The Perfect Couple (Last Stand #4)(11)
Author: Brenda Novak

One day soon, she wouldn’t dare yell at all….

"What if they want to see me?" Tiffany asked as he started for the door.

Her lip was swollen. But accidents happened. It wasn’t as if she’d ever been seen with bumps or bruises, not since he broke her cheekbone with that mug. And she’d had her elective surgeries right after that, so they’d had a good excuse for all the bandages. "Tell them our heads collided."

The knock came again, and her eyes flicked to the door.

"Now go into the kitchen and finish the dishes," he said. "Don’t come out unless I call you."

He waited until the water went on in the sink, then he answered the door. But it wasn’t the police. It was Sam’s mother and the guy she was living with. Which meant the police would be by later. Great…The next few days wouldn’t be easy, but Colin could be patient when he needed to be. All he had to do was lie low.

"Hi, there." He arranged his expression in a sympathetic frown, feigning surprise at the tear streaks on Zoe Duncan’s lovely face. The physical opposite of Tiffany, she was tall and slender with br**sts that were barely a C cup. But they were real; he could tell. He could also tell Zoe had been beautiful her whole life because she was so stuck on herself. He’d tried flirting with her once, but she kept talking about his wife as if he might forget he had one, and he resented it. It wasn’t up to her to remind him of his wedding vows.

"What’s wrong?" he asked. "You seem…upset."

Most of the makeup had been wiped from her eyes. "Have you seen my daughter, Samantha?"

He scratched his head. "No. Why?"

"She–" Her voice broke, and the man beside her–Anton Lucassi, if Colin remembered correctly–touched her elbow. Years older than Zoe, than all of them, he pretended to have a lot more class than he really did. Lucassi was basically a pretentious bastard. Colin didn’t like him, either.

"She was gone when we got home from work," he explained. "We can’t find her."

"Have you called the police?"

Zoe spoke again. "Yes, we’ve been on the phone with them for over an hour."

"But it’s not time to panic yet. She’s only been gone since this afternoon," Anton chimed in. "They figure maybe she ran away."

"She didn’t run away," Zoe said.

"Sam recently told her grandfather she was thinking about running away, so we can’t rule it out," Anton insisted.

Despite a visible effort to avoid an argument, Zoe succumbed. "Where would she go?"

Anton scowled. "Runaways usually don’t have a plan. That’s how they end up on the streets."

Lifting her chin, Zoe addressed Colin. "The police are on their way.

They plan to look into it. But…we thought we’d ask around ourselves, see if we can develop…some idea as to where she might be."

"I see." Colin rubbed his neck, drawing out his response to make it more believable. "Wow. I’m terribly sorry. I wish I had better news for you.

Is it possible she’s just at the movies or off with friends?"

Zoe shook her head. "She’s not the type to leave home without notifying me–"

"That’s not always true," Anton cut in.

She remained resolute. "She would’ve called me."

"Whatever’s going on, she sounds like a great kid," Colin said before they could argue some more.

"She is a great kid. And–" Zoe’s voice cracked again but she held up a hand to let Lucassi know she’d finish her own sentence "–and she has mono.

She’s not supposed to exert herself, which only adds to my worry."

"Of course it would. What parent wouldn’t be rattled?" Colin clucked his tongue in commiseration.

"What about your wife?" Zoe glanced behind him. "Do you think–"

"Tiff?" he broke in. "I doubt she saw anything. She’s been inside all day, a little under the weather herself. But I’ll definitely check and get back to you if she has."

"Thanks." Anton handed him a card. "Call us anytime, day or night."

"Definitely. Now you’ve got me scared."

Anton tried to lead Zoe away, but she wouldn’t budge. "I’m sorry," she said, her eyes brimming with fresh tears. "But would you mind if I asked your wife? I–I have to hear her response with my own ears. Otherwise…"

She let her words fall off.

Her persistence irritated Colin but he smiled as if he understood.

"Right. No stone unturned. I get it. I should’ve thought of that." He called over his shoulder, "Tiffany, babe, can you come here for a minute?"

"Yes?" She poked her head around the corner.

To him, her busted lip looked obvious, but she was keeping her distance, and he was fairly certain the shifting light from the candles on the mantel made it difficult to see her clearly. In any case, Zoe and her partner didn’t react to the injury. "Have you seen the neighbor girl? What’s her name…"

Zoe filled in his pause. "Samantha."

"I know Sam," she said. "But…I haven’t seen her today. Why? Is something wrong?"

"We hope not," Anton said.

In her eagerness to press her point, Sam’s mother stepped forward. "If you run across anything that might help us find her–"

"We’ll call, of course," Tiffany said.

Colin rewarded his wife with a smile, but then Tiffany surprised him by continuing the conversation. "What’s going on?" she asked.

Any concerned citizen would’ve asked the same. But Colin didn’t want the neighbors conversing with Tiffany. "Don’t worry, I’ll explain," he said as if he was doing it to save them the grief of having to repeat their story.

"Thanks," they murmured and started to walk away, but Colin called them back.

"If it comes to organizing a search party, please let us know. We’d be happy to participate."

When they thanked him again, he smiled kindly into their grateful faces and shut the door.

"Do you think they bought it?" Tiffany whispered in the ensuing silence.

He grinned. "Hook, line and sinker."

"She won’t be contagious forever," Tiffany said, obviously hoping to placate him.

At first he’d been frustrated and disappointed to hear of Sam’s illness.

He didn’t want to risk catching it. But the girl wasn’t going anywhere; they had plenty of time. "She’s part of the family now," he said. "I can wait."

Chapter 6

"Hey, I’ve been trying to reach you. Where the heck have you been?"

Jonathan Stivers immediately recognized the voice of the person he most wanted to avoid. Stifling a curse, he turned from riffling through his messages at the empty receptionist’s desk to see Sheridan Cole–Sheridan Granger as of three weeks ago–in her office doorway. With her dark hair pulled into a ponytail and a happy blush to her smooth skin, she looked even prettier than normal. But now that she was married, he didn’t want to feel that hitch in his gut anymore.