The Vanishing (2 page)

Colette felt her spirits rise as she followed Alex into a pretty office with blue walls and white trim located in a corner of the building. In addition to being intelligent, attractive and empathetic, Alex was the most intuitive person she’d ever met. If there was help to be found, she’d find it here.

She took a seat in front of the desk and made small talk while Alex made them coffee, catching her up on all the hospital gossip since she’d resigned the month before. Then Alex slid into the chair behind her desk and gave her a shrewd look.

“While I am very happy to see you, I doubt you drove all the way to Vodoun to bring me up to speed on the latest inner workings of New Orleans General.”

“No. I have a problem…one I’m hoping you can help me with.”

Alex pulled a pad of paper and pen out of her desk drawer. “Tell me.”

“Anna Huval didn’t report to work on Friday. She was scheduled for the evening shift, but was a no-show/
no-call.”

“You tried to reach her, of course.”

“Yes. I called her apartment and her cell. When I didn’t get an answer, I checked with the emergency room of all area hospitals, then when I came up empty there, I called the police. Fortunately, they had no Jane Does in the morgue that matched Anna’s description, and they let me file a report but said they probably wouldn’t look into it until Monday. Yesterday.”

Alex nodded. “Because most adults turn up within twenty-four to forty-eight hours and haven’t been victims of a crime.”

“Exactly.”

“So did they investigate on Monday?”

“I pestered them and they finally agreed to check her apartment. I’d already tried to get in but the landlord has gotten in trouble for letting unauthorized people into apartments before and wasn’t budging.”

“Did you find anything inside?”

“No sign of forced entry or a struggle, and her backpack was missing. Since she started nursing school, she carries it with her everywhere, sneaking in study time whenever she can.” Colette frowned. “But the thing is, her books were on her bed. Scattered like they’d been tossed there in a hurry. The bed itself was still made.”

“Could you tell if any clothes were missing?”

Colette shook her head. “I don’t know. There were no large gaps in her closet, so if she intended to leave, she didn’t take much, but then, she didn’t have much to begin with.”

“Tell me more about her cell phone.”

“She has a prepaid one that I’ve been calling every couple of hours, but it goes straight to voice mail. The police called the cell-phone company to track it, but they said it’s either turned off or not in range.”

“Did the police find any other reason to suspect she’d taken off on her own volition?”

Colette struggled with her own frustration and disappointment. Now that she was repeating the facts out loud, she could see exactly why the New Orleans police weren’t taking her seriously, and the next bit of information was not going to make the situation any better.

“Colette?”

She sighed. “Her bank said she withdrew four hundred dollars on Friday evening, a couple of hours before her shift was due to start.”

Alex raised her eyebrows and tapped her pen on the desk.

“I know how this looks,” Colette said. “If you take the facts and couple them with Anna’s reputation for hooking up with the wrong men, then you have a foolish girl adding one more wild weekend to a very colorful past. But I promise you, that is not the young woman Anna is now.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Well, I suppose no one can be one hundred percent sure, but I’ve worked with her every week for the last year. When she told me she wanted to turn her life around, I got her counseling with hospital staff as a start. After three months of therapy, she told me she wanted to be a nurse, and I helped her get grants for nursing school. She comes to me with questions on her courses, and I can see her interest and focus clear as day.”

“Maybe a family emergency…”

“She’s always claimed she has no family left, and I’ve never seen evidence of any since I’ve known her. Besides, if it was an emergency, why wouldn’t she call me? She trusts me. She knows I would help.”

“Perhaps it’s not the sort of emergency you would help with.”

“What do you mean?”

Alex sighed. “I know a little about Anna—some from the rumor mill at the hospital, some from Anna herself. If she’s involved in something she knows you wouldn’t approve of, she wouldn’t tell you. It’s clear from what you’ve told me that she respects you, and I got the impression that with Anna, respect doesn’t come lightly. If she thought telling you would damage that, she may choose to handle it alone.”

