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I walked her to the front door where a car was already pulling up onto the driveway. This felt wrong. Something was off.
“I’ll see you tonight at Luxor,” I said, pulling her into my arms for one more kiss. But instead of a slow and sensual kiss, she pecked my lips and scooted away.
She hurried to the car as though she couldn’t get away fast enough.
I couldn’t help thinking that this coldness came on as soon as I brought up her family.
I watched the car drive away and as I stood there, my mind reeled, and a sick feeling grew in the pit of my stomach. A feeling I’d been trying to convince myself wasn’t true.
Laura was hiding something.
Slowly, I walked back up to my bedroom and turned on the shower. I argued with myself as the water pelted my face and the back of my neck.
By the time I dried off, I knew what I would do as soon as I turned on my computer.
I typed in my usual search prompts. Nothing came up when I typed ‘Laura Stevens’. I tried a couple of different background checks. Nothing. This girl was clean. I should be relieved, but instead, I wondered, why was there nothing? Shouldn’t there be something? I looked at archived photos and newspaper clippings. There were no high school pictures, no social media presence, or even tags of her. It was as though she was a ghost.
Was it possible that someone could be this clean? I wanted to think yes, but my years on this earth had taught me everyone had their secrets. Maybe Laura was just better at hiding hers.
My phone rang and I hoped it was her wanting to explain what happened this morning. But it was just my PI.
“Hello?”
“Mr. Crawford, I think I’ve got a lead in your missing person’s request.”
My heart stopped and started up at double speed. Damn it, did I want to know who this man was?
“Tell me,” I said in a low voice.
“I don’t know much about him yet, except that he lives not too far from you. But I’ve got a promising lead to follow. I’ll tell you more as soon as I can confirm the information. My source is a good one. Just wanted to give you the update.”
My head throbbed and I pressed the heel of my hands against my closed eyes. I knew what I wanted to ask him next and it had nothing to do with my mother.
“I need you to look into someone else for me,” I heard myself say through clenched teeth and closed eyes.
“What’s the name?” he asked.
“Laura Stevens.”
My throat tightened, but I continued. “I need to know everything you can find out about her, especially her past.”
“I’ll get right on it.”
I hung up the phone before I could take back my request.
14
Laura
I had no idea what my professor was rambling on about. All I could think of was my reaction this morning. I had utterly panicked. I felt the probe in Ryan’s voice and my mind shut down. I didn’t want to go there and especially not with him. He would see through any kind of story and I didn’t want to lie to him, anyway. Not after everything he’d been through with his aunt and mother.
But I wasn’t ready to tell him about my past yet. I wasn’t ready to talk to anyone about it. Period. It was buried and forgotten. At least I had tried to forget it. Lately, memories kept flooding in, but I shut them down quickly.
How was I going to tell Ryan I didn’t want to talk about my past without making him even more curious about it?
Maybe Sam could help. I called her as soon as I got home from school. She would give it to me straight.
Sam answered after the first ring. “Hey, girl.”
