Can't Find My Way Home

by Carlene Thompson

  ‘I want more than that.’ And I’m sure Mark did, too, Brynn thought. ‘Our house sold less than three months after we left town. That was a godsend. We had a savings account and Mark’s and my college funds, but still – well, I don’t have to tell you how things were for us financially. Selling that particular house so quickly was beyond lucky. What was the appeal? Don’t tell me it was its background.’

  ‘The buyers knew the history of the house but that had nothing to do with their interest.’

  ‘Then what was it?’

  Sam didn’t answer. Instead, he began typing on his computer, and in a moment had an answer. ‘The house wasn’t sold to a family, Brynn. Farrah-Stef Realty bought it for a very reasonable price.’

  ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘It’s a company owned by Kalidone Corporation.’

  ‘Kalidone Corporation? I never heard of them. What do they make?’

  ‘They’re a widely diversified corporation. Apparently they make a lot of things.’ Brynn stared at him for a moment. ‘These details can be very boring and frankly, I’m no computer whiz, but maybe I can be of more help.’ Sam began pecking clumsily at keys on his computer. ‘Umm, I’m afraid I’m not finding much,’ he mumbled, still tapping keys and peering at the monitor. After mumbling, ‘Well, hummm,’ and ‘That’s frustrating,’ twice, he looked up and shook his head. ‘Not much luck, I’m afraid.’

  ‘I thought you said Kalidone was widely diversified.’

  ‘It was, but we’re talking about eighteen years ago, Brynn. You know the shape the economy’s been in during all that time. Mergers. Corporate takeovers.’

  ‘Yes, I do, but for a major corporation to vanish with no information on the internet seems strange.’

  ‘I doubt if it just vanished. Kalidone probably merged with another corporation and they changed the name. Or it could have been bought by a larger corporation. Absorbed, sort of.’

  ‘Absorbed.’

  ‘Yes, when it became part of the larger business—’

  ‘I understand what “absorbed” means, Sam.’ I don’t understand why you’re talking to me like I’m a child, she thought. ‘Never mind Kalidone. What about the realty company? Feron-Step?’

  ‘Farrah-Stef.’ He spelled it.

  ‘Well, what’s going on with Farrah-Stef?’

  ‘Let’s seeeeee …’ Sam’s forehead wrinkled. Again he poked at keys, muttered ‘oops’ a couple of times and finally peered at the monitor. ‘Well, shoot,’ he said finally. ‘There’s nothing.’ He looked up and smiled. ‘Nothing.’

  ‘Nothing,’ Brynn repeated flatly. ‘Did Mark ask you these questions?’

  ‘Some of them. I told him the same thing. It’s frustrating.’

  Yes, Brynn thought. Damned frustrating. And odd. So is your lack of reaction, the carefully empty look in your eyes, the frozen smile on your face. She stared at Sam. His smile didn’t waver. Obviously time to give up.

  ‘Well, thanks so much for your help, Sam.’

  ‘Do you want to tour your old house?’

  ‘Maybe another day.’

  ‘Fine, but I have a client who’s extremely interested. I think he might make a good offer soon, so if you do want to see it, let me know, day or evening.’ Sam paused, frowning at her. ‘Brynn, are you going to keep up this search for the original buyers?’

  Was she imagining the trace of anxiety in his voice? Brynn decided to be careful. ‘If you can’t find anything about those companies, then I’m sure I can’t. I’m no computer whiz, either.’ She laughed. ‘I don’t even remember the companies’ names, anyway.’

  ‘Farrah-Stef Realty, Kalidone Corporation,’ she said to herself for the fifth time as she climbed into her car and waved gaily at Sam, who stared at her thoughtfully from his office window.

  It was nearly five when Brynn pulled onto Cassie’s driveway. She felt like she’d run a marathon although she’d accomplished little in terms of finding Mark or even tracing his footsteps since he’d arrived in Genessa Point. Distracted, she fished in her oversized bag for the house keys when the front door swung open and a man said, ‘As I live and breathe! If it isn’t the famous Brynn Wilder.’

  Ray O’Hara – Cassie’s ex-husband – stood in front of her: tall and muscular, with longish, coarse rusty-brown hair pulled back in a ponytail and slightly bloodshot olive-green eyes regarding her with a self-satisfied smirk.

