought. They'd already gone over this the night before. "I was there, remember? I had to call you to pick me up and bring the money to pay the spa. What other explanation could there be?"

"I don't know." Andrew sighed as he stepped out the door. "And I don't have time to come up with one now. We're going to be late."

As Andrew and Amanda walked outside, they noticed a car pull into the driveway.

"Alma, what are you doing here?" Amanda asked, surprised to see her sister here at this time of day. "We were just about to leave."

"I know. I was hoping I'd catch you before you left. Have you seen Vanessa?"

"I wish! Do you know what that woman did? She invited me out for a spa treatment, spent the whole day with me, pretending she wanted to have a better relationship, then she took off without me. She didn't say one word, she just ran off, leaving me stranded and with a huge bill to pay. If I knew where she was now, I'd give her a piece of my mind . . ."

"Oh," Alma said. Her face darkened with concern. "Vanessa didn't come home last night. She hasn't called. I called her apartment and there was no answer and I checked with her agent and she's not on the job either. I was hoping she'd said something to you."

"No," Amanda simply answered, but she was suddenly filled with dread and had a sickly feeling in her stomach.

"When did you see her last? What happened yesterday?"

Amanda spoke slowly, frantically trying to think back in as much detail as possible. "She just went out to the car to get something and when she didn't come back after a few minutes, I went out to check on her and I saw her car peeling out of the driveway."

"Did you see Vanessa driving?" Andrew asked.

"I thought she was . . . but now that I think about it, I didn't really see who was driving, no."

"I think we need to go to the police."

Lucy closed her eyes, still feeling Justin's body against hers, the warmth of his skin, his breath on her neck, and his lips against hers. She could see his face so close to hers as if he was still there in front of her. She could picture his expression, his eyes half-closed as he leaned in to kiss her again.

She kept replaying the night before in her mind, not wanting it to slip away from her. She knew she should feel guilty about what had happened. It was still cheating on her husband, even if he had abandoned her, but she didn't feel remorseful about it at all. Everything about it had just seemed right.

Lucy was startled from her daydream by the sound of the front door opening. She was about to stand up and see who was there when she saw Craig through the doorway. Momentarily stunned, she didn't move and instead lowered her weight onto the sofa.

"Hey babe, I'm home."

Part 28 - Chapter 2 - The Morning After

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.

Part 28 - Chapter 3 - The Morning After

"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.

Part 28 - Chapter 4 - The Morning After

Reese moved slowly through the house, trying to focus on the mundane tasks of everyday life, like doing laundry, tidying the house. She tried to pretend that these were just everyday chores, not her way of putting her house and her life back to the way it was before Blaine moved in.

When she opened a dresser drawer and found one of his socks left behind, she paused a moment, reminded of what her task was really about. Torn about what to do with the item left behind, she finally pushed it to the back of the drawer, before putting the other clothes on top of it and closing the drawer again. It seemed better to leave it for now, forget that it was there, than try to figure out what to do with it.

When she heard a knock on the door, Reese jumped. Immediately she thought it must be Blaine. Maybe he'd had a change of heart and had come back to talk, or maybe he had just come back for his lost sock.

"Mrs. Smith, hello."

"Reese, dear, you're an adult now, you can call me Annie."

"I'm sorry. You tell me that every time I see you."

"Old habits, I understand." Annie looked around her as she followed Reese into the house. "You have a lovely home, Reese."

"Thank you. It's a little small, but it's enough for . . . just me." Reese swallowed as she finished the sentence. She had spoken almost without thinking. It was just her again.

"We always knew you'd do well," Annie said as she nodded her approval. When Reese didn't answer, she changed the subject, "You must be surprised to see me."

"Yes, I am actually. Not that you aren't welcome. I am surprised and . . . a little distracted at the moment."

"I'm sorry if I came at a bad time," Annie apologized quickly before her tone turned more serious. "But there's something we need to talk about."

Cassie walked briskly down the street, enjoying the warm afternoon. She'd woken up feeling in better spirits than she had for a long time. Even the news about Vanessa, as upsetting as it was, didn't completely spoil her good mood. She wasn't sure why she felt the way she did. She just knew she felt like getting dressed up and getting out of the house for awhile.

When she turned the corner and saw Blaine standing at the end of the sidewalk looking out over the water, her heart skipped a beat. Trying to stay cool, she walked over to say hello.

"Hi, Blaine. Funny running into you here."

