“Sam…?”
This time Allie actually blushed and looked away for a minute. “Sam Fratto. You may remember him from school?”
“Yeah. I think I remember him.”
Who hadn’t known Mr. Popularity? Even though Travis’s friendship with Allie had been casual in high school, he remembered how crazy she’d been for the soccer star who’d been completely oblivious to her affections. Sam had better know what a catch he had in Allie.
“Do you have any contact information for Bryce?” he continued. “I’d like to speak to him.”
“I have a student directory.” Allie bounded up from the couch. “I think it’s in my room somewhere. Give me a minute.”
The loud ticking from the clock perched on the mantel was the only sound in the room for a few long seconds after Allie left the room. He waited for it…
“I can’t believe you didn’t tell me who you were,” she almost hissed.
Meredith’s outrage, as if he’d somehow wronged her, was starting to piss him off. “I didn’t think a stroll down memory lane was going to get us any closer to finding out what happened to your daughter. I would have told you. Eventually. What difference does it make?”
“All the difference. First, I don’t like to be the butt of anyone’s joke, which I get the distinct impression was why you didn’t tell me.”
She had a point.
“Second,” she continued, “the nature of our previous relationship gives me some pause as to whether you’d be an effective choice here, looking for my daughter. You obviously would have some…bias that could affect your judgment. Contacting your security agency was my father’s idea, but I’m not without my own connections. I know a few important media personalities, and I could take this to them directly. Maybe go national if that’s what’s necessary.”
He crossed his legs in front of him, taking his time. He could just walk now. Say the hell with it. But he had to remember why he did this. To help people. Maybe not Meredith—God, no—but if there was an eighteen-year-old girl out there in trouble, he felt a duty, an obligation, to try and help her.
“Yes. You could go that route,” he drawled. “But until you know for sure what you’re dealing with, I’d want to hold off on bringing that kind of scrutiny to the case. I know you’re dead set on the idea foul play is involved, but imagine for just a moment the impossible scenario that you’re wrong. That Darcy took off for the weekend of her own choice. She could be humiliated. A nationwide joke. Not the tone she’d want to set when she’s leaving for college, and I doubt it would endear you to her more than you already are. Also not the tone you want to take on the investigation until you know more of what and who you’re dealing with.” He paused for drama. “They might find the easiest solution to the media attention is to get rid of her entirely.”
That definitely got her attention, as her eyes widened.
“Let’s check this kid out, see what he knows. Maybe help us figure out what’s going on. If Darcy has taken off voluntarily, he could tell us. Then we can both go our separate ways.”
This seemed to reach her. “Fine. In the meantime, perhaps you can better remember to share everything you might know. No more secrets.”
He could humor her. “Okay. Let me start again. Hey, Meredith. Good to see you. What? You don’t remember me? I’m the guy who the varsity team pantsed at the homecoming pep rally. Twice. You were a total bitch to me back then and, frankly, I couldn’t care less about catching up, so let’s just cut to the chase and tell me about your daughter. Better?”#p#分页标题#e#
She had the grace to look a little uneasy.
Which she should, since the pantsing had been at her directive. Right after he’d found her alone and crying in the locker room before her crowning as homecoming queen. He’d actually felt bad for her and apologized for interrupting her, before leaving her to her privacy—thinking just maybe she had a heart after all.
It had been a sorry lesson for him to learn.
A leopard didn’t change its spots. Meredith was and always would be the mean girl whose only interests were her own.
And anyone who believed differently, that people could change, was just fooling himself.
Chapter Three
He was being an ass and trying to prove a point. All the same, it didn’t sit particularly well with Meredith to realize that his point might be valid.
She had been unnecessarily cruel to him.
She made an effort to swallow back any distaste or remorse she might have for the humiliation he had suffered that day. It was over. In the past. He’d probably grown from the experience into the man he was now.