Page 43 of The Missing Couple

“What you up to, Charly girl?” He muttered something to the dogs and they visibly relaxed.

She and Billie continued slowly walking toward the man. Long, thick hair he’d fastened into a ponytail at the nape of his neck looked mussed and ready to fall from its tie. He’d probably slept with it that way. He was too skinny and average height. A scar on his left jaw elicited second looks from strangers but reminded those who knew him that his old man had been a bad, bad person who beat his kid way too often. When Perry decided to fight back—with a knife—his daddy had taken it away from him and given him something to remember his mistake by. The scar.

Strange she hadn’t remembered that until she was standing in front of the man.

“I’m looking for Kerrick,” she told him, not exactly a lie. She and Billie hadn’t discussed how they intended to approach this guy. She was just making it up as she went along. “He was supposed to get back to me on some questions we had for him.”

That part was totally a lie.

Perry ignored her comment and looked at Billie for the first time. “Who’s your friend?”

“Billie Jagger,” he said, extending his hand as he drew within range of exchanging that sort of pleasantry with the guy.

Perry’s chin went up as he offered a fist bump instead of a shake. “Oh yeah, the PI from Chicago.”

Word got around fast. No surprise. For all its tourists and weekenders, Guntersville was basically a small town with a tight community of year-round residents.

Billie obliged him with a fist bump. “My sister and brother-in-law are the couple who were kidnapped on Monday night. Charly is helping me with my search to find out what happened and to find them. Did you happen to run into either of them? Or maybe hear anything about them? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated.”

He made a face, shook his head. “Nah. I didn’t see ’em. Kerrick did,” he offered. “That guy sees everything. You talk to him already?” This he directed at Charly.

She’d already told him she was looking for Kerrick. He was either fishing to see if her story would hold up or he was seriously hungover and couldn’t remember squat.

“I did. Last night. He said he ran into them at the Last Chance the other night. He was supposed to check with you and Finn to see if either of you saw them, but he didn’t get back to me.” If Charly was lucky he wouldn’t realize there really hadn’t been time between last night and this morning. “I guess he didn’t talk to you yet.”

Perry grunted. “You know Kerrick. If it ain’t about him, it ain’t important.”

Charly laughed. “Yeah, I guess you’re right.”

Perry raised an eyebrow at her. “He still trying to get you to go out with him?”

Why did guys always ask that? Charly shook her head. “The man finally got it that I wasn’t interested.”

“Well, that’s too bad for him.” Perry looked her up and down. “You ever get bored, you call me.”

“I’ll remember that,” Charly lied, again.

“It’s too bad,” Billie said, “that you didn’t see my sister and her husband. There’s a big reward. Did you hear about that?”

He had Perry’s full attention now. “Reward? I didn’t see nothing about a reward on the news.”

“Ten thousand dollars,” Billie said. “I’m only offering it to people I believe can help us find Briana and Martin. If you’re one of those people—” he withdrew a business card and passed it to the other man “—call me when you have something to share.”

“Yeah.” He looked from the card to Billie. “I’ll do that. Ask around and whatnot.”

“Thanks, Perry,” Charly said. “We’re really worried about them. We need all the help we can get. Whoever finds them will be a hero and a whole lot richer.”

A smile tugged at his mouth. “Yeah. That’s right. You like heroes?”

Charly worked up a smile. “What woman doesn’t?”

“Let me hear from you soon,” Billie said.

Perry gave him a nod, and they turned to walk back to the SUV.

Charly held her breath, hoping against hope the dogs didn’t suddenly rush them.

“Hey, man,” Perry shouted.