Lorna felt her mouth fall open, and she came perilously close to dropping the freshly filled coffee mug she held between two hands. Renee just looked at her, smiled even bigger, and shrugged.
“Lorna isn’t available right at the moment. Can I do something for you, or can I give her a message?”
Renee’s smile disappeared as she listened, and her eyes narrowed in concentration. As Lorna watched her, she started to lose her righteous anger, only to have it replaced by curiosity.
Renee was nodding as she spoke. “I understand, and I’ll talk with Lorna. I promise you, we’ll give you a call back as soon as possible.” Renee pushed the end button on the phone and stared at it as if it was the first time she’d ever seen one before she raised her eyes to Lorna’s. She didn’t move to replace the handset.
“I’m not calling her back,” Lorna declared. If she was five, she’d have stomped her feet too, but since she was slightly older than that, she just stood her ground sans the foot-stomping.
Besides, it didn’t matter what Anna had said to Renee. Lorna had no intention of returning that call. In fact, if she got her way, she never planned to speak to Anna again. True, she was incredibly happy right now, and it was way past time to let go of the hurt Anna had caused her. Knowing it and doing it, however, were two completely different animals. Each time she thought about Anna, fury rose in her chest and she couldn’t seem to let it go. Her reaction was stupid, and intellectually she understood that fact. It was all pure emotion, and so far she’d failed to bridge the gap between pain and forgiveness. Someday maybe she’d be able to do it, but that day hadn’t arrived yet. So whatever Anna wanted or needed, she was going to have to go somewhere else for help. She had plenty of friends on the other side of the mountains, and she could just tap one of them.
Renee studied her for a long moment, turning the handset over and over in her hands, and then said quietly, “I think you have to.”
“No, I don’t.” This was obviously going to be one of those rare times when they didn’t agree.
Holding up her hand, Renee said, “Hear me out. I think you’ll change your mind when you know why she called.”
“I doubt that,” Lorna muttered, knowing that she sounded like a pissed-off little kid. Still, she couldn’t think of a single thing that would ever change her mind.
“Her wife is missing.”
Of all the things she’d anticipated Renee saying, that was the last. No, not the last, because it wasn’t even a consideration. Wife? What the fuck? Since when did Anna have a wife? She didn’t let any grass grow under her feet, did she? Lorna brought her gaze up to meet Renee’s. “And that concerns me why?”
“It concerns you because you’re in a unique position to help.”
“What exactly am I supposed to help with?”
Renee sighed, almost as if she were explaining something to a child. Okay, so maybe she was acting a little childish, but she figured she was entitled when it came to Anna.
“Look, I get why this is difficult for you. I really do. It doesn’t change my feelings about this. Anna’s wife went out to do some work and never came back. The police aren’t helping yet because they don’t think she’s been gone long enough. You’re in a unique position to help find her, to make a difference.”
So far she wasn’t convincing Lorna. “If she truly is missing, the police will step in.”
Shaking her head, she said, “Not for at least another day, and you know how time can be critical. This has nothing to do with what happened between you and Anna and everything to do with helping to find an innocent woman before something terrible happens. I know you, Lorna. If something happens to Anna’s wife and you could have a made a difference, you’ll never forgive yourself.”
“Crap,” she muttered under her breath. Now she was starting to get to her. Too much of what Renee said rang of truth. It wasn’t fair, and she shouldn’t have to do something she didn’t want to.
They’d just gotten home from spending time in Spokane helping Lorna’s old friend, Theodora Lane, in a heartbreaking search for her twin sister, Alida. With the aid of a sheriff’s department investigator, Katie Carlisle, they’d found her. Sadly, she was dead, as were a number of other women. The only upside to that trip was that their discovery had exposed a serial killer who was also a sheriff’s deputy. They’d stopped him, and he’d never be able to hurt another woman again.
