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“All they know is what they see and what they’re told,” Nick said. “Their imaginations fill in the blanks however they will. And people are all too happy to go down that road.”
“This town,” Melissa muttered.
“Is like any small town anywhere,” Nick said. “Gossip is an Olympic sport.”
“I was frightened,” Melissa said, tears rising. “And I called theonefriend I have in this shithole place!”
She started to cry, and Will Faulkner put a hand on her shoulder and let her lean into him. If they weren’t a couple, they should have been, Nick thought. The ease they had with each other was natural. Faulkner was automatically protective of her and deferential toward her. It was hard to believe there wasn’t something more to the relationship, but at the same time, they didn’t seem to be trying to hide anything.
It was clear the Mercier marriage had been in trouble before Marc’s disappearance. If Marc was, as Luc suggested, just off havinga temper tantrum, he had left the door wide open for Will Faulkner and Melissa to find their way together.
Luc had suggested Faulkner was gay, but that might just have been his redneck bias against a successful, educated, white-collar city guy.
“This is the number,” Will said, reading it off.
Nick typed it into a text to Wynn Dixon withfind out whose number this is ASAP. Wynn responded instantly with a thumbs-up emoji.
“Do you have security cameras on the house?” he asked.
“Just the doorbell,” Melissa said.
Will shook his head in irritation. “I called my security people this morning. They’ll be here tomorrow to put cameras up.”
“Have you spoken with any of Marc’s friends?” Nick asked.
“The few that I know,” Melissa said, wiping her tears away. The baby fussed and reached out a chubby hand, trying to grab the tissue. “No one knows anything. Or they’re not telling me. I’ve tried five times to call his buddy Dozer. He doesn’t answer. His voicemail is full.”
“I spoke with Dozer today,” Nick said. “He says he lost his cell phone Halloween night.”
“I called everyone I could think of who might know Marc, even a little bit,” Will said. “No one had any answers. A bunch of people saw him at Monster Bash, but that’s more than a week ago.”
“What about Robbie Fontenot?” Nick asked. “He and Marc went to school together. Do either of you know him?”
“I don’t know him,” Will said. “I know his mother to say hello. We’ve been trying to get her to let us add her home to the annual charity house tour for some years. She lives over on Belle Terre. Gorgeous old Queen Anne house. But she’s a very private person. I don’t know the son other than by reputation—which is not good, as I’m sure you know.”
“Melissa? Have you ever heard Marc mention Robbie?”
She shook her head. “I’d never heard of him until the news yesterday. Is he somehow connected?”
“We don’t know. They just both happen to be missing at the same time. So far, I’ve found no recent connection between the two,” Nick said. “Will, if you can get me a list of the people you spoke to who saw Marc at Monster Bash, I’d appreciate that.”
“Yeah. No problem,” Faulkner said. “People keep asking me if there’s a search party they can join.”
“Until we have some idea where to look, there’s no sense in organizing a search,” Nick said. “For now, we’ve got the Wildlife agents and the sheriff’s office boats on the lookout. The second we have some clue as to a specific area, we’ll deploy all the search resources we have. We’re in the process of getting Marc’s cell phone records today. That might give us a starting point.”
“I’ll tell you what,” Will said. “If Marc’s not the one lying in the morgue, I will personally kick his ass when he comes back. Putting Melissa through this—and the rest of us…So irresponsibly thoughtless. And you know, as much as I like Marc, he can be spoiled and selfish, and here we are.
“I don’t mean for that to sound like I wish him ill,” he hastened to add.
“Of course not,” Nick said. “It’s normal, what you’re feeling, that swing of emotions. Sometimes that anger saves you from despair.”
The baby gave a little squeal of frustration and started to cry even as she tried to stick her fist in her mouth. Will plucked her off Melissa’s lap and started walking her around the room, bouncing her on his arm like an old pro, making silly faces at her in an attempt to distract her from her discomfort.
Nick rose. “I’ll have a look around your yard, then I’ll leave you. If I get any information, I’ll be in touch. And you both have my number if you need me.”
He went out the French doors into the fenced yard and walked the perimeter. Tall hedges all around created a private retreat decorated with rosebushes and climbing vines. An old live oak gave shade—and cover, he thought. Someone standing in its shadows had a good view of the house with three sets of French doors and nodraperies. At night with the interior lights on, it would be like watching a giant television. But if anyone had been out there the night before, they had left no obvious signs.
He let himself out a small unlocked gate near the garage. As soon as the reporters saw him, they started rushing up the driveway.
