Page 13 of The Missing Couple

They were outside and back in the SUV before Charly spoke again. “What now?”

“Now we drive out to the location where the SUV was found.” Once he had backed out of the Sowell driveway and was rolling forward, he asked, “Do you know the place the sheriff mentioned?”

“Sure. There’s a lot of tourist traffic there. They must have pushed the SUV into the water at night. Otherwise, someone would have seen them.”

“We’ll have a look and then—” he glanced at her as he braked for a traffic light “—we’ll check out the houses on the road where Briana’s tracks ended.”

“Good plan.” Though Charly held out little hope about any potential video of the vehicle that drove away with the kidnap victims, she was willing to pursue the possibility.

No need to remind Billie about that. He wanted to find his sister. Charly would do whatever necessary to help.

When there seemed to be nowhere to go on a case, her father always said you just beat the bushes until something popped up.

At this point, she decided it was time to call Shelly Phillips, her fallback plan she used from time to time to cover the office and clean the rest of the cabins. Charly was pretty sure she wasn’t going to have time to do the work on her agenda and to help Billie as well. And this—finding the missing couple—was top priority.

Like he’d said, time was their enemy.

Chapter Five

Boat Ramp

Sunset Drive, 2:00 p.m.

The rental Briana and her husband had used was sent into the water at the boat launch near the corner of Henry Street and Sunset Drive. Charly watched the strand of yellow crime-scene tape flap in the scarce breeze. It dangled low across the entrance, not really blocking anything. Just an impotent warning that something untoward had happened here.

Unlike Charly, Billie didn’t hesitate. He stepped over the tape and walked all the way to the water’s edge. There was no litter lying about. No cigarette butts. Nothing that would provide any evidence of what had transpired here. There were no cameras nearby. A visit to the two homes that faced the area gave them nothing. No one had seen or heard anything between Saturday night after eight and Tuesday morning. No doorbell video cameras or other security-type cameras in either location.

He set his hands on his hips and turned to her. “Seems an odd place for a dump site.” He gestured to the homes nearby. “Actually a risky location when you consider all the possibilities for being seen around this section of the water. I said as much to Sheriff Malone.”

“They were either lazy,” Charly agreed, “or in a hurry.”

A smile tugged at the corners of his mouth, making her strangely happy. When was the last time a simple smile had given her such a lift?

More than three years ago.

She blinked away the thought.

“Or unafraid.”

“Also a possibility,” she agreed.

He took one last look around. “Unless you have another idea about this location, I’d like to get started checking in with the houses on the road that runs in front of your retreat?”

He’d said this before, maybe twice. He was really hoping to find something. She wasn’t going to suggest otherwise.

“This is your investigation,” she reminded him. “I’m happy to help with whatever you think we need to do but I would suggest we grab some lunch first so we don’t end up running out of steam before we’re finished.”

“Good point.” He headed for the SUV and Charly followed.

She considered the dump location of the SUV as she walked, keeping pace with this man with whom she’d formed an alliance to find the missing couple. The woman was his sister, the man his new brother-in-law; he had a serious motive for wanting to make this happen as quickly as possible. She did as well, only it wasn’t anywhere near as important as his. Finding these people was first and foremost important from a purely human perspective. The fact that the disappearance happened at her retreat was a distant second for helping to solve the mystery. Of course she didn’t want this to become a reason people stopped choosing her retreat. That said, she couldn’t imagine how she would feel if her sister were missing.

The idea was one she never wanted to have to face.

“I’m thinking,” she said as she settled into the passenger seat, “this feels too convenient to have been out-of-towners.” She fastened her seat belt. “Think about it. Someone coming from some other location would scout out the best spots for doing their work. Someone local—maybe someone who knew this area well, lived around here or something—would feel more comfortable taking the risk of a plain sight dump location.”

He pulled out on Sunset and headed into the turn onto Henry. “Have I mentioned that you would make a hell of a good investigator?”

She laughed. “You may have said something along those lines. I guess some of the kid comes out in me when I start trying to solve a mystery.”