Not only did she not want to go back to Spokane right now, but she also didn’t want to do a damn thing for Anna. She knew from firsthand experience that Spokane employed plenty of law enforcement for situations like this. In fact, the one thing she was willing to do was to call Katie and see how she could assist Anna. That was the extent of her inclination to help. She wasn’t heading over the mountains again anytime soon. Period. Especially not for the woman who’d turned her back on her. Nope, not going to do it.
“Lorna.” Renee reached over and took her hand. The look she gave her was full of compassion and understanding. “If there’s a chance you can help her and save her wife’s life, we have to go. It’s the right thing to do and you know it.”
“I don’t owe her anything,” Lorna bit out. She refused to bend to guilt or arguments that weighed on her sense of right and wrong. That wasn’t playing fair, especially when it came to Anna. Where had right and wrong been when she was cheating behind Lorna’s back? Where was it when she’d looked Lorna in the eye and said “I love you,” knowing all the time it was a big fat lie? She was sorry Anna’s bride was missing, despite the fact it grated on her that she’d gotten married about ten seconds after she’d dumped Lorna. In truth, it wasn’t her problem, and she wasn’t going to be guilted into making it her problem.
“No.” Renee squeezed her hand. “You don’t owe her one single thing. Baby, this isn’t about Anna, and it’s not about you. This is about a woman whose life might be saved if you use your gift.”
Reaching behind her, she set the coffee mug on the counter, spilling some of the hot coffee as she did. Emotion welled up, and she took three deep breaths, trying not to let tears fall. This wasn’t fair. “I can’t…” But she couldn’t finish.
“Yes, you can,” Renee said softly. “You can, my love.”
Lorna looked over at Jeremy and Merry, hoping for a little help. Surely they would understand, as they’d both been there for the fallout. They’d seen firsthand how crushed she’d been and how difficult it had been in the days afterward.
Merry spoke up. “What did Anna tell you exactly? I mean, how does she know her wife is actually missing? Any number of things could have happened. From what I gather, they jumped into marriage pretty damn quick.”
“You make a good point,” Renee said. “Her wife Sadie went to work early yesterday morning and never came back. Now consider this. If Jeremy didn’t show up tonight, was gone all day tomorrow, he didn’t answer his phone, and he didn’t check in, what would you think?”
Merry turned to stare at Jeremy, her eyes searching his face. “I wouldn’t think anything. I would know something was very wrong. He would never do that to me.” She reached over and took his hand.
Renee turned to look at Lorna. “Just as I would know if Lorna was lost or hurt or in danger, Anna knows something has happened to Sadie or she would never have risked a call to you.”
Jeremy nodded ever so slightly, his eyes holding Merry’s. “Gotta go with Renee on this one, sis. I’d know in a heartbeat if Merry was in danger.”
“Wha…” She couldn’t believe her own brother was turning on her.
He held up a hand. “Hear me out. You’re right that you don’t owe Anna anything, but this thing you can do is bigger than any of us. You’re kind of the superhero here, and it wouldn’t be very superheroish if you turned down a damsel in distress. If Anna believes something terrible has happened to her wife, I, for one, believe her.”
He winked, and her heart lightened somewhat. He always had a way of bringing her light when the darkness tried to intrude. His wi
nk made her smile…just a little. “You do have a way with words.”
“To know me is to love me.” His grin spread across his face while Merry shook her head and rolled her eyes.
“Blowhard that your brother is,” Merry said with a smile, “he’s right. I think it’s important for a number of reasons to help Anna. We would all feel bad if she’s harmed and we didn’t at least try to help.”
“Is this your legal opinion?” Merry was, after all, the one attorney in their family.
Merry’s smile grew and she shook her head. “Nothing legal here. It’s one hundred percent my personal opinion. It isn’t about condoning what Anna did to you. That was wrong and always will be. That said, this is about providing assistance to another woman who could be in danger. You were given that gift for a reason, and I personally believe it was for situations such as this. So, for what it’s worth to you, I say we go.”
