Page 21 of Glimmer in the Darkness

Reid worked at HCI corporate, which was just a block behind Main Street, but he hadn’t returned to work since Ella’s disappearance.

James had stopped by the little house a few blocks from here that Reid and Denise had bought right after the wedding. Though Reid could afford better now, he’d kept the place. Easy to keep up, he always said, and close to work and the daycare where he left Ella a few days a week.

Both Reid’s parents and Denise’s had been at the house that morning, along with a police officer. With no new information, the mood had been somber, to say the least. After James had greeted and hugged the family, he’d found a spot on the couch, and they’d all sat, mostly in silence, for a good half hour.

Based on the fact that nobody had reamed him out when he walked in, Vince hadn’t told Reid that James had spoken with Cassidy. He’d need to thank his friend for that mercy.

The only topic of conversation had been Denise.

It seemed Denise had been high on the list of suspects in Ella’s kidnapping. Nobody had more motive to take Ella than her mother, who’d lost custody, and what better time to snatch her than right after another kid went missing?

The news of the day was not only that Denise couldn’t have done it, as she was in Oklahoma, of all places, shooting a movie, but that she didn’t plan to return to Coventry anytime soon.

“It’s not like she could help.” Denise’s mother, Mrs. Masterson, had always been her daughter’s biggest—perhaps only—defender in Coventry.

James had expected Reid or one of his parents to reply to that, but it was Mr. Masterson who snapped at his wife, “What kind of mother could stay away? What kind of mother could playact for a camera while her daughter is in the hands of a monster?”

That was when Reid pushed up from his chair and escaped out the back door.

James had followed, but he hadn’t had any words of wisdom. Nothing would comfort Reid until Ella was safely in his arms.

He clasped his friend’s shoulder and squeezed.

“I can’t believe she’s not coming home.”

Denise, of course.

Denise, who’d claimed to love Reid. Who’d agreed to marry him when she discovered she was pregnant. Who’d fallen into a deep depression after Ella’s birth and then, when her child was barely six months old, had disappeared.

Reid hadn’t heard from her in months, and only then when he’d been served divorce papers.

They later learned she’d gone to Hollywood to fulfill her lifelong dream to be an actress. They’d all scoffed at her choice, right up until she landed a supporting role on a Netflix Original series a couple of years prior.

Now, James had no idea what to say.

When Reid dropped his head into his hands, James slipped an arm around his shoulders and prayed, even though he had no reason to believe it would help. The prayer was not for Denise, who’d made her choices, but for Ella. Only God could bring the child home.

In the restaurant that had been his father’s and now belonged to him, James turned to the old man on the stool beside him. “How you doing today?”

Bart Bradley studied him through steel gray eyes. “Tolerating the tourists.” He gazed around the full restaurant. “They’re good for you, though.”

“Good for the town, most of the time.”

Bart grumbled something about litter and noise, but James wouldn’t rise to the bait. He wasn’t here to talk about Coventry’s booming tourism.

“I heard a rumor about your mountain recently.” The man’s family had lived on the mountain as far back as anyone could remember.

Bart’s raised eyebrow was the only indication he’d heard.

“Someone told me there’s a cave up there. You ever seen anyplace like that?”

“There are no caves on Ayasha.” Slowly, Bart turned to face him. “Not a single one.”

Amazing how many people were so certain of something that wasn’t there.

“What about rock formations that could form caves?”

Bart squinted. “There’s some big rocks. I never been much of a climber, so I never scaled ’em.”