  After a shocked moment, Brynn managed, ‘What are you doing here?’

  ‘I live here,’ Ray answered smoothly.

  ‘Oh, really? Does Cassie know?’

  Ray laughed. ‘You always were a smart alec.’

  ‘Funny. That’s what people say about you.’ Although she’d never thought of Ray O’Hara as a danger in the past, circumstances had changed. Now she wasn’t so sure of his harmlessness. He’d acquired a toughness over the years. Brynn knew he’d gotten in trouble for bar brawls and he’d dabbled with drugs before Cassie had divorced him, a divorce he’d fought. He had no business in Cassie’s house and Brynn suddenly felt fiercely protective of her friend. Even if Ray wasn’t looking for trouble, she didn’t want Cassie walking in alone to find Ray here.

  Brynn remembered how her friends used to praise her bravery, drew on her childhood resources and looked at Ray steadily. ‘Would you mind stepping aside so an invited guest can enter?’

  ‘What makes you think I haven’t been invited?’

  ‘Intuition.’

  ‘Things have gotten better between Cassie and me.’

  ‘Not that I’ve heard.’ They exchanged unflinching stares. ‘Well, are you going to let me in, Ray, or do I have to call the police?’

  ‘Come right in. No one’s stopping you.’ Ray took one step back. Brynn had to squeeze past him. He snickered when her thigh touched his. ‘Welcome, Miss Wilder. Or may I still call you Brynn?’

  ‘I’m sure you’d rather call me something less polite than Brynn or Miss Wilder, but Brynn will do.’

  Ray tossed back his head and laughed. Cassie used to think his laugh was sexy. Brynn had always found it loud and raw, like he had an inflamed throat. ‘The years haven’t changed your sense of humor, Brynn.’

  ‘I don’t think you meant that as a compliment,’ she said flippantly, although his authoritative stance and the arrogant look in his eyes made her nervous. ‘You never told me what you’re doing here, Ray.’

  ‘I left a few things behind when I moved out. Cassie won’t mind me being here.’

  ‘Did she know you were coming today?’

  ‘No, but this is my home.’

  ‘This isn’t your home.’

  He dug in his jeans pocket and came up with a key. ‘Would Cassie have let me keep a key if she wanted to keep me out?’

  ‘I know she doesn’t want you here.’

  ‘She doesn’t care.’

  Brynn sighed. She couldn’t shake Ray’s confident, domineering manner and she couldn’t stand his eyes roving over her body a second longer. ‘We could argue that point all day, Ray, and I’m tired. And thirsty. Why don’t you just sit down in your living room and I’ll get something to drink?’

  ‘Can’t have you accusing me of being a bad host. You sit down and I’ll get you a drink.’ He walked into the kitchen. ‘Coke?’

  ‘Wine.’

  ‘I forgot. Cass told me you drink like a fish these days.’

  ‘Oh, she did not. I’d like sweet white wine. I know she has some.’

  He clattered around in the kitchen for a few minutes, then brought her a brimming glass. ‘M’lady.’

  ‘I didn’t ask for the whole bottle,’ Brynn said, trying not to spill wine as she took the glass.

  ‘No fun today, are you? Things not going your way?’

  Brynn ignored him and took a gulp of wine, wishing it were vodka instead. Vodka gave her courage. Ray sat down on a recliner across from her and lit a cigarette. He wore a small gold hoop in his left lobe, a scar bisected his right eyebrow, and the short sleeve of his tight white T-shirt
exposed a large Aztec sun tattoo decorating one bulging bicep. He was still oddly striking, but he’d lost the handsomeness of his youth. His skin was weathered beneath its stubble and deep lines creased his forehead. He could have passed for forty-six instead of his thirty-six years, and the look from his once-mischievous eyes now showed disillusionment.

  He leaned back on the recliner, crossed ankle over knee, sniffed and tried to look like the master of the domain. ‘So, writing’s been good to you, Brynn.’

  ‘Yes.’ She took another gulp of wine as his penetrating gaze never left her face. ‘I wrote the first book with no expectations at all. Its popularity was a complete shock to me.’

  ‘I’ve never read any of your books. Kids stuff, right?’

  ‘Young adult audiences like it but it’s doing even better in the adult market.’

  ‘Well, will wonders never cease.’