Lorna studied each face in turn and then nodded slowly. “All right. I’m not dense enough to not know when I’m beaten. I’ll call her back, but you all talked me into this, and that means you all get to go with me.”
Renee kissed her on the cheek as she pressed the phone into her hand. “Deal. You know we’re all here for you. Always.”
“Can I get that in writing?”
“We do have an attorney present,” Jeremy said and patted Merry on the shoulder. “And she can come up with one mean contract.” He winked at her.
“I’ll work it up when I get back to my computer,” Merry said with a laugh. “I’ll start with ‘all for one and one for all.’”
Lorna took the phone and studied it for a moment. She looked up and narrowed her eyes as she studied Renee. “So, before I hit redial, tell me about this fiancée I have.”
*
Anna Frye put down the receiver and stared at it as tears began to drip down her cheeks. The call had shaken her more than she’d imagined it would, and she’d imagined all sorts of outcomes. If Lorna had told her to go fuck herself, she wouldn’t have blamed her. Lorna was entitled to feel that way. She’d treated her like shit, and what she’d done to her was unforgivable. If the shoe was on the other foot, she’d never have taken that call.
Still, she couldn’t help but reach out for any and all lines of defense. She’d done the best she could at the time, because back then, she didn’t know how to end it. Somewhere along the way she’d realized that they were far better friends than lovers. She saw it and felt it, but Lorna didn’t. Anna remembered being a bit shell shocked by the truth of it before going into protection mode. Things hadn’t been right between them, and every day it seemed to grow a little worse, a little heavier on her shoulders. When Sadie had come into her life, all the problems simmering between her and Lorna had become so glaring she’d never figured out how Lorna missed them. She didn’t miss a thing and chose to take the coward’s way out. No, more like grabbed it with both hands and ran. Her actions had hurt Lorna deeply, and no matter what had been happening at the time, it hadn’t been fair to her.
Since then she’d wanted to go to her at least a hundred times and apologize. Lorna wouldn’t talk to her and she didn’t push it. Despite all her regrets, she knew she didn’t have the right to insist, and to be brutally honest, she didn’t push it because it was easier. She quit trying and told herself it was okay because if Lorna wouldn’t talk to her, it wasn’t her fault she couldn’t apologize.
Lorna had always been the tougher of the two of them. Anna knew she’d broken her heart and at the same time knew she’d recover. That was the way it was with Lorna. She could face any fire and come out stronger on the other side. She had the heart of a warrior. Anna did not.
Now, she was desperate enough to face a fire of her own and risk the burn that would surely come. Six months ago, when she’d married Sadie, her world for the first time ever had felt complete. Regardless of the poor decisions she might have made in the past, the act of saying “I do” to Sadie was one hundred percent right. Happily-ever-after was never something she figured would come her way, yet when she wasn’t looking that’s exactly what had happened.
Until twenty-four hours ago.
The morning had started like most of them, with coffee and small talk at the kitchen table. It was a routine that warmed her heart just by virtue of its simple normalcy. She loved their mornings together and the way they set the tone for the coming day. Anna had headed out to her office, and Sadie went to work as well. Then poof, it was as if Sadie had dropped off the face of the earth. Her iPhone was off, her car was nowhere to be found, and she didn’t come home. Anna had waited for hours, watching out the front window for the telltale lights of her car, thinking that perhaps she hadn’t called because her phone battery had died.
Finally, Anna gave merit to the rising tide of fear and called the police. They weren’t a lot of help. Sadie was an adult. Sadie hadn’t been gone even twenty-four hours. Sadie would probably call. On and on it went with not one, but three different officers. By the time she finished talking to the third officer, she’d wanted to scream.
The police might think she’d run off, but they were full of it. Anna knew better. They had their rules and regulations, and they had their theories based on, Anna had to admit, years of experience. But none of it changed what she felt in her bones: something bad had happened to Sadie.
