Dru had heard Vanessa calling herself the old maid of the bunch. She had never dated anyone seriously that Dru knew of. Shea said Van was too opinionated. She had a tongue like a lash. Not many guys wanted to contend with Van’s cynical view of them, herself, the world.
“I don’t know,” Kate said. “I’m not in a rush. Especially now after what’s happened. It’s the last thing on my mind.”
“Did Erik say when he last talked to AJ?” Shea was pleading with Kate.
Dru’s heart turned over. She wanted to go to Shea, to wrap her daughter in her arms, but she knew better, knew Shea wouldn’t have it.
“Yesterday, at lunch,” Kate answered. “AJ called him to find out when he was planning to get his tux fitted. But you talked to AJ after that. You must be the last one who did.”
“That we know of,” Shea said. “Something terrible has happened to him.” She paced to the breakfast-nook window. “I can feel it.” She turned to face them, her mother, her friends. “I’m going to get people searching for him. I don’t care what anyone says. We need to get flyers up, get the word out.”
“Where?” Dru asked.
“In Dallas, around the apartment complex and the neighborhood where the school is. Here, in town, too. There are places up and down 1620 between here and the turnoff for the xL.” FM 1620 was the main road, running east and west through Wyatt. There were a few small businesses scattered along the section Shea had mentioned, a convenience store, one or two gas stations.
Kate said, “He could be anywhere, though.”
Shea said that was her point. “He could be hurt. Someone could have him locked up somewhere; I don’t know. But somebody does. That’s why we need to get photos of him out there. Someone might recognize him. If only we could get news coverage—”
“If someone has him, they could be dangerous,” Vanessa said. “Maybe you should leave it to the police to do the looking.”
“But they aren’t looking for him; they’re hunting him down like he’s a criminal.”
Van ducked her gaze.
Shea looked back at Kate. “Will you help me make flyers? We can do them on the computer.”
Dru, stepping through the archway that separated the kitchen from the breakfast room, said, “Maybe you want to come with me to the Westins’. I’m going to drop off this meal and give them my condolences.”
“What?” Shea stared at her. “Are you crazy, Mom? What if they’re like the police and think AJ is responsible?”
Vanessa said, “I heard the police in Dallas called her parents to come and ID her body.”
“Oh my God, that’s awful,” Kate said.
Dru got the sack with the food inside it from the kitchen. “I’ll leave this with the neighbors if they aren’t home.”
“You’re really going?” Shea was in disbelief.
“Yes, because no matter how it occurred, Joy and Gene have lost their daughter. Taking them a meal is the least I can do.”
“Okay, but don’t be surprised if they slam the door in your face.” Shea sounded more forlorn than bitter.
“You’ll be here when I get back?” Dru asked her. She looked around at the other girls. “I could pick up a pizza.”
Her query was met with a chorus of maybes. Shea said flat-out she couldn’t eat.
Letting it go at that, Dru walked outside to her car. A SUV she didn’t recognize pulled up the driveway, a Lexus so new the dealer tags were still on it. She recognized Erik Ayala at the wheel. She clicked open the garage door, a signal to him that she was leaving and he should park on the apron.
“Hey, Mrs. Gallagher,” he said, coming toward her.
“You have a new car,” she said.
He glanced at the SUV. “Nah. It’s off the lot where I’m working. One of the perks of the job, driving the cars. Pretty sweet ride, though, huh?” He didn’t wait for Dru’s answer. “God, I can’t believe this is happening, can you? Poor Becca.” His dark eyes were somber, worry filled.
“I know. It’s terrible. Shea, Kate, Leigh, and Vanessa are inside. You haven’t heard from AJ at all?”
“I wish to God I had.” Erik shifted his glance. “I know how it looks, too, what everyone’s saying.”
“Shea had to talk to a detective in Dallas. The police there seem to think she knows where AJ is, that she’s involved in some way.”
“Yeah, I talked to them. They think the same thing about me.” Erik brought his gaze back to Dru. “Because we’re close to him, you know? How’s Shea holding up?”
“She wants to put up missing-person flyers. Lily’s got her half-convinced he’s at the ranch, hiding. But I don’t know why he’d hide. Do you?”
“I hope he is at the ranch, because like I told Kate, the alternative—what scares me is that AJ was the target. They took him, and they’re holding him for ransom.”
“God, I hadn’t thought of that.” It sounded so dramatic, like something from the movies or television. Dru held Erik’s troubled gaze. “You said they just now. You think if he was taken, there was more than one person?”
“AJ’s a big guy.”
Dru saw Erik’s point. AJ was over six feet and strong. It would have taken a lot to subdue him. “There hasn’t been a ransom demand, has there?” she asked.
“Not that I’ve heard, but the cops may not publicize it.”
Erik was right, Dru thought. They might insist that even Lily maintain secrecy.
“Becca was such a good person,” Erik said. “Really sweet and kind. She never hurt anyone. It’s fucked-up. Sorry.”
For the language, he meant. Dru said it was fine, and after a beat, she said, “Vanessa thinks Becca still had feelings for AJ.”
Erik frowned. “Really? I guess—I set them up. New Year’s Eve, a year ago. They split a few weeks later.”
“They weren’t serious then?”
“AJ wasn’t. He’s the one who broke it off.”
“Becca was unhappy about it?”
“Yeah, but she knew AJ wasn’t coming back.”
“She introduced Shea to AJ, though, right?”
Erik chuffed a wry breath. “She did, but it wasn’t like she could have known she was bringing together the couple of the century.”
“She regretted it?”
“Becca could be a bit of a drama queen, but she was a good sport. She was happy for them. She bragged about what a great matchmaker she was.”
“So what was she doing at AJ’s apartment?”
“I don’t know. Maybe she did think she could change his mind.” Erik shrugged.
“He let her in and they argued—” Dru was thinking out loud.
“She could have let herself in,” Erik said. “AJ kept a key outside, in one of the gas lamps. We all knew about it.”
Dru shifted the weight of the grocery sack to her other arm.
“What’s Van trying to say, anyway? That Becca was stalking AJ, so he killed her? That’s total bullshit. Sorry, my mouth gets away with me.”
“It’s all right.” Dru asked Erik about his mother. “I heard she went home to Oaxaca, that her mother died. I’m so sorry.”
“Yeah,” Erik said. “They weren’t really close, but Mom felt obligated. You know Catholics, big on guilt.” He grinned briefly. “My grandmother never forgave Mom for leaving there, for wanting a better life. She always said Mom turned her back on her heritage.”
“Well, it must have been hard for your grandmother, having her daughter and her grandson so far away—in another country.”