  ‘Everyone thought you’d be the bestseller.’ She heard the waspish tone of her voice and tried to take off the edge. ‘Cassie sent me some of the stories you wrote back when you were working at the newspaper.’

  ‘I quit to devote myself to real writing.’ He leaned forward and tapped off his unfiltered cigarette ashes in an empty Waterford crystal candy dish on Cassie’s coffee table. ‘I’m working on my novel and writing some other projects.’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘Last month I was in California helping a friend put together a documentary, and I’ve just done a couple of articles about guys on death row. Face-to-face interviews.’ Ray took a deep draw of his cigarette and breathed it out toward Brynn. ‘Now that I’ve finally got a little time to myself, I’m going back to work on my book.’

  ‘What’s it about?’ Brynn asked.

  ‘Ah, Brynn, I know better than to divulge my topic too early,’ he said cockily.

  ‘I wouldn’t steal your plot, Ray.’

  ‘With the last name of Wilder, I’m not so sure.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’

  Ray shrugged again and grinned as he scratched his neck lazily.

  Brynn sat tightly holding her wineglass, wishing she could stand up, stride over to Ray and slap his face with all her might. Instead, as their gazes locked and burned, Cassie walked in gaily, then slammed the door and shouted, ‘Ray! What the hell are you doing here?’

  After five non-stop minutes of yelling at each other, Cassie and Ray froze at the sound of the doorbell. Their eyes widened and Cassie asked, ‘Who’s that?’

  ‘The neighbors, no doubt,’ Brynn said in relief. ‘You should stop standing like a couple of statues and go to the door.’

  Cassie hesitated, then walked to the front door and swung it wide open. Brynn could see Garrett Dane standing on the porch. ‘Did I come at a bad time?’ he asked wryly.

  ‘I think you came at just the right time,’ Brynn called to him. ‘Please come in.’

  Garrett walked in, tall and slender in his uniform, his smile slipping while his laser-blue gaze darted between Cassie and Ray. ‘Anything wrong here?’

  Ray immediately became congenial, relaxing his posture as he laughed. ‘Nothing except that I scared Cassie. She wasn’t expecting me and she found me here with Brynn and, well … you know how women are!’ He had the nerve to wink and grin as he extended his hand and boomed, ‘How’ve ya been, Garrett?’

  Garrett simply looked at the extended hand for a moment before saying, ‘I thought you’d left Genessa Point.’

  Ray’s smile wavered but he answered heartily, ‘I came back for the festival. Couldn’t miss it now, could I? After all, I’ve lived here most of my life.’

  ‘And you decided to visit Cassie unannounced?’

  Ray’s expression hardened. ‘She’s my wife and this is my house, Garrett. I don’t have to explain myself to you.’

  ‘I am not your wife and this is not your house,’ Cassie blustered. ‘Did Brynn let you in?’

  ‘I certainly didn’t! He has a key.’

  ‘A key!’ Cassie glared at Ray. ‘Where did you get a key?’

  ‘I had keys to all the doors when I lived here. I just forgot to give one back,’ he said with maddening patience. ‘What’s the big deal?’

  ‘I want that key!’ Cassie demanded.

  Ray huffed and handed it to her. ‘Satisfied?’

  ‘You kept that key on purpose,’ she said as Ray shrugged again and sniffed. ‘Admit it!’

  ‘I need to talk to Brynn,’ Garrett said calmly. ‘We’ll go out on the porch while the two of you work this out. Is that all right, Brynn?’

  She stood up and walked out the front door without looking at Ray. She worried about leaving Cassie alone with him, but Garrett would only be a few feet away.

  Garrett shut the door behind them and steered her toward the porch swing. They both listened as voices rose again inside.

  ‘I hope he doesn’t hurt her,’ Brynn said.

  ‘He won’t.’ Garrett sat a couple of feet away from her. ‘He’s not drunk and he’s fully aware that I’m not only the sheriff, I’m armed.’

  ‘Would you please go in and shoot him for me?’

  Garrett grinned. ‘Did he piss you off?’

  ‘Royally.’

  ‘Ray’s always had a knack for rubbing people the wrong way. I couldn’t believe it when Cassie married the jerk.’

  ‘She thought he was sexy and romantic and an intellectual genius. Believe it or not, that’s a direct quote from a letter she sent me.’

  ‘Was she high? On crack?’

