Harper nodded and pulled a U-turn on the empty road, heading back the way they’d come. The highway entrance was just beyond the gas station.
“Do you want to call Teddy before we leave the area?” he asked, as they approached the gas station.
Drina shook her head. “We’ll call from Windsor if we find her there.”
“It’s more than two hours away,” he warned.
Drina bit her lip but shook her head. “Anders will call Lucian, and he’ll have someone in the area head right over. I’d rather Stephanie wasn’t faced with strangers to deal with this.”
Harper nodded and squeezed her hand with understanding. They drove past the gas station and took the on-ramp to the highway.
Chapter Sixteen
“That’s it,” Harper murmured, slowing and pointing to a large two-story redbrick building.
“Don’t stop. I don’t want to scare her off if she’s here,” Drina said quietly. “Drive around the block. We’ll find somewhere to park and walk back.”
Harper eased his foot down on the gas, speeding up a bit to cruise up the road. At the corner, he turned right, then slowed to a stop as they passed the mouth of an alley that ran behind the houses.
“What do you think?” he asked quietly. “We could park on the road here and walk up the alley.”
Drina nodded silently and unbuckled her seat belt as he parked. Her gaze slid out the window to the lightening horizon. It had taken them far longer than the expected two hours to get here to Windsor and it was almost seven o’clock. There had been an accident on the highway. Emergency vehicles had blocked off the highway, stopping traffic completely while they’d removed the injured and the cars and cleaned up the mess.
They’d actually hit the city half an hour ago, but then they’d had to find a pay phone and phone book to look up the McGills. There had been a handful listed, but Drina hadn’t known Stephanie’s father’s name so they’d had to check almost all of them. As it turned out, Stephanie’s family’s phone number wasn’t listed, but eventually they’d hit a McGill who was related and Drina had pulled the address of the family home from the mind of the grumpy man who had answered the door. Now here they were, hours after they’d set out.
Drina hoped to God she hadn’t made a huge mistake by not calling Teddy’s house and letting Anders call Lucian. If anything bad had happened because she’d made that choice, she’d never forgive herself, she thought, as they got out of the car.
They were silent as they walked up the dark alley, counting houses as they went and watching for the two-story redbrick. Drina didn’t know what to expect or even what to do once they got there. Now that they’d reached Windsor, she was beginning to wonder if Stephanie really would have come this way. She must have known they’d think to check here. And if she had come here, would she have approached the house? Walked up and knocked? Was she inside even now, in the bosom of her family?
They slowed as they spotted the house ahead. At least three of the second-floor lights were glowing in the early-morning darkness, but they couldn’t see the first floor yet. The neighbor’s garage blocked their view of the McGills’ backyard. They had barely passed the garage in question when Harper caught Drina’s arm and drew her to a halt. He needn’t have bothered. She too had spotted the slender figure hugging the tree in the McGills’ backyard and had been about to stop herself.
Drina released a slow breath, a good deal of tension sliding out of her as she took in Stephanie’s lonely figure. It looked like she hadn’t approached the house but had simply stood in the cold, dark night watching it . . . in nothing but joggers, a T-shirt, and a thick woolly sweater, Drina noted, taking in what the girl was wearing. The kid must be freezing, she thought with a frown, then sighed and turned to gesture to Harper to wait here.
When he nodded, she turned and started silently forward. Drina was perhaps six feet behind Stephanie, when the girl said, “It took you long enough to get here.”
Drina stopped, and then grimaced and continued forward at a more natural pace.
“What took you so long?” Stephanie asked, as Drina paused a little beside and behind her.
“There was an accident on the highway, traffic was stopped for hours,” Drina explained, and then smiled wryly, and asked, “You expected me to figure out you’d come here?”
Stephanie shrugged. “Where else would I go?”
“How long have you been here?”
“Hours.” Stephanie leaned her head wearily against the tree and sighed. “I’ve just been standing here watching the house.”