Love You Madly(7)

He shrugged. “If it would have served a purpose.”

As if knowing things were going to get heated and fast, Allie eased in. “Well, I’m glad to see you looking so well, Travis, and in any other circumstance, I’d be picking your brains to hear what you’ve been doing the past ten years, as last I heard you were in Iraq, but you mentioned Darcy is missing? You mean like she took off with some friends or something?”

This sobered Meredith up and she seemed to deflate before his eyes. Interesting. He was surprised she cared so much for someone other than herself. Especially some stepdaughter who didn’t seem to particularly care for her, if what he’d learned so far was any indication.

Meredith dropped her gaze to the coffee table in front of her. “She didn’t come home last night. Last I saw her was around six when she was heading to your place to babysit. Then this morning, she didn’t show up at the library where she volunteers, and now—” Her voice actually seemed to catch at the end before she cleared her throat and finished. “All of her calls go directly to voicemail. She’s not even responding to texts.”#p#分页标题#e#

“Have you reported this to the police?” Allie looked back and forth between them. There was obvious panic in those clear blue eyes. Meredith filled in her with the same details she’d provided him earlier, leaving him to his own thoughts.

What he’d said to Meredith earlier was true—his services were in such demand right now he was able to pick and choose those cases that needed him the most. If this was nothing more than just a spoiled rich kid trying to punish her mom for not giving her the attention she wanted, then he’d walk. No matter the price.

Which was why getting other people’s take on Darcy and whether this disappearing act was out of character could help him get a read on the situation. Allie had always been down-to-earth, rational, and pretty smart in high school. He’d respected her, even liked her. She wasn’t going to be prone to theatrics.

“What can you us about last night?” he asked after Meredith finished.

“Sam and I left at six thirty last night and got back around ten?”

“Was she acting strange at all to you? Secretive, maybe?” She shook her head. “Did she mention anything to you about where she was going when she left?”

“No, although she was texting someone when we arrived. She updated us on how the night went, how Violet had gone to sleep by nine thirty. Then we paid her, and she left. I just assumed she would be going home.”

“How well do you know Darcy? Would you say she’s been acting differently the past few weeks?”

“She was in my senior lit class this last semester, and she’s babysat for me for the past year, so I think I know her fairly well. But up until last night, we hadn’t seen each other since her graduation.” She looked off for a moment, recalling something. “She has seemed happier the past couple of months. More outgoing. Even had a little makeover. She was becoming almost like an all-new girl. I assumed it was just the excitement of moving onto the next stage of her life, moving away for coll—” Allie stopped abruptly and shot a quick glance at Meredith.

“No, please, continue, Al.” Meredith’s use of the nickname seemed anything but friendly. “Tell him all about how excited Darcy was to move across the country to get away from me. With no influence whatsoever from her favorite teacher, who, incidentally, went to the same school.”

Allie sighed and leaned back to look at Meredith. “I’ve told you before, Meredith. The decision was Darcy’s. She came to me with the catalog for Wellesley already in hand. It’s one of the best liberal arts colleges in the country—what else was I going to do but encourage her to follow her dreams?”

“I think we’re digressing here,” he said, noting the slight twitch that had developed under Meredith’s eye. “Did Darcy mention to you anything about a new boyfriend?”

Allie looked even more uncomfortable and kept her gaze down. “I do think she was seeing someone. It’s pretty new,” she added hastily at Meredith’s quick intake of breath.

It wasn’t hard to see that Meredith was jealous of the relationship that had developed between her daughter and her daughter’s teacher. Although he was certain there was a lot more than just that.

Allie continued. “Bryce Bauer was in my senior lit class, along with Darcy. From my own observations, Darcy has been harboring a crush on him since the beginning of the year. Maybe longer. When I was in the hospital a couple of weeks ago”—she touched the bandage covering one of her arms—“they came to see me. Together. And from the looks they were giving each other, I guessed that they were seeing each other. I wanted to ask her more about it last night, but with Sam around, she would never open up.”#p#分页标题#e#