Corey woke up, surprised to find it as late as it was. He rarely slept in. But it was already six-thirty. He rolled over, checked his cell phone to see if there was a text from Macklin. Corey was not at all sure what had gone on last night, but he had a suspicion his friend was taking a step that might not be in his best interests. He sent a quick text. “Where are you?”
There was no response. He frowned, got up, had a quick shower, and put on some coffee. His phone rang.
It was Mason. “Did you hear the news?”
“What news?”
“They caught Marsha’s killer.”
Corey let his breath out with a heavy gust. “Thank God for that.” He frowned. “Who was it?”
“Marsha’s girlfriend.”
“But nobody said she had one.”
“Marsha kept her a secret, even though the girlfriend lived there. She wasn’t allowed to tell anybody where she stayed. She went in and out of the patio so no one would see her.”
“Ouch. That makes it a little hard to have a relationship. Always going out the back door, hiding. How long were they together?”
“Off and on for over a couple years but steady for the last year.”
“And how did you get all this information?”
“Alex gave me the heads-up on some of the details. She and Macklin were heading to bed.”
“So that’s why Macklin didn’t answer his phone.” Corey chuckled. “Well, I could see that one coming.”
“It’s about time. It’s good for Macklin. He’s waited a long time to find somebody.”
“Yeah, he has. And Alex is definitely a Keeper, although I’ll wait a day or two before I tease him.”
“She is, indeed. It’s your turn, Corey,” Mason said. “Isn’t it time for you now?”
“There’s nobody in my life.” Corey walked to the window and stared out. “Maybe it’ll happen one day.”
Mason smiled, his voice laughing as he said, “Pretty darn sure I saw you with somebody at a coffee shop a couple days ago.”
“You did. But that wasn’t a girlfriend. That was my sister’s best friend.”
“What did she want?” Mason asked.
Corey hesitated.
“If you don’t want to tell me, that’s all right,” Mason said. “I’m just curious.”
“The thing is, I don’t know what she wanted. She called me and wanted to ask a favor. We had coffee, talked about my sister, then she suddenly stood, as if she saw something that upset her. I tried to talk her into staying, but she wouldn’t. She just said she had to go.”
“Is she okay?”
“I don’t know. I called my sister, left several messages, but I haven’t heard from her either. Then she’s in the middle of exams.”
“Do you suggest we track her down? Make sure both are okay?”
“I should have heard something by now.”
“Was she looking for help?”
“I don’t know. She must have changed her mind because she told me that she was fine, sorry for having bothered me, stood, and left. I tried to stop her. I walked out to the car with her. But she wouldn’t have anything to do with me. She just brushed me off. Honestly, she pissed me off.”
“So it’s not like she was being followed or anything dangerous?” Mason asked in a sharp tone.
“No, if anything, I think she was kind of peeved at me.”
“So tell me. Who is she—really?”
Corey sighed. He turned to face his small room, walked over to the coffeepot, set to automatically brew, poured himself a cup, and said, “Someone from my past. Honestly I haven’t seen her in ten years.”
“That doesn’t mean much. Look at Merk.”
Corey gave a bitter laugh. “Yeah, but he at least married his girlfriend. In my case, a whole lot of other emotions were tied up.”
“Anything you want to talk about?”
Corey shook his head. “Nothing to talk about. She was my little sister’s best friend. We went out for a few months.”
“That happens,” Mason said, his tone neutral. “Then what?”
“She found out she was pregnant.” Corey winced, feeling the same old feelings of frustration and pain flow through him. “We didn’t have much of a chance to sort out our feelings and what we would do before she had a miscarriage. Next thing I know, she didn’t want a thing to do with me. When I saw her two days ago, it was the first time I’d seen her in ten years.”
“And yet she looked you up after all this time?”
“Yeah. She did.” He frowned. “I wish I knew why though.”
“But you saw her after the miscarriage? No chance you have a son or daughter about to show up out of the blue?”
“Yeah, she had to finish school. I saw her, so it’s not like she had the baby, and I didn’t know anything about it.” He shrugged it off. “It’s old water under the bridge.” He talked another couple minutes with Mason. “I’ll catch you later.”
He hung up, picked up his cup of coffee, and stepped outside on his little deck. The old memories were hard. He’d wanted that baby something awful. He’d always loved children, had always planned to have children. No, he hadn’t been ready for it back then, but that was what he’d been handed, so he would make the best of it. And he had been damn happy, even with his plate full at the time. When she’d lost the baby, he’d lost a little of himself too. He had never expected to experience grief like that when it wasn’t even his body, when the child hadn’t been born yet.
Angela had barely been through her first trimester. But it had been a keen loss that, even ten years later, still with no children, he wondered and worried what would have happened if the child had lived. He thought back to seeing Angela at the coffee shop, his shock, his surprise.
Also joy, a bittersweet joy. It had been so good to see her. Now, if only he had an idea what the hell she wanted.
His phone rang, and he picked it up. It was Bridget, his sister. “Hey, sis, there you are. I almost ran up there to check on you.”
“Sorry,” she said, fatigue in her voice. “It’s been a hell of a couple weeks.”
“Work?”
“Work and studies.”
His sister was almost done with law school. It was a brutal schedule, but she was coming through with flying colors. “Hopefully this will be done soon.”
“Well, it would be. But two days ago, something else happened.”
“For you too, huh?”
Her voice piqued with interest. “What happened to you?”
“Angela walked into my life again.”
She gasped. And then a sudden silence came afterward.
Instincts on alert, he said, “Why? What is that reaction for? What’s wrong?”
“She told me that she might stop in and see you,” Bridget said quietly. “I don’t know why she wanted to, but I know something was really bothering her.”
“Well, she came, but she got up after a few minutes, saying she had to go, and it was a mistake to see me. I walked out to the car, trying to talk to her, but she wouldn’t have anything to do with me.”
“Yeah, I was afraid of that.”
“So why did she come?”
“Somebody was sending her death threats. She thought maybe you could help.”
He frowned. “Why me?”
“I don’t know, except I’ve told her about you over the years.” She gave a bitter laugh. “To make things worse,” she said, “Angela has gone missing.”