  Garrett had managed to make her giggle. ‘Just young.’

  ‘I can’t imagine a smart girl being that young.’

  ‘Well, in a very few years you’ll have to deal with a smart young girl’s fantasies yourself.’

  ‘Savannah will never be so …’

  ‘Goofy? Wipe that smug expression off your face and trust me. Savannah’s day will come.’ Brynn smiled at him. ‘Did you really want to talk to me, Garrett, or were you just looking for an escape from the melee inside?’

  ‘I have some information about Mark for you. Well, not directly about Mark. It’s about the car.’

  ‘Oh.’ Brynn stiffened. ‘The blood.’

  ‘I won’t bother you with a lot of technicalities. The blood was Mark’s type, but the techs didn’t find enough to indicate serious blood loss in a grown male.’ Garrett paused. ‘Do you understand, Brynn? An adult, maybe not even Mark, lost O positive blood in that car, but not enough to cause death or even to indicate serious injury.’

  Brynn finally let out her breath. ‘Thank God.’

  ‘They found Mark’s fingerprints in the car, on the back and front seats, but that was to be expected. They found a lot of other prints, too, but no matches to IAFIS – Integrated Automated Fingerprint System. A background check had never been run on anyone who had those fingerprints. Also, there was no damage to the upholstery. In other words, no holes or tears caused by a bullet or knife.’

  ‘So he wasn’t injured in the car?’

  ‘Well, there are other ways. He could have been struck over the head. Scalp wounds bleed like crazy.’

  ‘His neck?’

  ‘If so, the attacker didn’t get a major vein or artery. Not enough blood was lost.’

  ‘OK.’ Brynn smiled weakly. ‘I’m imagining the worst. Go on.’

  ‘We wondered why the car was in the middle of nowhere,’ Garrett said. ‘The oil pan cap had come loose. We found it on the highway and a trail of oil ending not far from where we found the car. When the car ran out of oil it stopped. It doesn’t show any signs of being moved by a tow truck so, luckily for the driver, the cluster of trees must have been nearby so he could push it to a hiding place.’

  ‘You mean whoever took Mark didn’t deliberately hide the car in the trees?’

  ‘Doesn’t look like it.’

  Brynn frowned. ‘Were there any buildings around where someone could have hidden Mark?’

  ‘No buildings.’

  ‘Then where—’
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br />   ‘I think a second car was involved, Brynn. When Mark’s car broke down, one driver hid it and the victim was placed in a second car and taken away. Someone had to be driving that second car.’

  ‘A second car,’ Brynn said thoughtfully. ‘Do you have any idea what direction it could have gone in?’

  ‘It hasn’t rained for over a week. The ground is hard and the grass growth is sparse in that area, so there are no convenient tire tracks to follow.’ Garrett paused. ‘I’m sorry I don’t have more to tell you, but this has changed my take on the case. I thought one person kidnapped another. I thought the victim either died of blood loss or was murdered then buried somewhere near the car, even though we couldn’t find any evidence of the ground being disturbed.’

  Brynn looked at him. ‘You keep saying “the victim” instead of Mark. You think Mark is the kidnapper.’

  ‘Frankly, I’m not sure. I thought your brother had a nervous breakdown – something that sent him back to the past when maybe he was your father’s partner. It seemed possible to me that he went into a spiral, came back here and kidnapped someone.’

  ‘You mean you thought – think – he was my father’s partner in the murders and he was reliving past behavior.’

  ‘I thought it was possible. I wasn’t sure what happened.’

  ‘Your father didn’t think in terms of possibilities. He thought he knew.’

  ‘And I’ve told you, I’m not my father,’ Garrett said, giving her a hard, steady look before he glanced away.

  ‘All right. I’m sorry. This isn’t about your father. But mine didn’t—’ Brynn broke off. ‘This isn’t the time to talk about your father or mine. It’s time to concentrate on Mark. Do you still think it’s a strong possibility that Mark kidnapped someone?’

  ‘Well, I know that no one besides Mark has been reported missing.’ He finally looked at her. ‘And now I’m sure three people were involved – there were two kidnappers, Brynn. If your brother took someone, he didn’t do it alone and I don’t think he brought an accomplice from Baltimore.’

  ‘And that means—’

  ‘Someone else in this town is involved in a kidnapping and probably a murder.’