Nine Steps to Sara (45 page)

“Have you had lunch yet?”

Chapter One

Despite popular belief, Lexi wasn’t a psychic.  She couldn’t tell the future or produce the winning lotto numbers (or she wouldn’t be driving a beat up VW bug a year older than she was).  Nor was she a medium who talked to the dead or saw ghosts.  Her talents were a little ambiguous for most people to understand; what they did recognize was that Lexi Morgan was a little unusual.  She preferred quirky to bat-shit crazy, but people weren’t always that kind.

Peculiar, weird, strange, none of these were new to her ears.  Even for such a laid back place like
Santa Cruz
California
, Lexi was considered odd in most social circles.  Eccentric was her favorite one; it made it seem like it was a deliberate choice to be the way she was instead of being born to a set of circumstances completely out of her control.   Distracted, crazy, spooky even; those usually came from spending more than a few minutes in her company, but usually only after she opened her mouth.  Even after years of practice, it was hard to keep track of what she
saw
and what people revealed voluntarily.  While it sounded easy enough to promise herself to keep a muzzle on her outbursts, time and again things she had no right to know just slipped out in normal conversation. 

That very same quality kept people calling Lexi when things hit the fan, though.  When something went missing, did you call the president of the PTA?  Nope, you called the weird girl with a knack for finding things.   So when the call came from her sister Allison, it didn’t take much in the way of deductive reasoning to figure out that she wanted something. 

The nice thing to do would have been to call her back and find out what she wanted right away.  Hell, the nice thing to do would have been to answer the call in the first place, but Lexi had just mixed the perfect shade of blue for a piece she was working on in her home studio (a fancy name for the converted garage, but it suited her purposes nicely) when the call came in and she wasn’t in the mood for whatever gossip Allie wanted to talk about, even on speakerphone. 

But at the third text with “911 need u 2 come ovr fst”, Lexi broke down and sent “b there soon” before setting her brushes to soak, muttering to herself the whole time washing up.  People had been begging her to help them find things all the way back to elementary school when it was actually considered cool to be special, as her Gran called it.  Growing up she’d always been the odd duck, unlike Allison, the very epitome of the perfect older sister.  Despite their differences and Lexi’s sometimes embarrassing peculiarities, the sisters were reasonably close growing up; especially after their mother’s sudden departure and their move to Gran’s place.       

Her relationship with Allie cooled somewhat since her older sister’s marriage to Neil Travers, even though they still lived in the same town.  Neil, (‘the tool’, as Lexi called him behind his back) was never easy to get along with.  Lexi made an effort to keep her opinions to herself though, or she’d never get to see her niece Chloe.

It was worry for Chloe that lent a touch of urgency to Lexi’s response, pushing the little yellow car though the busy streets until she reached
Branciforte Drive
.  There the traffic thinned out; trees casting the winding road into perpetual shadow no matter the time of day.  The sun struggled to filter through the canopy of trees on the property, lending the house a darker cast than the faded white paint would normally allow, giving it a slightly foreboding appearance.  Or was that just her mood?  She never felt comfortable in the big house; Lexi attributed that to not getting along with Neil.  But now her imagination supplied an eerie pall to the house, as though the peeling paint was somehow something more sinister than neglect. 

An unfamiliar dark blue Lincoln Towncar sat in the long circular driveway, drawing a pucker of worry to her brow as she noticed the government plates.  Whoever it belonged to, they were more than likely there in an official capacity since Neil worked for a software company and Allie hadn’t worked since Chloe was born.  A stab of guilt clenched her stomach into a hard little ball as Lexi hopped out of the car, each step that brought her closer to the front door filling her with a sense of dread.  Had something happened to Chloe and she’d been too selfish to stop her painting to come when Allison first called? 

With a quick knock of warning, Lexi let herself in to the old house, immediately uncomfortable as she stepped across the threshold, as though she was in enemy territory.  “Allie?” she called out, hoping like hell Neil wasn’t home. 

“In here Lexi,” came the response from the front living room where her sister sat with a man who wasn’t her husband at all.  The stranger held a mug of coffee in his hand, his attention focused on Lexi from the moment she appeared in the archway, dark eyes scrutinizing her from head to toe and back again. 