"Yeah . . ." he said slowly. "Honestly, I'm not sure why I decided to come here." He looked up squinting at the upper story of the building beside him. "The last time I was here was when Reese and I were looking for Mrs. May's heir and we got locked in the office. For awhile I wasn't sure if we'd ever get out of there . . . I was just thinking about how much we've been through."

Cassie cleared her throat. "I'm not sure why I came here today either. I haven't been to the Boardwalk since my father disappeared. Maybe it's because Vanessa's been on my mind today."

The pair fell into an extended silence as Blaine turned back towards the bay and Cassie tried to think of what to say.

"So where is Reese anyway? Did you propose to her yet?" she asked nervously.

"No, I never got around to it . . . we broke up."

Cassie fought to keep her expression from giving away her true feelings and tried to be sympathetic. "Why? What happened?"

Blaine sighed. "Well, we discovered we didn't really want the same things in life."

"I'm sorry . . . Are you ok? If you want to talk about it, I have plenty of time."

"Really? If you don't mind, I might take you up on that. I could use someone to talk to right now."

Part 28 - Chapter 5 - The Morning After

Logan unlocked the apartment door and stepped into Vanessa's uninhabited apartment. He took a moment to assess his surroundings. The apartment was small, but nicely arranged so that it didn't seem crowded or cluttered. The furnishings were simple, yet stylish and warm. He wondered how much the apartment reflected the woman who lived here and again he felt terrible for not doing more for her when he had the chance.

Trying to clear his mind of speculation and focus on just the facts, he returned to the task that had brought him here, searching for a lead to who might be responsible for Vanessa's disappearance.

Logan crossed over to the desk and started sifting through the stack of letters and notes left on the desk top. The flashing light of the answering machine caught the corner of his eye, so he hit play and listened as he continued to look through the papers on Vanessa's desk.

At first he was finding nothing unusual. The letters were mostly bills and credit card offers, the phone messages standard and too brief to gather much information from. He was about to move away and search through the rest of the apartment for clues, when something on the answering machine caught his ear. He moved back to the machine and pressed a button to replay the message, this time, listening more carefully.

Something about the way the caller spoke, maybe it was the turn of a phrase, reminded Logan of the creepy notes Vanessa had received. He quickly jotted down the caller's name and searched through Vanessa's desk for an address book.

Reese offered Annie a seat. As she waited for her to speak, Reese wondered nervously what she had come here so gravely to talk to her about.

Annie took a deep breath. When she finally spoke she went directly to the point. "This isn't an easy subject for me to bring up, but I feel like it's one that cannot be ignored. As I was going through my file cabinet, I noticed that your file and only your file was missing. I hate to make assumptions, but the more I thought about it, I realized there was only one conclusion that I could come to . . . Do you know what happened to the file?"

Reese squirmed in her seat, feeling like a scolded child. She hesitated before answering, but found herself unable to lie. "Yes. I have it. I took it from your office. I still have it and I'll give right back to you if you want it."

Annie shook her head. "No, I'm not worried about getting it back. I was more worried about you seeing what was inside of it. How much do you know?"

"Everything," Reese said quietly. "Blaine and I looked up Elyse Hudson and we made her tell me the whole story about my parents and my birth. I know everything."

Annie sighed heavily. "I hoped it wouldn't come to this. Reese, I wanted to protect you from your past, but I suppose I should have known I couldn't keep you from it forever. How do you feel now that you know the truth? How have you handled it? Are you ok?"

Reese frowned thoughtfully and shrugged slightly. "I think I'm doing ok. The truth was so much worse than I'd ever imagined, but I'm glad I know. At least now, I can stop asking myself so many questions about my past and I can quit wondering. I've been trying to put it all behind me and not think about it at all."

"I'm sorry. I think it is better that you do try to put it behind you. I've seen many terrible situations like yours in my work, and it never gets easier. I really feel for the children who have to live with their pasts. I'd hoped to at least shelter you from yours."

"I wanted to know. It was my choice."

"I know. I'm glad you seem to be taking it well. I want you to know, if you ever need anything at all, I'm always here for you. You aren't alone, dear."

Reese sighed. She felt alone. Her entire life she had felt alone, except when she was with Blaine. Since they'd first met he had always been there for her. She wasn't sure how she would have gotten through everything without him. She didn't realize how hard it would be to go on without him now.

"It sounds like maybe she just wasn't the one for you," Cassie said carefully as she and Blaine stopped in front of her house. They had spent the entire walk home talking about relationships and what had happened between him and Reese.

"Yeah, I guess not, but I was so sure she was. She was smart and sweet and just a really great girl. I thought we had this great connection from the start, but I guess not. We couldn't have, if we don't even want the same things in life, could we?"