She’d tried to explain her own theories to them, like the fact that the television series being filmed in Spokane afforded Sadie the opportunity to fully stretch her artistic wings. When she’d dropped out of sight she was scouting locations, and that, she’d told all three officers, was something that thrilled her. No way would she take off and give it up. This television series was the opportunity of a lifetime, and Sadie would never throw that away. She wouldn’t want to leave town, because every time she went to work, she almost glowed with happy anticipation for what the new day would bring. When Sadie’d left the house that morning, she’d been really excited about the day.
After officer number three essentially blew her off, Anna felt she’d had no choice but to walk away from the police station. They couldn’t, or wouldn’t, help her at this point. But Anna wasn’t about to let their lack of response deter her. Maybe law enforcement intended to wait, but she didn’t. She had to think of some other way to find Sadie.
As she’d stood in the kitchen rolling it all over in her mind, Anna had looked down at the newspaper on the table and seen the article about Lorna and her newly discovered psychic ability. Frankly, she was surprised. In all their time together, Lorna had never admitted to so much as a twitch, let alone shown any sign of being a psychic. Still, the article was pretty flattering, as it described how she’d uncovered the truth about a hundred-year-old murder and helped capture a serial killer right here in river city.
She’d held the paper between her hands and stared at the words for a long time. If Lorna could do anything even close to what they’d written about her, it was worth a try. She’d do anything at this point to find her wife. Anything, and if that meant groveling to Lorna, so be it. Begging was absolutely on the table.
She started when Halle jumped up on the table and bumped against her shoulder. “You know better than to jump on the table.” She scolded her cat but without any malice. The warmth of the little creature was a huge comfort to her.
The tortoiseshell cat rubbed up against her arm and purred. She’d never been much of a cat person until she’d met Sadie. Before then, she’d always believed the furry little things to be aloof and without much in the way of personality. She’d considered herself a dog person. They were far friendlier and way smarter. Or so she’d believed. Boy, had she been wrong on all counts. Halle was a character, and that was putting it mildly. She was smart, friendly, and entertaining.
Sadie and Halle came as a package deal. Get one, get both, and she’d been so in love with Sadie, she was willing to give it a try despite her anti-cat mentality. It hadn’t taken long for Halle to suck her in. After getting to know her, she couldn’t im
agine not sharing her home with a cat. It was a win-win. She got the woman and she got the cat.
“We have to find her,” she said against Halle’s neck. “I hope we have help.”
Halle rubbed harder, her purr loud in the quiet kitchen. It was almost as if she were saying, “We’ll find her.”
Chapter Two
Renee was a little worried despite her vocal show of bravado. She knew exactly how much Lorna had loved Anna and how deeply she’d been hurt at Anna’s betrayal. It took a long time to bring her back from the despair that had turned her world gray, and the woman who’d emerged from that fog had captured her heart completely. In fact, she had realized not so long ago that she’d never loved anyone more.
Her road to this once-in-a-lifetime love had been long and bumpy and totally unexpected. She’d been the good girl, the one who did what was expected of her, like get married to a nice man everyone in her family loved. The last thing she’d ever wanted to do was disappoint the people who mattered to her. Her mother. Aunt Bea. They were so pleased the day she walked down the aisle.
Unfortunately, the marriage was a sham, and she’d realized it quite soon after she’d said “I do.” Or if she was being really honest, before those two words had ever passed her lips. On her wedding day she’d stood in that dressing room staring at herself in the full-length mirror and didn’t see a happy bride staring back at her. What she’d seen was a woman trapped and one too cowardly to set herself free. She’d stayed in the marriage because she’d believed it was the right thing to do. So what if she felt empty? So what if she felt like running away? She’d made a commitment and intended to see it through.
In the end, she had come to understand it was all an ugly lie that she couldn’t continue to carry forward. She’d been incredibly unfair to her now ex-husband, Bryan, and unfair to herself. Both of them had deserved to be happy, and neither of them was. She’d left Bryan, and despite the hurt she’d caused him, she’d believed with all her heart it was the right thing to do.
Twisted Screams Page 2
