Missing at Christmas

by K. D. Richards

  “Help!” the woman’s scream echoed off the empty buildings.

  The man reached for the woman again.

  “Hey!” Shawn yelled again. “Leave her alone!”

  The man seemed to finally realize that Shawn wasn’t just going to mind his own business and walk away.

  He backed up, flinging the woman to the ground with another curse and fleeing.

  Shawn slowed as he approached the woman. She lay on the pavement facing away from him on her side, coughing in an attempt to catch her breath. He scanned her body, looking for injuries. She didn’t appear to be seriously hurt, but he still couldn’t see her face.

  Shawn glanced around the corner where the man had disappeared. The darkened doorways and parked vehicles along the street made for several good places to hide. He saw no one.

  His heart pounding from exertion and adrenaline, Shawn turned back to the woman’s side.

  The feeling of familiarity struck him again, and when she pushed up to a sitting position, he understood why.

  “Addy?”

  Now she turned her gorgeous brown eyes on him, shock shining in them.

  Her shoulders relaxed when he stepped out of the circle of light that engulfed her. “Shawn? What...what are you doing here?”

  He and Addy Williams had spent an incredible weekend together six months earlier at Ryan’s destination wedding. He’d tried to see her again after they’d returned to New York, but she hadn’t answered any of his calls.

  “Are you okay?” Shawn asked, ignoring her question for one he deemed more important at the moment.

  He squatted next to her.

  “Yes.” Addy’s voice cracked, and she stopped, clearing her throat before speaking again. “He didn’t hurt me.”

  Fury that she could have been hurt rose in him, but he tamped it down. She looked shaken but otherwise okay.

  “We should call the cops.” Shawn reached into the pocket of his leather jacket before remembering he’d left his phone in his car.

  Addy pushed to her feet and pulled the sides of her coat closed around her. “No. No cops. I’m fine.”

  He stood, wondering whether she’d hit her head in the fall. They had to report the assault. “We should call. That guy could attack someone else.”

  She chewed her plump bottom lip, and a spark of attraction shot through him despite the frown that marked her pretty face.

  Several seconds passed before she nodded in assent.

  “I left my phone in the car,” Shawn said, tilting his head toward the Yukon idling at the stop sign, the driver’s door still wide-open.

  He wanted to get her into the truck to wait, just in case her assailant came back.

  “You can use mine,” she said, unlocking the phone with her thumb before handing it to him.

  They walked together toward his car. Shawn assessed the woman beside him as he dialed.

  Why didn’t Addy want to call the police? Why was she in Bentham?

  And why didn’t she want to call the police?

  Chapter Two

  It took less than ten minutes for two deputies to arrive. After getting the description of her attacker, the first deputy left to patrol the area in an attempt to find the attacker. The second requested Addy and Shawn return with him to the sheriff’s department to give formal statements. Addy elected to ride with the deputy, needing a moment to process the shock of finding herself staring into the mesmerizing eyes of Shawn West. For a second, she’d thought she must be hallucinating. It had been a few months since the incredible weekend they’d spent at her friend Nadia’s wedding to Shawn’s brother Ryan in St. Bart.

  She’d met Shawn at the rehearsal dinner, and they’d clicked immediately. They’d chatted throughout dinner, then taken a moonlit stroll on the beach. Dancing at the reception under the stars, Shawn holding her close, she’d forgotten all about her vow to forgo romance in favor of her career. She’d invited Shawn back to her room, where they’d spent the entire night and most of the following day in bed.

  And then she’d gone back to her real life in New York and completely ghosted him.

  Addy wasn’t sure whom she dreaded facing more: Sheriff Roger Donovan or Shawn West.

  She pressed her palms against her forehead and groaned.

  “Are you okay, ma’am?” The deputy glanced over at her.

  “Yes. Sorry.” Addy smiled weakly. “It’s just been a day.”

