rate. I don’t have their resources so I may not find out anything at all.”
“I realize that,” Alan said. “I’m just happy someone’s trying.”
There was an awkward moment, then Logan said, “I’m here because I was hoping I could borrow the letter Sara left for you.”
Alan looked surprised. “Why do you want that?”
“I just want to make a copy of it. I’ll bring it back to you in the morning.”
“Okay,” Alan said, drawing the word out. “I still don’t understand why, though.”
“It’s the only good sample of her handwriting that you have. I may not need it at all, but in case I do…”
Alan nodded. “Of course. Wait here and I’ll get it.”
He returned a little while later with the letter. Logan held out his hand to take it, but Alan hesitated.
“Please,” he said, finally giving Logan the note. “Don’t let anything happen to it. It’s…the last thing, you know?”
“I understand,” Logan said. “Thank you.” He took a step toward the door.
“What are you going to do now?” Alan asked.
“Check a few things Callie’s PI was working on.”
“And if that doesn’t work?”
“I’ll figure that out then.”
Logan walked through the entry and opened the door.
“If you need me for anything, anything at all, just call,” Alan said.
“I will.”
“I don’t mean just questions. If Sara’s in trouble, I want to help.”
“Let’s find out what’s going on first. I promise-if there’s something you can do to help, I’ll let you know.”
The answer didn’t seem to completely satisfy Alan, but he nodded as if he knew it was the best he would get.
Logan wished there was something more encouraging he could say, but he wasn’t going to lie. So instead, he nodded a good-bye then stepped outside with the note.
CHAPTER NINE
Chris “pep” Pepper dove into the search for the runaway mom with focused determination. Dev had warned him that things might not be as they appeared, so he should avoid any preconceived notions.
While Pep understood what Dev was trying to say, there was no way his own past couldn’t help but influence his feelings. His childhood was fine enough, his mother distant but physically there. It was his brother Marko’s kids that he couldn’t keep out of his mind.
Pep’s sister-in-law, Ann, had not run off unexpectedly. She’d been killed while crossing a street to get change for a parking meter. Just like that, Marko’s kids lost their mother. Pep had seen how her absence affected them. Marko had tried to do the best he could, but his kids would always be living with that absence.
Pep knew Ann would have given anything to stay with her children, but that wasn’t a choice she’d been given. Sara Lindley, on the other hand,
He arrived in Braden at around eight thirty p.m., and spent the first two hours going around to restaurants and motels showing the picture Logan Harper had sent him. It was obvious the image of the woman had been cropped from a larger photo and enlarged to focus on her. She was a bit fuzzy and not fully facing the camera, but it was enough to get a pretty good idea of what she looked like. Unfortunately, no one had recognized her so far.
As the night grew late, he switched his focus to the several bars scattered around town.
“What’re you drinking?” the bartender asked. It was the third bar Pep visited.
“Just want to show you something, if you don’t mind,” Pep said.
He already had his phone in his hand, so he brought up the picture and turned it so the bartender-an old, leather-skinned guy who looked like he’d been birthed from the desert itself-could see it.
“Ever see her before?”
The man looked at the screen, shrugged, and said, “I have no idea. People come in and out of here all the time.”
Pep would have missed it if he hadn’t been looking at the man’s face when he glanced at the picture. For a brief second, the man’s eyes widened. He
“You sure?” Pep asked.
The man stepped back from the bar. “Yeah. I’m sure.”
Pep frowned and shook his head. “You’re lying.”
“Hey, buddy. I don’t like being called a liar.”
“Then tell me the truth when you answer the question. Have you seen her before?”
The bartender shrugged noncommittally.
So that’s how the guy wanted to play it. Pep pulled a twenty-dollar bill out of his pocket and set it on the bar. “Tell me,” he said, his fingers securing the bill in place.
The guy looked at Pep, then at the twenty, and smiled. “I don’t know. She looks like someone who came in here a couple times.”
“Looks like, or is?”
Another shrug, but one that seemed to indicate the latter more than the former.
Pep picked up the twenty and folded it as if he were going to put it back in his pocket.
“Hey, what are you doing?” the bartender asked.
“I don’t pay for guessing games.”
“A twenty’s not that much.”
Now it was Pep’s turn to shrug. He stepped toward the door.
“Wait a minute,” the bartender said.
Pep paused.
“Yeah. I’ve seen her.”
Walking back to the bar, Pep asked, “When?”
“A year or two ago. Came in a couple times.”
That was not the answer Pep had been expecting. “A year or two? Why would you remember someone who came in here a couple times that long ago?”
“She, um, came in with someone I know.”
“Someone here in Braden?”
“Maybe.”
Pep took a step back like he was going to leave again.
“Okay, yes. Your friend there came in with a woman named Diana Stockley.”
“And who is she?”
“Works at The Hideaway. It’s another bar. She should be there if she’s working tonight.” He held out this hand. “So can I get my twenty now?”
There was a woman behind the bar at The Hideaway when Pep walked in. From the other bartender’s description, she had to be Diana Stockley.
The Hideaway was packed, so the woman was kept busy, running around and making drinks. Pep took a seat at the bar. Over a twenty-minute period, he started up a conversation with her without ever letting on he knew her name or of her potential connection to Sara. Finally he showed her the picture, but unlike with the old man, there wasn’t even a hint that she’d ever seen Sara. So had the other guy been pulling a fast one just to get the money out of him? Or was this woman the one who was lying?