"I wouldn't think so. It's important to want the same things, but if someone is truly the one for you it wouldn't matter. I know I would be willing to do anything for my soulmate. If I had a great guy, I wouldn't let him go. Not just because I wasn't willing to compromise."

Blaine and Cassandra's conversation was interrupted by a shout coming from inside the house.

"What was that?" Blaine asked, looking up.

"Mother," Cassie answered as she hurried towards the door.

When Blaine and Cassandra entered the living room, they found Serena standing in the middle of the room, her face twisted in pain, she pressed her hands against the sides of her head.

"Mother, what's wrong?"

"Make it stop. Make it stop," Serena cried out before collapsing to the floor.

Part 28 - Chapter 6 - The Morning After

Eileen hummed to herself happily as she stirred the bowl of sauce she was preparing, careful not to spill any on her brand new dress. She was so excited about tonight. She couldn't wait for Lawrence to come over after work, so they could have a quiet dinner together, just the two of them. She had never cooked a romantic meal for someone before. It felt so grown up and sophisticated.

When the phone rang, Eileen went into the hall to grab the receiver.

"Hello?" She answered the phone as she hurried back into the kitchen.

"Eileen?" Lawrence answered. Before he could say anything else, Eileen could tell by the tone of his voice that he had bad news. "I just wanted to let you know that things are getting a little backed up here at work. I'm going to be even later than I thought, if I can make it at all tonight."

Eileen bit her lip as she looked at the half prepared meal in front of her. Mentally calculating how long it would take to get ready, she asked, "How late do you think it will be?"

"Pretty late. Maybe we should just call it off for tonight and reschedule for another time."

"Ok, if you say so," Eileen sighed. She hated to complain about how much trouble she had gone to when complaining wouldn't change anything, but she couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice.

"If there was anything I could do to get away, I would," Lawrence promised.

"I understand. Thanks for letting me know." Eileen hung up the phone and looked at the ingredients around her. All of her work wasted . . . or was it? Eileen smiled to herself. She had an idea.

"There you go, baby," Lucy cooed as she tucked Stuart into his crib and kissed him on the forehead. "Nighty night. Sweet dreams, sweetheart."

As she backed away from the crib and turned around, she was startled to see Craig standing behind her.

"Oh! Don't sneak up on me like that," she whispered.

"I didn't want to disturb the baby," Craig said as he stepped forward to say goodnight to his son. When Lucy started to leave the nursery, he whispered to her, "Wait a minute. I want to talk with you."

Lucy waited for Craig to finish saying goodnight to Stuart before following him out of the room. She quietly closed the door behind them once they were in the hallway.

"I thought that Jordan guy was quitting Pheasant Run," Craig said sternly.

"He is, eventually. We're in the process of looking for a replacement. That's why he came over today. It takes time to find the right person."

"I guess it does."

"It would take even longer without Justin's help. I owe him a lot for the work he's done. I don't know what I would do without him."

Craig cringed when Lucy called Justin by his first name. "I bet you don't. Lucy, you used to say that about me. I guess you don't feel that way about me anymore."

"Craig, you're never here. I have to get along without you."

"How many times do we have to go through this? I've tried to get you to come with me, but you come up with one excuse after another. What do you want me to do, quit my job, give up my lifelong dream? Is that what it's going to take to make you happy? Is that what you want me to do?"

Lucy threw up her hands in disgust. "You know, Craig, I don't care what you do anymore. Do whatever you want. That's what you always do anyway."

Cassandra glanced nervously towards the hallway as she and Blaine sat in the hospital waiting room.

"She's been in there a long time, don't you think? Shouldn't we have heard something by now?"

"Doctors are slow and maybe they want to be thorough. I'm sure they'll let you know as soon as they've found out anything."

"I hope so." Cassie took a deep breath and tried to calm her nerves. "They probably won't find out anything. I doubt there's anything they can do."

"Why do you say that?" Blaine asked. Even as he and Cassandra drove Serena to the emergency room, she too was insisting that there was nothing wrong with her. "What do you think happened?"

"Hey!" Cassie and Blaine's conversation was interrupted as Zara hurried towards them. "I came as soon as I got your message. What happened?"

"Mother had another . . . episode. She passed out for a few seconds and when she woke up she felt so nauseous and weak, we thought she should be checked out. We're still waiting for news."

"Oh no."

"This has happened to her before?" Blaine asked.

"Sort of," Zara answered. "She kind of has these, like panic attacks once in awhile."

