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Glancing around the crowded room full of people she should recognize but didn’t, Zoe shook her head. “Thank you, but that’s not necessary. You’ve got plenty to occupy you here. I’ll handle this on my own.”
Cristine dipped her chin, swallowing hard. “But you are signing up to help search, right?”
“Of course.” Zoe forced a smile and gestured to the line at the sign-up table. “Judging from the size of this turnout, you should have a ton of people show up tomorrow to assist.”
Cristine bit her lip. “About that. Will you help me organize it?” she blurted. “I want Shayna found, and no one else besides you and Mrs. Bell is taking her disappearance seriously.”
Surprised, Zoe considered. What Cristine said made sense. Still, until she got a better feel for things, Zoe preferred to go it on her own. “I don’t know,” she finally said. “It looks to me like you have everything pretty much under control.”
Then, before Cristine could say anything else, Zoe turned and hurried away.
Rushing outside, she nearly ran into Brock. Immediately, she felt a tingle of excitement low in her belly, which she ignored.
“Leaving already?” he asked, blocking her way and making no effort to move.
She tried to catch her breath, nodded and kept her expression impassive. It wouldn’t be a good thing if Brock learned how her body still reacted to him. “I thought I’d head over to the police station and see if I can light a fire under them.”
“Good idea.” He fell into step beside her. “It’s a short walk. Do you mind if I go with you?”
Would wonders never cease? Suddenly everyone wanted to go with her to the police department. First Cristine, and now Brock. She had to wonder if ulterior motives might be involved.
Glancing at Brock, his ruggedly handsome profile strong and rigid, his massive shoulders stretching the cotton of his button-down shirt, Zoe again quelled her inner quivering. She tried to be objective—as if they hadn’t shared a past—and debated asking him if he knew about Shayna and the sheriff. In the end, she decided against it. She wasn’t yet positive it was the truth.
“If you want,” she answered, turning away, unable to keep looking at him, hating how badly that hurt. “Though judging how you’ve been acting since I got here, I can’t help but wonder why you’d want to go anywhere with me.”
He touched her shoulder, making her jump and face him. From his expression, he wasn’t too happy about her statement.
Tough. She’d only spoken the truth.
“Look, Zoe,” he began, his husky, Southern-accented voice both familiar and exotic. “Though I’m of the opinion Shayna took off with some guy for an extended vacation, I still want her found. Just because we weren’t getting along doesn’t mean I’m not worried about her.”
Interesting. Now she definitely had to wonder what he was hiding. And he was hiding something, of that she had no doubt. “I’m glad to hear you say that,” she said, deciding to test his veracity. “The way I see it, we’re going to have to put our differences aside so we can work together. Don’t you agree?”
His face revealed his surprise, and he slowly nodded. Of course, he had no idea that the look in his eyes plainly communicated the opposite. Work together? He might as well have given her a hell, no. At least that would have been truthful.
“I have to admit I could use your help sometimes,” she continued, again speaking only the truth. “I’m getting too many conflicting stories.”
He gave a heavy sigh. “I have a feeling I know what you mean.”
“Do you?” Now would be the perfect time to find out his version of the truth. “What exactly happened between you and Shayna?”
“That’s private, between me and her. None of your business.”
“It is my business if it has something to do with her disappearance. What happened, Brock?”
He took a deep breath and then shook his head. “Look, Zoe, you turned your back on me, on us and on this town. People around here might be more forgiving, or they might tell you all of this is none of your business. I don’t know why Mama Bell called you or even why you came. As far as I’m concerned, you’ve amply demonstrated you don’t give a damn about any of us.”
His words hung there, lodging in the empty space inside her heart. She shriveled a little at his tone, but then she’d known coming back wouldn’t be easy. He might not like it, but she knew she needed to probe into the relationship between her missing friend and her former fiancé. If she wanted to gain insight into what had happened to Shayna, she would have to ask difficult questions. And if Brock wanted her found, he’d have to answer them.
They started walking, side by side, close but not touching in any way. She felt unsettled, as though his body exerted some sort of gravitational pull on hers. “What do you mean, you know what I’m talking about?”
Not looking at her, he responded. “Shayna had gone wild. Cristine was her partner in crime. They were into drugs, alcohol and one-night stands. I couldn’t exactly stop her, but I could make her keep it out of my apartment. She couldn’t wait to move out.”
Again, nothing should have surprised her, but she found it hard to reconcile the Brock she’d once known putting up with the kind of behavior Cristine had ascribed to Shayna. And what had her best friend been thinking? None of this even remotely made sense.
But then again, people changed. Everyone did. Including her. Except for one thing. Who would have guessed that she’d still get that internal zing straight to the heart every time she even looked at Brock?
As they neared the building that housed the Anniversary police station, Zoe had to wonder if it wasn’t entirely possible Brock knew about Shayna and the chief and had come along to enact some sort of testosterone pissing contest.