  The deputy returned her smile with one of his own. He pulled the cruiser into a parking lot adjacent to a utilitarian brown building. Stone signage on the small grassy patch in front of the building proclaimed it the Bentham County Sheriff’s Department.

  * * *

  SHAWN MET ADDY and the deputy at the front door. The three of them entered, and the deputy led them to a reception desk.

  Addy stole a sly glance at Shawn as he signed in.

  Six foot three and broad shouldered, he was a man who got noticed by men and women alike when he entered a room. Despite the cold temperatures, he wore a black leather jacket that looked as if it was molded to fit his powerful arms. Underneath the jacket, a gray shirt accentuated well-defined pecs and tailored slacks hugged a tight bottom. A thin dusting of stubble covered the rich brown skin along his jaw.

  A fleeting memory of dotting kisses along that jaw brought a surge of heat to her cheeks. She quickly pushed the memory from her mind.

  After they signed in, the deputy had them take a seat before he disappeared behind a thick gray door. A row of green folding chairs comprised the waiting area in the small lobby. The chairs faced a long metal desk topped with clear Plexiglas, no doubt bulletproof.

  She took a seat next to Shawn, struggling to come up with something to say. He saved her by speaking first.

  “You sure you’re okay?” Shawn looked at her with concern in his eyes.

  “Yes, thank you for helping me back there.” Remembering that he’d never answered her question from earlier, she asked again. “What are you doing in Bentham?”

  “You’re welcome. I’m here on business,” he responded without giving any further details.

  The deputy’s return stopped her from probing more.

  “Ms. Williams. Mr. West. The sheriff is ready for you now.”

  Shawn stood and waited for Addy to move ahead of him. They followed the deputy down a long hallway, past a large room where other officers sat staring at computers or talking on the phone. She’d spoken with Sheriff Roger Donovan earlier that day and was surprised when the deputy stopped several doors short of the sheriff’s office.

  Addy felt her shoulders stiffen, but she followed the deputy into an interrogation room, Shawn at her heels. She’d never been in an interrogation room before, but it looked like the ones she’d seen on television. Soft padding, ripped in several places, covered the lower section of the wall. A rectangular table took up most of the small space, its faux-wood top chipped at one corner.

  She settled herself next to Shawn again, tension coiled in her body.

  If Shawn felt anxious at all, he didn’t show it. He sat, legs spread, his hands on his thighs, a slight smile on his lips. Cool, calm and collected. And incredibly sexy.

  The deputy excused himself, and less than a moment later a man in his late fifties with a full beard gone mostly gray entered the room.

  Sheriff Donovan dropped a yellow legal pad and pen on the table. “Ms. Williams, I’m sorry to see you under those circumstances. I take it you weren’t hurt?”

  “Thank you, Sheriff. I’m fine,” Addy answered stiffly.

  “Good to hear.” Sheriff Donovan nodded. “I have to say, I was surprised to learn you were still in town.” The sheriff watched her with raised eyebrows.

  She hadn’t told the sheriff she planned to stay in town and look for Cassie on her own since he’d made it clear he would be of little help. She n
eeded to find irrefutable evidence that Cassie hadn’t just taken off, then she could force the sheriff to take action.

  Sheriff Donovan’s stare hadn’t wavered. An intimidation tactic—one she was familiar with from negotiating her fair share of corporate mergers.

  She held the sheriff’s gaze, saying nothing.

  Several seconds ticked by before the sheriff blinked and turned to Shawn. “And you must be the gentleman who saved Ms. Williams?”

  Shawn’s lips turned up into a cocky smile that matched his body language. “She saved herself. I just called your guys.”

  Sheriff Donovan scratched his jaw, his gaze shooting back to Addy, a look of disbelief on his face. “So how ’bout you folks tell me about the trouble you had tonight.”

  “I was walking back to my hotel after stopping for dinner when a man attacked me.”

  “And what hotel would that be?”

  “The Madison Hotel downtown.”

