“May I ask how much the grandmother left her?”
“Ellie doesn’t talk about it. But I’ve seen her bank statements on the counter. She’s worth close to a million dollars.”
“I have to ask you this, Ms. Todd. You say Ellie is faithful. But is there any chance she hooked up with Damian Ramos? Maybe Ellie likes guys more than she lets on.”
Lizzie’s eyes swiveled to the window. She lost herself in thought before she shook her head.
“I’d know if Ellie cheated on me. And you can’t fake what we have. Ellie and I connect.”
Chelsey nodded.
“Can you recall a man calling the apartment recently?”
“We don’t have a land line, only our cells.”
“Would you allow me to search through Ellie’s belongings?”
“Is that necessary?”
“Just in case she left something behind that will tell us where she vanished to.”
Lizzie mulled over her decision.
“I guess that’s okay.”
The bedroom barely contained the queen-size bed and dresser. The bedroom opened to a bathroom, and Chelsey checked there first. Lizzie leaned in the doorway while Chelsey opened the cabinets. No unusual medications.
“What is it you’re looking for?”
Without answering, Chelsey sifted through the bedroom, pulling open the dresser drawers. Folded skirts and tees, nothing hidden and tucked beneath the clothes. She could feel Lizzie’s impatience building before the buzzer sounded. Lizzie threw her hands up.
“I need to get that. Are you almost finished?”
“One more minute, and I’ll get out of your way.”
Lizzie hesitated in the doorway as Chelsey ducked her head beneath the bed. A lost sock and spare change. Nothing else. Lizzie’s voice carried from the kitchen.
“Who is it?”
“Deputy Shepherd with the Nightshade County Sheriff’s Department.”
Chelsey leaped to her feet. Thomas was the last person she expected to run into. But it made sense Sheriff Gray sent a former LAPD detective to investigate Ellie Fisher’s disappearance.
She caught her reflection in the mirror and scowled. Her hair stuck out in multiple directions, tossed about by the relentless lake breeze. She pulled it back and retrieved a headband from her bag. There. She wasn’t hideous anymore.
As Chelsey turned out of the bedroom, Lizzie said, “Wait. You look different now. Did you do something to your hair?”
“I need to get back to the office. If you hear from Ellie, call me.”
“Okay.” Chelsey rushed to the door. Lizzie grabbed her arm. Her eyes glistened, and her lips quivered with sudden terror. “Ms. Byrd, please tell me Ellie is alive. The sheriff’s department is involved, so it must be serious.”
“I’ll do everything I can to find her and bring her home.”
Thomas’s footsteps echoed as he climbed the stairs.
“If anything happened to Ellie…” Lizzie’s stoic facade shattered before Chelsey. She’d blocked her fears for too long, and the dam burst. “I’ll help any way I can.”
“We’ll find Ellie. I promise.” Chelsey opened the door and checked the stairwell. The deputy’s shadow crept up the stairs. “Is there another way out of here?”
“There’s a second set of stairs through that door,” she said, pointing toward a closed door at the opposite end of the hall. “But it leads to the back parking lot.”
“That’s fine. I’ll contact you as soon as I hear anything.”
When the door closed, Chelsey bolted for the exit.
“Chelsey?”
Too late.
She swiveled on her heels. Thomas stopped beside apartment seven, his aqua-colored eyes childlike and inquisitive.
“Hey, Thomas.”
“Why are you…did you interview Ellie Fisher’s roommate?”
“Yeah, I did.”
He straightened his shoulders.
“We can’t have a repeat of the LeVar Hopkins investigation.” During the spring, Chelsey pursued LeVar when she suspected he’d murdered Erika Windrow. “If you have information about Ellie Fisher’s disappearance, share it with me.”
“I have nothing to share yet.”
“Then why are you here?”
Chelsey adjusted her bag over her shoulder.
“Raven and I are looking into another case. A woman hired us to follow Damian Ramos.”
“Who is Damian Ramos?”
“The woman’s fiance. She suspected he was cheating on her and wanted her money.” Thomas glared at Chelsey. “The woman is wealthy, and her first husband swindled her.”
“All right, but what does this have to do with Ellie Fisher?”
“Raven caught Damian chatting up a girl at Benson’s Barbells in Kane Grove. That girl turned out to be Ellie Fisher.”
He widened his eyes.
“You’re just telling us this now?”
“I phoned your office.”
“But you didn’t mention Damian.”
Chelsey bit the corner of her mouth.
“I should go, Thomas.”
As she turned down the hallway, his words followed her to the door.
“Don’t hold back on me, Chelsey.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Thursday, July 16th
5:00 p.m.
Nothing overcame a stressful day like barbecue and good friends.
Thomas set the hamburgers and hot dogs beside the grill and watched Darren flip steaks.
“I told you I got a Porterhouse,” Darren said, setting the tongs down to shake hands with Thomas.
“It’s not a summer cookout without burgers and dogs.”
“No arguments there, Deputy.” Darren lifted his chin at Jack. The Siberian Husky pup sniffed around the picnic table and accepted pets from Naomi and Scout. “Won’t he run away without a leash?”
“Jack is family now. He knows where home is.”
“If you say so.”
Thomas met Naomi’s eyes across the table. Dressed in a black sundress with floral print, her hair tied back and showing off her natural, flawless complexion, she drew Thomas’s attention. He glanced away and feigned interest in the Porterhouse.
“I caught that,” said Darren. “There’s something between you two. Go on, man. Talk to her. I’ll handle the grilling.”
“She’s just my neighbor.”
“Right.”
Raven’s Nissan Rogue pulled in front of the cabin with Serena in the passenger seat, the mother bright-eyed and looking ten years younger than she’d appeared when Thomas found her dying in her apartment after a heroin overdose. Serena’s frail body had filled out. Her braided hair, which she wore like Raven, glowed with health. It had fallen out in clumps while she lay in the hospital bed. Darren’s eyes narrowed when LeVar climbed out of the backseat. Thomas clamped his mouth shut. Until Darren gave LeVar a chance, he’d never trust the