But then again, pulling something like that off surrounded by armed officers of the law would be more than foolish—it would be downright suicidal.
She needed to calm her overactive imagination and find out what the Anniversary police department was doing to help find her friend.
And she suddenly realized this was one thing she’d be better off handling by herself. As it stood, she suspected Brock’s motives for the abrupt about-face. After all, why would he want to work together with the woman who’d basically left him at the altar? Especially if—she shot a quick sideways glance at him—Shayna had been cheating on him constantly?
“Wait.” Without thinking, she touched his arm, nearly gasping at the sizzle that ran up her fingers straight to her heart. “I think I’d rather do this alone.”
“Of course you would,” he responded, the crease between his brows revealing his displeasure. Though he didn’t move, she could see him visibly withdraw.
Fighting the odd urge to apologize, she nodded. Good. Maybe now she could breathe. After all, there was no sense in letting him get too close. He might be the man who’d made her friend disappear—and still she was attracted to him.
“Look, Zoe,” Brock said. “Whatever went wrong between us, Shayna matters now. Nothing else.”
“You’re right,” she said. “But I honestly think this is something I need to do on my own.”
“Fine.” Crossing his arms, he gave her a hard look. “Call me if you need me.”
After a second of hesitation, Zoe agreed.
Once inside, she saw several people she recognized, more proof that life in a small town remained essentially the same.
“Can I help you?” a woman asked, her voice cool. Great. Agnes Caliburton from high school. She’d been part of a gang of girls who’d tormented Zoe to no end, simply because Zoe had been pretty.
Zoe pretended not to recognize her. “Yes. I’m here to see the sheriff.” In the old days, when Renee Beauchamp had run the place, Zoe could have just walked right in. Apparently not anymore.
Agnes stared, her expression hard. “Do you have an appointment?”
Zoe met her gaze and held it. “No. But I’m sure he’ll see me. Tell him Zoe Onella is here to see him.”
Agnes didn’t move. “Regarding?”
“Shayna Bell.” Crossing her arms, Zoe waited, practically daring the woman to say anything else.
Instead, Agnes spun on her heel and headed toward the back.
Leaning on the counter, Zoe waited.
A moment later, Agnes returned, the downward twist of her mouth showing her displeasure. “Follow me,” she said, lifting a part of the counter so Zoe could go through.
A few paces behind Agnes, Zoe kept her gaze straight-ahead, well aware of the curious stares of the half-a-dozen officers milling about in the common room.
When they turned left, into a short hallway, Agnes stopped short of knocking on the closed door. “Here you go,” she said, and beat a hasty retreat, leaving Zoe unannounced.
Fine. Rapping sharply on the door, Zoe waited until the man inside spoke before turning the handle and entering.
She stopped short at her first sight of Shayna’s lover, assuming what Cristine had told her was true. Blond and deeply tanned, he had the look of a Colorado ski instructor or golf pro. His sparkling blue eyes were friendly and his smile warm. Not at all what she’d expected.
But then what had she thought? That Shayna would cheat on Brock with a man who was ugly?
“What can I do for you, Ms. Onella?” he asked, his Texas drawl completely charming.
“Please, call me Zoe,” she said automatically.
“Fine, Zoe. I’m Roger.” He held out his hand and she shook it. “Agnes tells me you’re here to talk about Shayna?”
“Yes.” She searched his face for some hint of emotion at the name. “I don’t know how else to put this, so I’m going to be blunt. I understand you and she were...intimate?”
One corner of his mouth quirked as she felt her face redden. “We were friends with benefits, if that’s what you mean. But I’m curious. Surely that’s not what you came to talk to me about?”
Despite her discomfort, she held his gaze. “Isn’t that a conflict of interest?”
“In what way? Shayna hasn’t been charged with a crime.”
“Actually, I came here to find out what your office is doing to find her.”
“Everything we can, Zoe,” he assured her, leaning back in his chair with his hands behind his head. “We have a missing persons report on file. Our hands are tied. Shayna is a grown woman who told many people she wanted to get out of town. There’s no evidence of foul play or anything suspicious—”
“Something happened to her,” Zoe interrupted. “Why can’t you just consider that a possibility?”
He took a deep breath. “She never stopped talking about the fact that you did exactly what she longed to do. Not only did you get away, but you were living what she considered a glamorous life. I think she was envious of you. I think she left to try and make it on her own away from here.”
Damn, that hurt. “Glamorous? I worked as an executive assistant. Plus, even if that was what happened, Shayna would never disappear without telling anyone where she was going.”
“And how do you know she didn’t?”
He wasn’t taking her seriously and that infuriated her. “Because she had no reason to. Everyone she knew and loved is here. On top of that, her bank accounts haven’t been touched. I’m willing to bet if you checked, you’d find the same with her credit cards.”
