“I’m on it, son. I’ll call you as soon as I get there. You hear anything, though, you call me. Immediately.” He made his tone firm, resolute. Making sure there was no misunderstanding, he wasn’t about to be left out of the search process. Patricia was his wife, and he meant to be there when they found her.
“I’ll call, Dad. Stay safe.”
“You too.”
“Love you, Dad. We’ll find her.”
Douglas felt the wetness behind his lids and cleared his throat to be able to speak past the sudden lump there.
“Love you, too, Rafe. Always.”
Disconnecting the call, Douglas started praying again.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Okay, guys, we’ve got a situation.” Rafe watched his brothers’ faces, at least those standing in front of his desk at the sheriff’s station. The others were on the phone, waiting to hear what Rafe was calling about.
“What’s up, bro?” Heath leaned against the doorjamb, one ankle crossed over the other, his posture relaxed, like he didn’t have a care in the world. Which was probably true because he’d spent the morning with Camilla. Antonio and Chance stood in his office too. Lucas and Brody occupied the two chairs in front of his desk, and all the testosterone in the room made the hairs on the back of Rafe’s neck rise.
“Yeah, Rafe, what’s so urgent you’ve got everybody here, either in person or on the phone?” Ridge’s voice came through loud and clear, though Rafe knew he was in his truck, on the way into town. Shiloh was with Ridge, which accounted for two more of his brothers. He hadn’t been able to get hold of Liam yet; he was on the job site, but he’d left a message for him to call ASAP. Dane was out of town with Destiny, though they were due back any minute. Nobody was about to miss the festivities planned for the next day. Joshua was on his way from the Big House, but he was on the call. That pretty much accounted for everybody, and he needed them all, because he had to break the news to them that their momma was missing.
He expected his dad to walk through the doors any minute, and it killed him inside to have to give him the news that he hadn’t been able to find her. Yet. Rafe wasn’t about to give up, and he knew once his brothers found out, they’d be scouring the entire county until they found her, alive and kicking and probably ready to give them heck for wasting their time looking for her. At least, he hoped so.
“Guys, we’ve got a problem.” He paused and drew in a deep breath, knowing it was best to just put it out there, without sugar coating the issue. “Momma’s missing.”
Everyone started talking at once, questions flying. “What do you mean Momma’s missing? I talked to her this morning and everything was fine.” Ridge’s voice seemed overly loud through the phone’s speaker. Of course, he was practically shouting to be heard over the rest of the rabble.
“What time did you talk to her? Did she mention anything about where she was going, what her plans were?” Rafe slid into professional mode, knowing he had to remain calm and collected, even though he was nearly as frantic as his brothers appeared. Wouldn’t do anybody any good if he went off half-cocked; that wasn’t the way to work a case.
“Only thing she said was she was meeting up with the ladies to work on Beth’s baby shower. Are you telling us she didn’t get there?”
Rafe sighed. “Nobody’s seen or talked to her since this morning, as far as I’ve been able to determine. She mentioned a house she was going to stop by and look at before heading to Jill’s to meet up with the gals. Unfortunately, she didn’t leave any information about exactly where this house is or who she’s working with. Elizabeth hasn’t seen her or talked with her.”
“That’s not like her. She always lets the office know where she’s going to be. I’m assuming you can’t get her on her cell?” Antonio’s dark gaze met Rafe’s, and he shook his head.
“No answer. Several of us have tried, including Dad, and there’s been no answer.”
His brothers started speaking amongst themselves, and he could hear Ridge and Shiloh’s voices through the phone’s speaker, though they weren’t talking loudly. Rafe rubbed a hand against his forehead, worry eating away at him. His first knee jerk reaction when he’d heard from Tessa that nobody been able to contact his momma was she’d simply turned off her phone and forgot to turn it back on. But as one hour and then two passed and still no contact? Definitely not like his momma.
Sally Anne peaked around Heath’s shoulder, since he still blocked the doorway to the office. “Sheriff, your brother, Liam’s, on line two. Said you called and wanted to speak to him stat.”
“Thanks.” Putting the other call on hold, Rafe answered line two, putting it on speaker. “Liam, any chance you’ve talked to Momma this morning?”
“Sure did,” he answered. “She had some car trouble on the way to town. Frank’s working on her car and I loaned her my new truck. Why?”
“Did she happen to tell you where she was headed?”
“Lemme think a sec. She mentioned going to look at a property, something about a new listing. Some guy’s uncle passed and left him a house and a bit of land. Momma planned to stop and take a look so she could give him advice on what he needed to fix up if he wanted to sell it for top dollar. Rafe, what’s going on?”
“Nobody’s been able to get in contact with Momma since this morning. Looks like you’re the last person to talk with her.”
“Wait, she was supposed to go to Jill’s bakery after she looked at the new property. She never showed?”
“Nobody’s seen her. None of the ladies have been able to contact her. Dad either.”
“Bro, I’m leaving the site now. I can be there in less than an hour. What can I do?”
“I’ve rounded up everybody. The ladies are going to stay put at Jill’s and at the church, in case Momma shows up there. The rest of us are going to spread out and look for her. I’ll have Sally Anne check to see who died in the last several months, see who owned property—”
