Page 41 of Tide and Seek (Dr. Maxwell Thornton Murder Mysteries #8)

Maxwell

Royce was right—C.J. didn’t just want to give me a tour, she wanted me to take a class.

I tried to get out of it by saying I didn’t have the right clothing, but she handed me a pair of yoga pants and a T-shirt from her gift shop.

Then she dragged me into her first class, where she twisted, bent, and basically tortured me for over an hour.

If I never heard another om or namaste again, it would be too soon.

Once the torment was over, I agreed to go to lunch with her, figuring Royce wouldn’t mind since it gave him more time to rest. She insisted we try a new restaurant that had just opened, The Cosmic Kale Café.

That was fine with me. I liked eating vegetarian and knew I’d have plenty of options there.

Lunch was great and C.J. was ecstatic over the engagement, but as much as I enjoyed her company, I couldn’t wait to get home to Royce.

When I walked into my beach house, I didn’t see Royce downstairs or out on the deck.

Assuming he had to be upstairs, I took the steps two at a time, calling out to him, but there was no response.

Frowning, I stood in the center of the master bedroom, noticing the bed was still unmade.

That wasn’t like Royce. He was very regimented about making the bed.

Maybe I was overreacting, but that one little detail set off alarm bells inside of me.

I left the master bedroom, and as I walked down the hallway, I noticed that the door to the attic in the ceiling was slightly askew.

It wasn’t anything particularly noticeable, and nobody else would have given it a thought.

But ever since the ladder had been down when we arrived, I’d always had a weird feeling about the attic.

Had Royce checked on the attic for some reason?

Going downstairs, I decided to see if Royce had gone for a walk on the beach.

But when I stepped outside, there was no sign of him.

The beach was mostly deserted, except for a guy playing Frisbee with his golden retriever.

I was so confused about where Royce could be that I didn’t even give the interloper the usual glare I might have.

It occurred to me maybe I should call Royce.

I went back inside and dialed his number, and when his phone chirped on the kitchen island, a feeling of dread came over me.

There was no way Royce would take off somewhere without his phone.

I grabbed his cell, noticing two missed calls, one from me and one from a number I recognized as Detective Hartley’s.

My instinct was to call Hartley, but I didn’t want to jump the gun.

Maybe Royce had gone to visit one of the neighbors.

C.J. was still at her studio, but James could be home, and if Luke wasn’t surfing, there was a good chance he’d be home too.

Maybe Royce had gone to tell James what he thought of him.

That didn’t seem like something Royce would do, but I was getting desperate trying to figure out where he could be.

James’s house was closest, so I headed there first, following the path between our properties.

When I got to James’s house, his BMW was gone from the driveway, and his car wasn’t in the garage.

I still went ahead and tried the doorbell because why not?

But no one answered. I peered through the windows but saw no signs of life.

Luke’s place was at the far end of the colony, and I walked there with growing anxiety tightening my chest. Surfboards leaned against the porch railing, a beach towel draped over a chair to dry.

When I knocked, Luke actually answered. He looked pale, haggard, and not particularly thrilled to see me.

“Doc, what are you doing here?” He leaned against the doorjamb as if needing it to hold him up.

“Sorry to bother you,” I said. “Have you by any chance seen Royce?”

“Royce?” Luke wrinkled his brow. “No.”

“You didn’t see him at all today? Maybe out on the beach or something?” My heart sank at his blank expression.

“I haven’t seen him.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, anxiety eating at me. “Something’s wrong. He left his phone on the island and he’s just gone. That’s just not like him.”

“I wish I had some information for you, but I haven’t seen him. I’ve been in bed most of the day. I’m feeling a bit… under the weather.”

“Right,” I murmured, taking in his bloodshot eyes and trembling hands.

He chewed on his fingernail. “I mean, maybe I could help you look for him, if you want?”

Shocked at the offer, I didn’t know what to say.

Luke laughed shakily. “I got nothing else going on at the moment, and I could use some fresh air.”

“You’d be willing to help me look for him?”

He lifted one bony shoulder. “It might take my mind off of… other things.”

“Well, that would be kind of you.” I glanced toward the ocean. “I checked the beach, but to be honest, I didn’t check all the way down both ways because I was freaking out a little.”

“I can do that for you.”

I felt a ridiculous surge of gratitude that he was willing to help me. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought Luke would be the one to come through for me in my hour of need. “I don’t know what to say. Thank you, Luke.”

