Page 5 of Christmas Homecoming Secrets

THREE

H eather opened the door on the third knock, her bleary blue eyes blinking rapidly. Jade noticed she held her service weapon in her right hand. “Jade?”

“Hi, Heather,” Bryce said.

“Bryce? Bryce Kingsley?” Heather launched herself into Bryce’s arms and hugged him. He returned the hug until Heather leaned back and cupped his face. “Wow, is that really you?”

“It’s me.”

“Frank said he’d been talking to you and that you were coming home to open a PI business.”

“Yeah. At some point.”

“Well…um…it’s good to see you.”

Heather gave him one more hug, then motioned them inside.

Jade swallowed as Bryce shut the door behind him.

She didn’t want to admit she was a little jealous of Heather’s enthusiastic greeting.

She’d wanted to do the very same thing when she’d first seen Bryce in the mill.

Throw herself against him and hug him, run her hands over his features and reassure herself that he was real.

But she hadn’t. The fact that she’d wanted to scared her silly.

Bryce had walked out of her life and she’d managed to survive.

The fact that he was back in it didn’t mean anything had to change.

You’re lying to yourself. Everything’s going to change.

It was just a matter of when. But there wasn’t a thing she could do about it right now.

Heather set her gun on the counter just inside the door to the kitchen that was next to the small foyer, where they now stood a bit awkwardly. “What are you guys doing? It’s the middle of the night.” Her eyes sharpened. “What is it? What’s wrong?”

“We hope nothing,” Jade said. “Let’s go into the den and we’ll explain.”

“No,” Heather said. Jade froze at the sharpness and Heather held up a hand. “Sorry. Can we go in the kitchen, please? I’ve torn up the floor in there to start fixing the place up to put it on the market. Frank and I don’t need two places. And besides, I’m thirsty.”

The three of them took a seat at the kitchen table while Heather retrieved water bottles from the refrigerator.

“Tell me what’s going on,” she said, unscrewing the cap and taking a long swig from the bottle.

Jade explained about the attack at the old mill and finding the jersey with the autograph on the left shoulder. “It has to be Frank’s,” she said. “Do you know where he is?”

“Well, before you asked, I would have assumed he was home in bed. Obviously he’s not.” She rubbed her eyes, a slow fear building in them. “What are you not telling me? Is he okay?”

“We’re not sure,” Jade said. She should have known better than to try to leave out details. “That jersey we found at the mill? It…ah…it had two bullet holes in the front and is covered with dried blood.”

“What?” Heather paled. “His Panthers jersey?”

“Yes.”

“But…no. It can’t be his.” A short, humorless laugh escaped her.

“I mean, he just wore it the other day.” She snagged her phone from her robe pocket and tapped the screen.

From her seat, Jade heard it go straight to voice mail.

“Frank, this is Heather. I know it’s the middle of the night, but I don’t care.

Call me as soon as you get this message.

” She hung up and tried four more times before she finally set the phone on the table and clasped her hands in front of her.

Her gaze bounced between Jade and Bryce.

“There’s got to be some explanation.” She stood.

“I’ll get dressed and head to his house. ”

“We’ve already been there,” Bryce said, and Heather froze. “I’m sorry, Heather, but he’s not there.”

“But his car is,” Jade said. “I know that when he flies, he sometimes takes a car service, but I don’t recall him saying anything about taking a trip anytime soon—outside of your honeymoon.”

Heather shook her head. “No trips scheduled. At least, none that I know of. Every so often he takes off and calls me from the road if it’s a last-minute thing with the paper, but—” She checked her phone.

“Nothing but your missed calls. He’s got to be here in town somewhere.

” She raised her brows. “Or he went to see Lisa.” His sister lived an hour away in Charlotte.

As soon as the words left her mouth, she was shaking her head.

“But he would have taken his car, so that can’t be.

And he would have left me a message that he was going.

” She paced from one end of the kitchen to the other, arms crossed, features taut and pale. She turned. “What about his office?”

Frank worked out of the newspaper office downtown. Jade nodded. “But he’d still have to drive.”

“Unless one of his coworkers picked him up.”

“Let’s find out,” Bryce said. “You have their numbers?”

Heather’s lips quirked even though the action didn’t reach her eyes. “I’m a cop. I don’t think getting their numbers is going to be a problem.” The smile didn’t last long. “But I’ll call his boss. If anyone would know what Frank was up to, it’d be him.”