Colette slumped back in her chair. Everything Alex said made so much sense. “But that doesn’t mean she’s not in trouble, whether or not she chose to walk into it.”

“That’s true.”

“So will you take the case? I have the money, and Anna’s become…well, like a little sister to me. I have to do something.”

“Of course you do,” Alex said, and Colette could tell by her expression that Alex truly did understand.

Alex was the only person at New Orleans General whom Colette had ever confided in about the boating accident that killed her parents when she was young and being raised by her only living relative, a spinster aunt who never wanted children and who’d died years ago. More than anyone else, Alex knew the loss she felt at having no family and would understand why Anna had become so important to her.

“I have no problem with our taking the case,” Alex said.

Relief swept over Colette like a wave. “Thank you. I can’t even tell you how much this means that someone is actually listening.”

Alex leaned forward in her chair and looked directly at Colette. “But you have to be prepared for whatever we find—even if it’s not the answer you wanted.”

Colette nodded. “I can handle that. I just can’t handle doing nothing.”

“Good. As it happens, Holt’s half brother Max is starting at the agency this week. I’ll get all the information from you and bring him up to speed at dinner tonight.”

“Holt’s half brother?” Colette struggled to control her disappointment. “I was hoping you and Holt would do the investigation.”

“We’re busy on two other cases as the moment, but I promise you Max is an expert. He’s got ten years with the Baton Rouge Police Department and was the youngest detective in the department’s history. If anyone can find out what happened to Anna, Max can.”

“Okay. If you have that much confidence in him, then he must be worthy of it.”

Alex smiled. “He’ll probably want to talk to you tomorrow. Since you knew Anna better than anyone else, you’ll be a big help.”

“Anything I can do,” Colette said, hoping between now and tomorrow she could think of something—anything—that would help find Anna. If Alex’s assessment was correct and Anna was in some sort of trouble, then she needed Colette’s help now more than ever before.

* * *

M
AX
D
UHON HANDED A BOARD
to his brother Holt, who was up on a ladder replacing a rotted section of roof trim on his little cabin on the bayou. “It doesn’t sound like much of a case,” Max said.

Holt held the board in place with one hand and secured it with his nail gun with the other. “It’s not sensational or meaty, no, but Alex agreed to take the case, and you’re the only one available at the moment to handle it. She’ll bring you a folder tonight, but what I told you is the gist of it.”

“But the entire case is based on Alex’s opinion of someone else’s opinion. That’s hearsay in court. Why in the world is it good enough for you to launch an investigation?”

“The client meets our criteria. She suspects something has happened, and the police won’t open an investigation. The client is credible, even if the missing person is questionable.”

“And if it turns out to be nothing but a loose woman taking an unscheduled weekend with her latest passing fancy?”

Holt climbed down the ladder and placed his nail gun in its case. “Then we’ve still solved the case and earned our fee. We find answers here, Max, and the answers don’t always have to be criminal in nature. Turning her away would be going against the very reason we opened the agency in the first place.”

Max sighed. “I get it. I just don’t know how much more I can do than what the police have already done.”

“Talk to the client and try to find a new line of investigation. Poke around into things the police wouldn’t have bothered with—question classmates, see if she had a favorite hangout.” Holt clapped him on the shoulder. “Do what you do best. If anyone can ferret out an answer on this, it’s you.”

Max picked up the ladder and followed Holt to the storage shed. He wished he had as much confidence in his abilities as his brother did. Maybe that was why Alex had assigned him a relatively straightforward, boring and safe case. Maybe they didn’t really believe he could handle the work, either. Not now.

The old Max was invincible…indestructible. At least that’s what he’d thought.

The bullet wound ached in his shoulder as he lifted the ladder onto the rack in the back of the shed—a constant reminder of what had happened.

Of his failure.

Chapter Two

The knock on Colette’s apartment door sent her into a nervous flurry. Holt’s brother was right on time, but despite a sleepless night, she still didn’t have a single thing to add to the information she’d already given Alex. She smoothed the wrinkles out of the bottom of her T-shirt and took a deep breath, blowing it out slowly, before opening the door.