"It's never been this severe though," Cassandra added. "I hope she's alright."

"Miss Barrett?" the doctor asked.

"Yes, that's me," Cassie answered quickly. "How's our mother?"

"They're still waiting on a few test results, but so far everything is checking out fine." The girls barely had a moment to breathe a sigh of relief before the doctor continued. "There is something I am concerned about though. My name is Dr. Pons and I've taken over Dr. Townsend's cases while she's away. After discussing your mother's history with Dr. Townsend and after hearing some of the things your mother has said today. I strongly recommend that she be reevaluated. I feel she may need to be recommitted."

"What? No. No way," Cassie stated emphatically. "We just got our mother back after being separated from her for years. She's been living with me the entire time and I know she's perfectly fine. She never belonged in a mental institution in the first place."

"I don't want to jump to any decisions hastily. This is something that needs to be looked into carefully," Dr. Pons said calmly. "But I feel that the possibility does need to be looked into and considered."

"Thank you, doctor. We'll do that," Zara replied.

Cassie turned to her sister in shock. "You can't be serious."

"Maybe it's for the best, Cass."

Eileen smiled as she drove down the street, turning the corner towards downtown for the second time that day. She glanced over at the picnic basket next to her to make sure it hadn't been upset during the drive. The last thing she needed was for her special dinner to be spilt all over the car before it got to Lawrence. It wouldn't be the same as dining at home, but it could still be a special evening. If Lawrence couldn't come to her, she would go to him. He couldn't be so swamped that he couldn't take at least a short break to eat.

As Eileen pulled up to the office building, she was surprised to see that the building was dark and the parking lot empty. Slowly she got out of the car and walked up to the front door. Her heart sank as she tried to open the lock door and saw no signs of life through the windows. If Lawrence wasn't working late, where was he.

Part 28 - Chapter 7 - The Morning After

"Eileen, where have you been?" Lawrence asked as he walked away from the Townsend's front door.

"I was about to ask you that," she replied quickly. She had felt sick with worry on the drive home, alternating between wanting to cry her eyes out and wanting to give Lawrence a piece of her mind. "I thought you were working late, so I went to the office to surprise you, but no one was there. What happened?"

"I finished work a little earlier than I expected, so I decided to come over."

"How did we miss each other?"

"I stopped off on the way here. I wanted to get you something to say I'm sorry for being late." He extended his hand forward revealing a long stemmed rose that he had been hiding behind his back.

"Oh, that's so sweet," Eileen said. On the verge of tears, she could barely find the words to speak.

"Is something wrong?"

"I- When I went to the office and you weren't there, I just didn't know what to think. All I could come up with is that you didn't really want to see me and you were using work as an excuse."

"Eileen, I could never do that to you," Lawrence said, his eyes conveying his sincerity and the hurt that she would come to that conclusion. "I always want to be with you. Always."

Eileen threw her arms around Lawrence's waist and with tears in her eyes held him close. "So do I."

It was past quitting time and Logan was about to leave the investigation to the night shift until morning, but before he could call it a day and go home, he had one more stop to make.

Calls to the McAllistar's residence had gone unanswered all day, but as he drove by the house, he saw the lights were on. Someone must be home now, so he decided to stop by.

Logan knocked on the door three or four times, before he heard noises from within and the front door finally opened.

"Mrs. McAllistar? May I come in?"

Evelyn hesitantly stepped aside and let Logan into the foyer. "Is there something I can do for you, officer?"

"Yes, ma'am. Our department has been trying to get in touch with you or your husband all day. Your daughter, Vanessa Summers, was reported missing this morning by the family members she was staying with. We were wondering if you've heard anything from your daughter."

"No, I'm afraid I haven't. My daughter and I don't keep in touch. We haven't been close for several years."

"Do you have any idea where she might have gone or anyone she might have gone to, if she left on her own accord?"

"No." Evelyn seemed hesitant as she answered and Logan could sense a hint of anxiety beneath her icy cool exterior.

"Do you know something you aren't telling me, Mrs. McAllistar? If you do, I need to know. Vanessa's life could depend on it."

"Yes," she reluctantly admitted. "Excuse me a moment."

Evelyn left the room. When she returned a few seconds later, she handed an envelope to Logan.

"My husband and I found this outside our front door this morning. We were told not to contact the police We had hoped it was a fake, but since you're here . . ." As Logan unfolded the letter, Evelyn continued to explain. "Our daughter has been kidnaped. Her captor wants us to pay a $500,000 ransom."