Chapter 23

TWENTY-THREE

Worried, Lily’s gaze slid back to the clock. She’d watched it since five after ten this morning. It was now two-fifteen and Marissa was a no-show for her appointment at the beauty parlor. She’d called her repeatedly for four hours without getting a reply and that just wasn’t like Marissa. Since she started her tax advice company, she’d been available twenty-four/seven and taking on as many clients as possible. She grabbed her burner phone from her purse and headed into the break room. She tried calling her again, wondering if she’d gone somewhere that she didn’t want anyone to know about. After discovering her concern about the revelations in the medical examiner’s media conference, perhaps she’d sought out one of the guys to get some advice.

The call just rang and rang, and she disconnected before calling Josie. “Hey, have you seen Marissa? She was a no-show for her hair appointment today and that’s just not like her. I’ve been trying to reach her for hours without any luck.”

“We had lunch yesterday at Aunt Betty’s Café and she mentioned her hair appointment, so she hasn’t forgotten it.” Josie paused for a beat as if thinking. “The media conference has upset all of us. I’ve been worried sick since listening to what they had to say. I know Marissa was feeling the same and I figure she made some good points about giving ourselves up to the sheriff. Maybe she’s gone to speak to one of the guys and hasn’t got back yet? She could just roll up to where they work or one of the ranches to meet them. Maybe that’s where she is because we all agreed if we moved around between each other, we’d leave our phones behind so they couldn’t be traced.”

Although worry gripped Lily for her friend’s welfare, she needed to be at the beauty parlor as her assistant manager was sick. “Yeah, but I called the burner and she’s not picking that up either. You’re not too far from where she lives. Can you drop by and see if her truck is out front? If it is, maybe go and see if she’s okay. She could have taken a fall and I just don’t feel right not knowing what’s happened to her.”

“Sure, I’ll drive by and see if she’s there.” Josie was obviously not enthusiastic about going out. “ Knowing Marissa as I do, she probably turned off her phone for some reason and forgot to turn it back on. I’ll go now and take a look and give you a call when I get back.”

Relief flooded over Lily. “Thanks, I appreciate it. Chat later.” She disconnected and went back to work.

Less than half an hour later, her phone vibrated in her pocket. When the caller ID lit up Josie’s name, she excused herself from her customer and headed into the break room to answer the call. “Did you find her?”

“Nope. No sign of her truck.” The noise from Josie’s engine rattled through the earpiece. “There’s no smoke coming out of the chimney, and I don’t figure she’s in the house. The one thing I know about Marissa is that she hates the cold and always has that fire piled high with logs. I looked through the window into the family room, and the grate is cold and filled with ashes as if it’s being left to burn overnight. There’s no way she lit a fire there this morning. I wonder where the heck she is.”

Lily’s stomach dropped. “Did you check out back in case she’d had a fall?”

“Yeah, I looked all around the place, including her sheds and the old garage. I felt like a Peeping Tom. The kitchen is neat and tidy as if she just walked out. No dishes in the sink. I could clearly see into the mudroom and the coat that she always wears is missing. She is not in the house. What do you want me to do? Is she legally a missing person or do we need to wait twenty-four hours or whatever?”

Chewing on her bottom lip, Lily stared out of the beauty parlor window and along to the pizzeria. She noticed Jess Hallon slipping inside. “I see Jess. I’ll go and speak to him and see if he’s heard anything. She might have contacted one of the guys about her concerns with the media conference. He’s in the pizzeria, no one will notice me in there. People are coming and going all day.”

“Okay, find out what he knows and get back to me.” Josie cleared her throat. “If we can’t find her, we’ll need to report her missing.” She disconnected.