“First off, we can’t. Shayna has a right to privacy just like anyone else.”
“What if her parents insist? Or Brock, since they were living together?”
“Shayna would have to give permission, whether verbal or otherwise. Since she did not...” He spread his hands. “We can do nothing.”
“She would have called me,” she insisted. “There’s no way she would have left without at least letting me—or her mother—know.”
“You can’t be sure of that. Zoe, the Shayna I know is a restless, unhappy woman. She was, whether you knew it or not, insanely jealous of you and your success. She wanted to escape this town, this life.” He shrugged. “That’s one of the reasons why the relationship between us didn’t work. I left Houston to escape the big city. I love Anniversary. She’d come to despise everything about it.”
Despite herself, she recognized the validity of his statement. “You have a point,” she grudgingly admitted. “But still...”
He stood, indicating the discussion was over. “I can promise you this, Zoe,” he said. “The instant we have any reason to think differently, we’ll expend every resource to make sure Shayna is found. But as it is...”
She dipped her chin. “I understand.”
The sad thing was, she did. But on the other side, she wasn’t sure she trusted Shayna’s former lover to be in charge of searching for her.
Unfortunately, she was beginning to think the search would be pointless. All indications seemed to point to Shayna leaving town on her own, in much the same way that Zoe herself had done five years earlier.
Still, a niggling doubt remained. Mainly because no matter what Shayna might have become, Zoe knew she wouldn’t have taken off without talking to her and she’d have put on a show for Zoe, at the least, which means she cared what Zoe thought. Whether Shayna lied or not, she’d clearly needed some kind of help all along. Now she was missing. Zoe’s heart ached for her troubled friend.
So she would continue looking, no matter what. And, until she knew more, she’d hope for the best but suppose the worst.
Chapter 4
As Zoe left the police station and stepped outside into the bright sunshine, her cell phone rang. She didn’t recognize the number but answered anyway.
“Zoe, it’s Cristine.” The other woman’s words were rushed, as if she was nervous. “I need to talk to you.”
“Okay.” Zoe checked her watch. “I’m just leaving the police station. I can be back there in a few minutes.”
“Oh, not here.” Cristine coughed delicately. “It’s too crowded. I’d like someplace a little more private.”
Interesting. Zoe sensed it could be important, but still needed clarification. “Is this about Shayna?”
“Yes. I’m tied up with this until late this afternoon. We’ve already started organizing some searches, though the big one will be on Saturday, when everyone is off work. How about we meet for breakfast tomorrow morning? How about Joe’s coffee shop?”
“Joe’s is still there?” Zoe and the Bell family had spent many a Sunday morning at that diner. “From what I remember, it’s always really crowded.”
“On weekends, yes,” Cristine said. “But since tomorrow is Friday, if we go right after the morning rush, say about eight-thirty, it will be fairly empty. We should be able to have a private conversation with minimal interruptions.”
“Sounds good.” Ending the call, Zoe didn’t see the need to head back to the high school. At this point, it appeared she was on her own. She texted Mama Bell, letting her know to take the car whenever she was ready to go. Mama replied almost immediately with an okay and a smiley face.
Relieved, Zoe popped into the corner gas station and purchased a bottle of water. She set out, glad of the alone time, planning to walk back to the Bells’ house at a leisurely pace. It was probably just over a mile and she knew she could use the exercise. She walked a lot in the city and not only was the movement therapeutic, it always helped clear her head.
And she certainly had a lot to think about.
As she left downtown behind, she realized she’d always considered Shayna fragile. Zoe loved her like a sister—and always would, no matter what. The woman Shayna had apparently become proved that point. From what Zoe had heard, Shayna was more fragile than ever, doing drugs, sleeping around—and disappearing.
What the hell had happened to make her change so completely? Had it been Brock, as Cristine had hinted? Or jealousy over Zoe’s life, like the sheriff thought? Or was it something more, something no one yet realized or understood, that same something that had made her tell Zoe she needed her? Zoe suspected if she learned the secret to that, she might find out what had become of her friend.
* * *
Emotions—chief among them jumbled regret and longing—swamped Brock as he’d watched Zoe stride into the sheriff’s office. Was she playing some sort of game with him? First she’d asked for his help and then, barely a minute later, told him she’d changed her mind.
And she’d claimed they needed to put their differences aside? As if what had happened between them was that simple.
Did she not understand that she’d freakin’ ripped out his heart? That every time he saw her and she gave him that patently false smile, he wanted to haul her up against him and kiss her senseless, before shoving her away and then daring her to tell him that he meant nothing to her. Did she not realize she was the reason he couldn’t love Shayna the way she deserved, and, worse, that Shayna had guessed it, too?
Of course, he couldn’t. Not when the only reason Zoe had returned was because her friend Shayna had gone missing.