“If Frank told him,” Bryce muttered.

Heather scowled. “Why would he not tell him? His boss is the one who approves the stories that he works on.”

“I’m not sure he was working just one story.”

“Then his boss can tell us that.” Heather dialed the man’s number and waited. “Hi, Larry, it’s Heather.” She tapped the screen to put him on speakerphone. “I’m so sorry to wake you, but I have reason to believe that Frank’s in trouble. Can you tell me if he had to go out of town suddenly?”

“Ah, no, not on the paper’s dime.” He cleared his throat. “What makes you think he’s in trouble?”

Heather explained. “What was he working on?”

“A couple of things. Nothing I can discuss with you. I’m sorry.”

“Larry—”

“No, I’m not budging on that. Frank’s probably just looking into something.

And truthfully, he didn’t tell me a lot of details, just that he was on to something big and hoped to have the full story on my desk sometime next week.

Seriously, Heather, he’ll most likely turn up when he’s good and ready.

Now, go back to sleep and quit worrying. ”

Click.

Heather slumped, frustration stamped on her drawn features. “Okay, that was a dead end. Hold on a second.” She left and returned with her laptop. “Coworkers would be the next step, right? Let’s see who we can find that might be able to tell us something useful.”

Thirty minutes later, they were no closer to having an answer about Frank’s whereabouts, and Heather’s emotional state had quickly gone south. She turned to Bryce. “What was he working on?”

“I’m not at liberty to say. He asked me not to.”

“Well, he’s not here, so…”

“I can’t. I gave him my word that I’d keep his confidence.”

“Is it something that could land him in trouble? At least tell me that.”

Bryce sighed. “Yeah. If certain people discovered he was doing some snooping into their business, then they wouldn’t be happy about it. But I don’t see how they could know.”

She snapped her lips shut. “He never said he was doing anything dangerous.”

“He was protecting you,” Jade said softly. “He didn’t want you to know he was putting himself in that kind of situation because it would have distracted you.”

“So, you know what he was working on?” Heather asked.

“No. I just know if it was something dangerous, he would have kept it from you. You and I walk into potentially dangerous situations every day. He wouldn’t want you worried about him, too.”

Heather shook her head and lasered Bryce with a hard look. “It’s up to you to help us find him.”

“Heather—”

Her friend lifted her chin and gave Jade a stony glare. Jade sighed and snapped her lips shut. There wasn’t any sense in telling Heather there would be no “us.” Heather wouldn’t be working the case. If there even was a case.

In her mind, there was. All evidence pointed toward Frank being missing. Or worse.

“I’ve already said more than I should have,” Bryce said, “but I’m worried.”

“So am I.” Heather rose. “I’ll be back in a minute.”

“Where are you going?” Jade asked.

“To get dressed, then I’m going to find my fiancé.” She paused. “Stay in here, will you? Like I said, the den’s a mess.” She blew out a breath. “And I know that’s just not important right now, but it’s a stressor.”

Jade held up a hand. “We’ll stay here.”

“Thanks. I’ll be right back.”

True to her word, Heather returned to the kitchen in record time, dressed to face the day.

After several more unproductive phone calls, she dropped into the nearest chair and raked a hand through her still mussed hair.

“What are we going to do? We’ve called everyone.

His sister hasn’t heard from him since he stayed over at her house last weekend.

His parents talked to him yesterday, and he didn’t say anything about going on a trip. Where could he be?”

Jade stood. “I think it’s time to put a BOLO out on him and get help.”

“I agree,” Heather said with a slow nod. “I’ll do it.”

While Heather made the call, Jade walked over to stand in front of Bryce, who leaned against the sink, sipping his second cup of coffee. “What was he working on, Bryce?” she asked softly. “We need to know so we have some direction.”

Bryce set his coffee down and pursed his lips. “He made me promise not to say anything. I don’t want to betray that confidence.”

“Not even if it means helping us figure out if he’s in trouble or not?”

He closed his eyes, obviously torn. “What if I tell you and he’s fine?”

She planted her hands on her hips. “What if you don’t tell me and he’s in trouble?”

* * *

More than anything, Bryce wanted to tell her, because not for a moment did he think she would be involved in what had Frank investigating the local police department. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Jade. Rather, it was a matter of confidentiality.

But she was right.

What if by keeping his promise, he was putting Frank in further danger? He couldn’t think how that might be, but…what if?