Grimacing, he said, “Sure, Doc.” He cleared his throat. “And uh… thanks for trying to help me the other night. I don’t know everything I said. Knowing me, a lot of dumb shit. But regardless of whatever came out of my mouth, I appreciate that you cared.”

“Well…” I grimaced. “I’ve known you a long time. Of course I care.” The words came out stiffly, but at least I said them.

He nodded. “I’ll just go grab a hoodie.” He disappeared inside and then returned, shrugging into a black Soundgarden sweatshirt. He locked the door behind him and we walked to the lane. “You don’t suppose he just went for a drive, right?”

“He wouldn’t do that without telling me, and besides, I had the car.”

He nodded. “Right, plus you said he left his phone. Which seems weird.” He turned toward the beach. “Well, I’ll text you if I see him.”

“Before you go, has Harris been by recently?”

He shrugged. “He drove past patrolling about an hour ago.” He perked up. “Hey, you have cameras in your house. Can’t you ask the security company if they saw anything?”

“Unfortunately, the cameras aren’t on if the alarm isn’t armed. I don’t like the idea of people watching me in my own home,” I mumbled. “Royce wouldn’t have armed it when he was home either. He was paranoid about setting it off by accident.”

“Damn.” He grimaced, the sea breeze blowing his tangled blond hair around his tanned face. “I mean, I get it, but that’s too bad.”

“Yes.”

“Okay, well, I’m going to go look on the beach now. Wish me luck.” Luke flashed me a hang-loose sign and meandered down to the sand.

I started walking again, and just as I reached my front yard, I heard the sound of the security gate opening.

I glanced over and saw Ethan pulling into the colony in his work van.

When he saw me, a look of apprehension washed over his face.

I got the distinct impression he wanted to pretend like he hadn’t seen me, but he didn’t quite have the nerve.

Instead, he braked and rolled down his window.

“Hello, Mr. Thornton.” He smiled, putting his rumbling van into park. “I’m… uh… just here to drop off some ant spray for Luke.”

I stopped walking. “The ants still aren’t under control? What kind of ants are these? Zombie ants?”

Ethan’s smile was strained. “This season has been the absolute worst.”

“Right.” I really wasn’t that interested in how bad the ants had been this season. I just needed to find Royce. “Were you here earlier by any chance?”

“No.” He sounded wary. “Why?”

“I can’t find Royce anywhere.”

Ethan’s face tensed and there was a flash of what almost looked like guilt. “Sorry, like I said, I just got here. Can’t help you there.”

“It’s not like Royce to just not tell me where he’s going.

” I studied his face as he listened. There was definitely something strange in his expression, but maybe he just wasn’t a very empathetic guy?

Maybe his customers dumped their problems on him all the time and he was tired of hearing it?

C.J. had mentioned his wife having surgery recently, perhaps he had enough of his own issues to deal with. “Sorry to burden you with my problems.”

His cheek twitched. “No worries. Sorry I can’t be more help.” He put the car in drive as if he intended to continue on to Luke’s house.

“By the way, Luke’s not home,” I said. “He’s out looking for Royce.”

That seemed to throw him. “Luke’s helping you?”

“Yes, he’s out on the beach right now, searching.”

Ethan grunted. “That’s surprising.”

Is it?

“I just thought you should know because you said you were here to drop off ant poison. Maybe just leave the bug stuff on his porch.”

Ethan shook his head. “No can do. This stuff is dangerous and too expensive. I don’t want it getting stolen and then Luke throws a fit.” He gave a tight smile. “You know how Luke can be.”

Yes, I knew exactly how Luke could be. Only, at the moment, he was being a decent human and helping me out, while Ethan was not. “You want me to give it to him? Then you’d have proof you dropped it off.”

His eyes flickered. “Nah. I appreciate the offer, but I’ll just swing by later.” He nodded to me, did a U-turn, and then drove out of the colony.

Frowning after him, I watched him speed down the highway away from Ocean Whisper Estates. “Seriously? It’s just ant poison, not gold bullion.”

When I got back to my house, I felt lost. I had no idea what to do next.

I only knew in my gut that something was very wrong.

I once more mulled calling Hartley, since he was the lead on the break-in/murder investigation.

But his day job was handling homicides, and I worried he wouldn’t really care about something like Royce being missing for a few hours.