  One of the sheriff’s eyebrows rose. “That’s a bit of a walk.”

  Addy shrugged. “I don’t mind the cold, and I needed the time to clear my head.”

  Which wasn’t totally untrue. She didn’t mind the cold, but she’d been canvassing the area around Cassie’s job and apartment, hoping someone had information that would help find her.

  “Go on.” Sheriff Donovan motioned with the pen in his hand.

  “I’d just left the restaurant, headed back to my hotel. A man grabbed me from behind. He put his hand over my mouth and told me not to struggle.”

  The yellow legal pad sat in front of the sheriff untouched.

  “Is that when Mr. West came along?”

  She nodded. “Yes.”

  Sheriff Donovan turned to Shawn. “And I take it you intervened?”

  “I was a half block away, about to turn onto the street when I saw Addy being attacked,” Shawn answered.

  Sheriff Donovan’s brows drew together over his nose. “Would have been wiser to dial 911.” His gaze moved from Addy to Shawn and back. “You could have gotten both of you killed.”

  “I’m a PI. I know how to handle myself.”

  “A private eye?” Sheriff Donovan scowled.

  Shawn nodded.

  “Well, Mr. Private Eye, in my town the sheriff’s office handles crime and private investigators chase cheating spouses.”

  Shawn glared.

  The conversation was quickly devolving into a competition between the two men, but Addy had better things to do with her time.

  “Getting back to tonight,” Addy said pointedly, “Shawn yelled loud enough to catch the guy’s attention and give me the opportunity to land a kick to his shin.”

  Addy recounted the rest of the details, thankful that the sheriff’s focus no longer seemed to be on her acquaintance with Shawn. She wasn’t comfortable explaining their relationship to a stranger. She wasn’t even sure she could explain it to herself at this point.

  “Did you get a look at him?” Sheriff Donovan asked, finally picking up his pen.

  Addy shook her head. “No. He grabbed me from behind. I never saw his face.”

  “And what about you?” The sheriff turned to Shawn. “Did you get a look at this guy?”

  “Only a glimpse. I doubt I could reliably identify him.” Shawn’s expression turned dark. “He took off when he saw me.”

  Sheriff Donovan turned his attention back to Addy. “Did he reach for your purse? Take anything of value before he ran off?”

  “No.” Addy tilted her head, thinking.

  Why would a mugger attack her and not take her purse or wallet? He might have seen her leaving the restaurant and figured she had to have money or a credit card on her, but she’d been some blocks away from the restaurant when he attacked. A darker thought jumped into the forefront of her mind.

  Addy knew the sheriff didn’t think there was anything nefarious behind Cassie’s disappearance, but Addy couldn’t ignore the possibility that tonight’s attack could be related.

  Sheriff Donovan set his pen down. “I have to tell you, you haven’t given me much to go on here.”

  The tone of the sheriff’s voice piqued Addy’s ire. “Does that mean you won’t investigate?”

  Sheriff Donovan’s face turned hard. “The department will investigate as it does any complaint we receive.”

  “Sheriff, I don’t think this guy was trying to rob me. I don’t know why, but I think he was after me. Have you made any progress at all on locating my sister?”

  “Ms. Williams, I assure you I am doing everything I can.” Sheriff Donovan paused for a beat, looking at her over the tops of his rimless spectacles. “But your sister isn’t a local.”

  Already frustrated by the sheriff’s lack of urgency about Cassie’s disappearance, she had to fight back the fury that rose inside at his comment. Beside her, Shawn tensed.

  “I don’t know why that should matter. Cassie has lived in Bentham for six months now. Does not having lived here longer make her disappearance less of a priority for you?”

  Sheriff Donovan’s gaze hardened. “I didn’t say that,” he ground out. “Small towns aren’t for everyone. Someone like your sister, someone who’s used to a big city like New York,” he added quickly, “might find it hard to adapt. If your sister didn’t go back to New York, maybe she tried another big city like Boston or Philly.”

