Hot as Sin (Hot Shots: Men of Fire #2)(41)
Author: Bella Andre

Peter raised an eyebrow. “We are very careful with regard to who we allow on the Farm. Are you a cop?”

Sam sized up the commune’s leader. Broad-shouldered with cropped hair, he didn’t look weak. And then, there was a question of bodyguards. What the hell were they hovering around for?

Clearly impatient for answers, Dianna leaned forward and pinned the man with her intelligent gaze.

“Sam is a firefighter, not a cop. And now that you’ve got your answers, I want to find out what you know about my sister’s disappearance. Anything about where she might be, her last moves, if she’d ever left the commune before and with whom?”

Clearly surprised by her pointed questions, Peter looked concerned for the first time.

“I’m very sorry to hear that she’s missing. Honestly, I doubt anyone here knows what happened to her. She’s been a constant resident for the past three months. She came with a boyfriend named Kevin, but when he moved on a few weeks later, she remained behind. I believe she hiked down into Vail to see you a few days ago, is that not correct?”

A flash of pain moved across Dianna’s face, so quickly Sam almost missed it.

“Yes, my sister and I met in Vail. Was April hanging around any strangers? Did she have any enemies that you know of?”

Peter shook his head. “As far as I know, she didn’t have any enemies. But I will admit to being concerned about her in the beginning. She wasn’t particularly good in group situations at first. I think getting her involved with the other women who cook helped turn her around.” He licked his lips. “She makes the most marvelous herb bread.”

Sam watched as Dianna struggled with her frustration at Peter’s answers. “I can’t believe my sister would be a part of something like this,” she said, gesturing to the grounds below the house.

Peter cocked his head to the side. “Like what?”

Dianna leveled a hard stare at the man. “You tell me. What the hell are all of you doing hidden up here with no roads and no contact with the outside world?”

For the first time Sam saw the take-no-prisoners-reporter side of Dianna and it impressed the hell out of him.

Strangely, though, Peter didn’t seem the least bit upset by the gauntlet she’d thrown down.

“We find that people often have misconceptions about an intentional community such as ours. We don’t have a group religion. We support ourselves by making furniture and other handmade products, along with animal by-products such as honey and cheese. The people who live here do so because they love it. Your sister, I believe, was growing comfortable in our community.”

Dianna sat back in her seat, clearly digesting Peter’s words.

“Do you swear to me that my sister wasn’t mixed up in anything illegal?”

Peter nodded. “As far as I know, she was simply here trying to find herself.” He bowed his head and took a deep breath. “I can see how worried you are and I will allow you to ask her friends if they know anything more, although, I should warn you, not everyone here trusts outsiders.” After a moment of silence, he added, “I’m also willing to let you set up camp here for the night. There is plenty of room in the meadow for the two of you.”

Peter’s offer sounded benevolent. Helpful, even. But to Sam’s suspicious ears it reeked of wanting to keep an eye on them.

Unfortunately, the sun had already set behind the trees. Even if they chose to leave the commune, they couldn’t get far in the dark. Besides, Dianna looked as exhausted as he’d ever seen her.

At Dianna’s questioning glance, he said, “Fine. We’ll stay.”

“I wish I could help you more,” Peter said as he walked them to the door.

Almost across the threshold, Dianna paused. “Do you have a phone?”

“Just one, here in the house.”

“Could I use it?”

“Follow me.”

The phone was in a small room by the back door. “Take your time,” he said. “You can let yourself out the back.”

Dianna put her hand on Peter’s arm before she left the room. “I have one more request,” she said in a smooth voice that belied her distress. “I’d like to give the Farm’s telephone number to my producer. Just in case April calls, she’ll know where to find me.”

For a moment, Sam thought the man was going to refuse her request and he was preparing himself to “convince” him when Peter gave her the number.

Dianna picked up the old-fashioned receiver and dialed. “Ellen? It’s Dianna. Is there any word from April?”

Sam watched as her face fell, just as it had when they’d talked to the girl outside the commune’s gates and learned that April was, indeed, still missing. Quickly giving her friend the commune’s telephone number, she disconnected, then dialed another number and typed in what looked like a voice mail access code.

Standing off to the side, Sam felt superfluous yet again. Sure, she’d needed him on the river and the rock. But she’d barely needed him since. Of course he was proud of her for being so strong, for asking the hard questions. And yet, it only confirmed that he had no real place in her life.

But when she hung up the phone and looked at him with tears in her eyes, saying “She hasn’t left any messages on either of my phones,” he finally realized another reason he was here: to pull Dianna into his arms and hold her when all hope seemed lost.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

GOING SHACK to shack, they talked with men, women, even teenagers. But no one knew where April was. Apart from the girl who’d stopped them at the chain-link fence earlier that day, the commune’s residents seemed truly sad to hear that April was missing.

“I wish there was something I could do to help,” said their final interviewee, an attractive woman in her early thirties with a drooling young baby on her lap. “April was always so good with Christy. I swear, sometimes it seemed like she was the only one who could get her to stop crying.”

April was good with babies? Dianna couldn’t help but wonder if they were talking about the same person.

“I don’t think I’ve ever seen my sister interact with a child before,” Dianna told the woman, who smiled, revealing slightly crooked front teeth.

“Honestly, I think she was scared stiff the first time I dropped Christy into her lap.” Chuckling, she added, “But I’m sure you know what a quick learner she is.”

But Dianna didn’t know that at all. Again, she had to wonder if April really had been growing and changing in a positive way on the commune. Sure, the primitive living situations pushed all of Dianna’s buttons, but could it possibly be that roughing it in the woods was better for her sister than living in Dianna’s penthouse condo in San Francisco?