Then sucked it back in when she saw Max.

She shouldn’t have been surprised by the prime male specimen in front of her. After all, Holt was an attractive man, but his brother was a work of art. The dark hair, finely toned body and beautifully tanned skin were an equal match for Holt, but the chiseled facial features and turquoise eyes belied a Nordic mother. It was a masterful combination of DNA.

“Colette Guidry?” he asked, his voice as smooth and sexy as his appearance.

“Yes.”

He stared at her for a couple of seconds. “Can I come in?”

“Oh, yes, of course.” Colette opened the door and allowed him to pass, flustered that she’d completely lost her sense and her manners. “I’m sorry. I just feel so scattered.”

He stepped inside her apartment and glanced around the open living room, kitchen and dining area. Colette got the impression that he was sizing her up, both by her own appearance and by that of her home. For a moment, she bristled, but then remembered he was a career cop. His mind probably automatically shifted to such things if he was working, and she could hardly fault him for assessing her when she was paying for his natural ability to do just that in the first place.

“Can I get you something to drink?” she asked. “I just made a fresh pot of coffee.”

“That would be great.”

“Have a seat,” she said and waved a hand at the kitchen table. “How do you take your coffee?”

“Black.”

He slid into a chair at the table, and she poured two black coffees and carried them to the table. “I guess Alex filled you in on everything?” she asked as she took a seat across from him.

He nodded.

“I know it’s not much, and given Anna’s past, it’s probably less than anything, but I can’t help but think something has happened.”

“You care about her, so you’re worried,” he said simply. “I’m here to get you answers.”

His words were meant to be comforting, and Colette didn’t doubt their sincerity, but something in the tone of his voice made her think Max considered this entire case a waste of his time, which only strengthened her resolve. Regardless of Max’s opinion, she’d paid for his services and she was going to get her money’s worth.

“I’ve thought about it all night,” she said, “but haven’t been able to come up with anything I didn’t tell Alex.”

“It’s hard to know what may be important. Likely, you’ll think of things as I move through the investigation.”

“Where would you like to start?”

“At her apartment. I know the police went through it, but they would only have looked for signs of a crime. Since we have to assume at this point that she left of her own accord, I want to look for things that might tip me off as to where she may have gone and for what reason.”

Colette nodded. “Now that I’ve had the police out, I don’t think the landlord would have a problem letting us back in.”

“Us?”

“Yes. The landlord isn’t likely to let you in without me. She’s very particular about the rules.”

He frowned. “I suppose it’s all right for you to accompany me to her apartment.”

“Actually, I’ve taken some long-overdue vacation time. I intend to accompany you everywhere.”

His jaw dropped then clamped shut and set in a hard line. “I can’t allow that.”

“I wasn’t aware that I had to have permission when I’m footing the bill.”

“It’s a matter of safety,” he said, not bothering any longer to hide his frustration. “If Anna is in some kind of trouble, then the investigation could be dangerous.”

“Then I guess it’s good you’ll have a medical professional with you.”

* * *

M
AX CLIMBED INTO HIS
J
EEP,
completely frustrated and with no outlet for expressing it, as the main source of his frustration was perched in the passenger seat. If he’d known he was going to be playing escort to an untrained civilian, he may have told Alex he couldn’t take the case. The young, shapely Cajun woman with miles of wavy dark hair and green eyes was the last thing in the world he’d been expecting.

When Alex had described Colette as one of the head nurses where she used to work, he’d immediately formed a picture in his mind of an old, blue-haired woman with ugly white shoes and a perpetual frown. But there wasn’t a single thing about Colette that was old, blue-haired or ugly. Even in jeans, T-shirt and tennis shoes, and with her hair in a ponytail, she was still one of the sexiest women Max had ever seen, and he couldn’t help but wonder how those long legs would look without the jeans encasing them.

She’s a hard-core, hardheaded career woman, just like Mother.