“It’s—” She looked at her coffee table. It wasn’t where she’d left it. “I don’t know. The guys gave it to me and I’m sure I put it on the table. It was still in that tote bag.”
“Could you have put it somewhere else and don’t remember?”
In other circumstances, she would have snapped at him that she was far from being senile. But the urgency in Nate’s voice kept her from replying.
With the phone in her hand, she ran through the house, throwing open doors to closets, the laundry room, bathrooms. “I don’t see it and there has been no time to tuck it away somewhere. Do you think it was stolen?” She remembered that Nate said it was valuable.
“Who has been there today?”
“Half the lake.”
“I need their names.”
“I’ll make a list and send it to you.”
“No!” Nate said. “Now. Tell me. I’ll write them down.”
Terri didn’t waste time asking why he needed it. She heard his tone. She thought back from the morning and gave him names. She opened the refrigerator and looked inside. The casserole dishes had the names of the owners taped on them. She read them off to Nate, and if she remembered, she gave him the cabin number.
When the doorbell rang, she ignored it. “Can I ask what this is about?” she asked.
“Not yet. I want you to go to one of the empty cabins and stay there. I want you to hide. Understand me?”
“Yes.” She tried to sound calm. “Nate, please don’t do anything dumb.”
“Change my entire personality in an instant?”
She didn’t smile at his joke as her heart was pounding in her throat.
“I love you,” he said, then clicked off.
“Back at you,” she said to the silent phone as she began running. She threw clothes in a bag with her cell charger, locked the house, then got into her boat.
She knew ways to move about the lake so no one could see her. Even binoculars couldn’t follow her as she ducked between trees and under plants that needed pruning.
At last she hid her little boat and made her way up stone steps to a cabin she’d only visited twice before. It wasn’t one she usually took care of so no one would know she’d be there. But she knew it was empty, the owners wouldn’t be back for weeks and she knew where the key was hidden.
She didn’t turn on the lights. Instead, she sat down in front of the glass window, phone at her side, and watched the lake. There wasn’t much activity and she thought that fear had taken over everyone. For all that her mother had been locked in a trunk long ago, the discovery was new. The fear was new.
At eleven she dozed off and woke at one with a jolt. Since ten she’d had no calls, but several texts and emails. None of them were from Nate or Rowan, Elaine or her father, so she ignored them.
She wanted to call Nate but she didn’t want to wake him. At least she hoped he was sleeping somewhere.
As she fumbled her way to bed, she wondered what was going on. Had one of the visitors to her house stolen the Chinese bowl? What made Nate ask about it? Was it related to her mother’s murder?
She didn’t sleep well and woke early. She managed to occupy herself until 10:00 a.m., then she left. She docked her boat at her house and went up the stairs. Right away she saw that Nate hadn’t been there.
She called him and got a message that his voice mailbox was full.
It took some doing but she made herself calm down. She ate a portion of one of the casseroles and tried to think about what to do. If these were normal circumstances, she’d call Frank. But he wasn’t here. She couldn’t call her dad. He was under enough stress without her adding to it.
She drove to the sheriff’s office. Calm, she told herself. Don’t panic, don’t cause anyone else to panic. Nate had probably slept in one of the jail cells. He’s probably just fine—and he’d bawl her out for showing up.
She hoped that was what would happen!
The office was busy—and Della was running it. She was barking orders at one of the young deputies. When she saw Terri, she said, “Where is he?”
Terri put on her best fake smile. “At home reading Uncle Frank’s files. He won’t be in until later. He sent me here to get something.” She tried to look exasperated. “But he didn’t tell me what it was. You have any idea what he needs?”