Patsy closed her eyes. Her forehead wrinkled in concentration. She raised her eyelids and stared at Carly. “He’s not dead. I’d know it if he was. We have to find him.”
Normally Carly and her three siblings joked about their mother’s feelings. Patsy always seemed to know things she shouldn’t. But nothing was funny about today. Please let her be right.
“Seth is doing everything possible. He’s calling Zane in to help.” Carly stood. “He wants me to take care of Amber Lynn’s little girl. Will you be all right here with Brianna?” Carly asked.
“Of course.” Patsy rubbed her arms for a few seconds before standing up straight. Though she was clearly shaken, Patsy would function. She always did. She was the strongest person Carly knew.
Carly squeezed her mom’s shoulder. “Seth won’t stop until he finds Bruce.”
“I know.” Patsy lifted her chin. Determination tightened her mouth and deepened the lines around her eyes. She’d aged since Bill’s murder. “You go. I’ll make some calls, get folks to start looking.” No doubt Patsy would call everyone in her phone book. In thirty minutes the whole town would be searching for Bruce.
“I’ll call James and Stevie,” Carly said. “I’ll let you know the second I hear anything.”
James was her oldest sibling and the mayor. Carly’s sister, Stevie, was a Solitude cop. Although since Stevie and Zane were dating, Stevie would probably hear the news from him.
After telling Brianna she had to run a quick errand for work, Carly said goodbye and headed toward Amber Lynn’s apartment in Hannon. Putting her phone on speaker, she called the office to apprise her boss of the situation, though she knew he wouldn’t object to her taking the case. Family services was chronically short staffed. If she wanted to take on more work, her boss would say yes, thank you, and hallelujah.
Carly kept an eye on the side of the road for Bruce’s van. This was the route Bruce would have driven the night before. What if he’d had an accident? Flurries were drifting onto the windshield of her Jeep, and the temperature was dropping. If Bruce was out there somewhere, they had to find him.
Less than an hour after Seth’s call, she parked in front of the apartment complex. Getting out of her Jeep, she saw Seth’s car and a few marked police cars in the parking lot. Carly passed a uniformed deputy. Yellow crime scene tape marked the closed door of what was likely Amber Lynn’s apartment. Seth would be inside, going through that poor girl’s things.
With a tight chest, Carly continued along the concrete walkway toward the apartment number Seth had given her. She knocked, and an older woman opened the door. Carly produced her official ID and introduced herself.
“I’m Mrs. Kaminsky.” She led Carly into the kitchen. The baby sat in a high chair, happily working her way through a plate of scrambled eggs and diced peaches. Another, younger woman leaned on the counter. Her eyes were wet and her nose red. Mrs. Kaminsky gestured. “This is Misty. She lived in 40B. She was a friend of Amber Lynn’s.”
Misty was around thirty. Her blonde hair was scraped back into a tight ponytail. A red-and-yellow Denny’s logo decorated the sleeve of her black polo shirt. “I can’t believe she’s gone.”
“I’m sorry,” Carly said. “Do either of you know Amber Lynn’s family or the baby’s father?”
Mrs. Kaminsky huffed. “Tell her what you told me, Misty.”
“I came home yesterday after my shift. On my way up the stairs, I passed Travis, that’s Charlotte’s daddy. He and Amber Lynn were arguing inside her apartment. The door was open. Amber Lynn didn’t like being alone with him.” Misty hiked her purse strap higher on her shoulder. Worry lines creased her forehead.
“Could you hear what they were fighting about?” Carly asked.
Misty nodded. “Money. Travis just got released on parole a few weeks ago. Amber Lynn didn’t want him anywhere near that baby. She’d told me before that his temper was too quick to be trusted around a child. I got the impression he’d hit Amber Lynn in the past. She didn’t need to worry, though. He didn’t want anything to do with the baby. All he wanted was cash. He had the nerve to ask her for money, even though he’s never paid a cent to help support his child.”
“Do you know if she gave him money?” Carly asked.
“Amber didn’t have any to spare.” Misty wiped a tear from her cheek. “Her new boyfriend, Bruce, showed up and got in Travis’s face. It looked like they were going to go at it, but Amber Lynn stepped between them and broke it up. I’d hoped once Travis saw her new boyfriend wasn’t going to put up with his shit, he’d leave Amber Lynn alone. I guess that’s not what happened.”