  She knew what the sheriff was getting at. He’d talked to Cassie’s roommate and boss.

  Addy narrowed her gaze on the sheriff. “I don’t believe my sister would just up and move without telling me.”

  “All her things were gone,” the sheriff said, his arms spread wide as if the missing items proved his point.

  Addy knew differently. Cassie hadn’t mentioned a thing about moving back to New York or anywhere else for that matter in any of the phone calls or texts the sisters had shared over the last few weeks.

  Addy shook her head, trying once again to get through the lawman’s thick skull. “If Cassie moved back to New York, why hasn’t she returned any of my calls? And where is she now? It’s not as if she has anywhere to live in New York other than with me.”

  “Maybe she’s staying with friends.” She shook her head, and the sheriff sighed. “Tell me again why your sister moved to Bentham in the first place,” he said, ignoring her question.

  Once again she pushed back her frustration with the sheriff. Getting on his bad side wouldn’t help her find Cassie, and that was all that was important to her at the moment. Gritting her teeth, she said, “Cassie wanted to take some time off before starting college in the fall. Experience the real world.”

  Sheriff Donovan nodded his head, taking notes, although she’d already told him all this when she’d called last week to make the missing person report and again when she’d spoken to him earlier that day.

  “Bentham was close enough to New York that she could come home to visit whenever she wanted but far enough that she felt like she was out on her own.”

  “Didn’t you tell me before that your father passed away recently?” The sheriff flipped through the pages in his notebook, presumably looking for the notes he’d taken during their last meeting.

  “Yes, this past February, a few months before Cassie moved to town.”

  Their father had passed away seven months ago, but that didn’t stop a fresh wave of grief from swelling in her chest. Shawn’s hand moved to cover hers on the table, and the compassion she saw in his eyes nearly broke her.

  Ryan and Nadia’s wedding had taken place a month after her father’s death and a year after her divorce. Addy didn’t need to be a therapist to see the connection between these events and her one and only one-night stand. That was one of the reasons she hadn’t returned his calls when she’d gotten back to New York. That and the butterflies that fluttered in her stomach whenever she thought about having him in her life
beyond that single weekend.

  She quickly directed her gaze back to the sheriff.

  Sheriff Donovan set his pen on top of his pad and folded his hands in front of him.

  “Sometimes people do weird things after a loss.” His gaze flicked to Shawn’s hand, which still covered hers on the table. “Did your sister ever mention hurting herself?”

  Addy pressed her lips together, afraid of what she might say if she spoke at the moment. She knew grief made people act out of character. But there was no way Cassie would ever do anything to hurt herself or anyone else.

  “No.” Addy shook her head vehemently.

  Like Addy, Cassie grieved their father’s death. She’d insisted on taking the internship with Spectrum to get real-world work experience before college. But Addy suspected that the move was as much about Cassie needing some space to process her grief and get away from all the memories of their father that still lingered in New York.

  Addy didn’t think of herself as a pessimist, but she was more of a realist than her father and sister. Although their father had tried to remain upbeat and hopeful while he fought the cancer, she’d been aware not too long after their father’s diagnosis that the prognosis was bleak.

  Cassie had a much tougher time dealing with the death of their father from cancer, months before her high school graduation. She’d held fast to hope that her father could beat the cancer right up until the end. A miracle that had never come.

  With one month left in her senior year, Cassie had become depressed and nearly despondent. Her grades had taken a precipitous dive, although luckily, her GPA was strong enough to withstand the hit, and she’d already gotten her acceptance to MIT for the fall. When Cassie announced she’d deferred her college start date and wanted to move out of the city, Addy had thought it was a good idea, hopeful that the change would give her sister some much-needed time to grieve and heal before starting the next phase of her life.

  Now she wondered if she’d live to regret supporting Cassie’s decision to come to Bentham.

  Sheriff Donovan used both hands to remove his glasses, laying them on his open notebook.