Lexi knew exactly what people thought of her on first sight.  Not that her appearance stood out all that much in a city like Santa Cruz, where people came from all over the world to share in its unique atmosphere.  A liberal town, it wasn’t unusual to see people running around barefoot, dressed in hippy chic or the latest in clothing made from hemp.  The Hare Krishna population could walk the main thoroughfares, tambourines and all, without even raising a brow.  Her personal style was hardly outlandish by these standards; Lexi preferred to dress for comfort in soft, breathable fabrics.  She didn’t own a pair of skinny jeans or high heels.  Her long hair had been through just about every hue imaginable to man over the years.  Currently a respectable medium brown (her natural color) save a few blue streaks (not so much on the respectable side), Lexi preferred to leave it loose to spill over her shoulders, or pulled back into a simple pony tail when she was working, as it was now.  There were plenty of artist types in town who liked to get creative with their own style.  Enough so that her gloved hands often went without comment, even on the hottest summer days, but the man’s gaze lingered there before returning to her face and Lexi could practically see the wheels turning in his head. 

“Lexi, thank God you’re here, the police won’t do anything at all,” Allie’s face pinched with worry.  While she looked polished as usual in khaki slacks and a pale pink sweater set, as though she’d stepped out of the pages of a Macy’s catalogue, no amount of makeup could hide the dark circles visible under her eyes. 

“Now that’s not what I said, Allie…” the man set down the mug of coffee, returning his attention to Allison.

Surprised by the familiarity between them, Lexi tried to decide what was more unsettling; the fact that the cop knew her sister well enough to call her Allie or the fact that the police were there at all.  “What’s going on?  Did something happen to Chloe?”

“No, she’s at gymnastics.  I thought it would be better to report this when she’s not here.  It’s Neil; he never came home last night.”

Lexi barely caught herself in time before she blurted out
oh, is that all
, mashing her lips together before recovering.  “Well, how long has he been gone?  When’s the last time you saw him?”

“Do you mind if I finish my questions first?” the policeman interrupted with a pained look that made her suppress a smile.

“Sorry, go right ahead Detective…”

“Ryan.  Thank you,” he replied and the name clicked in Lexi’s memory.  Gabriel Ryan.  Allison dated him back in high school for about a month.  What an odd coincidence that he happened to be the one to respond to the call about Neil’s disappearance.  If that’s what it was.  Frankly, Lexi didn’t think her sister would get off that lucky.  The guy was probably just sleeping it off somewhere after a boys night out.  Her interruption seemed to throw the detective off of his game and he flipped back through his notebook with a purse of the lips before continuing his questions. 

“So let’s see, where were we?  Oh right, did you notice if any of his clothes are missing?”

Allison paused to consider the question for a long moment, “I don’t think so, but I should probably check a little closer,” she started to rise from the couch.

“Hold on, you can do that in just a little bit, let’s finish with the first round of questions, shall we?” Ryan offered her a genial smile.  “Do the two of you have a joint bank account?”

“Yes, of course,” Allie nodded.

“Have you checked to see if any of the money is missing?”

“No, do you think I should?”

“It’s probably a good indicator as to whether he left on his own,” Ryan said carefully.

“If he did take their money, is there anything you can do to get it back?” Lexi asked, not putting it past Neil to take off with their savings if the situation warranted it. 

“Neil would never do anything like that,” Allison interrupted, her eyes narrowing with annoyance. 

“No, of course not,” Lexi muttered, sinking into a chair.  This looked like it was going to turn into a much longer visit than she first intended and now she regretted not stopping for a snack before heading over. 

Ryan watched the sisters with interest before returning to his line of questioning.  “What kind of car does he drive?”

“It’s an Audi A6 that he leases, it’s ah… black and I think it’s just a few months old.”

“Do you have the license number?”

A pucker appeared on her forehead as Allison thought it over.  “I think it starts with 2LAN… but I don’t remember what comes after that to be honest.”

“That’s okay Allie, most people don’t remember their spouse’s license plate number by heart,” Gabriel reassured her gently.  “But the car is definitely missing too?”

“I talked to his friend Larry at work; he said the lot was empty this morning when he got there.  You don’t think that he…?” Allison left off the rest of the sentence, unable to bring herself to form the words.

Lexi immediately saw the path her sister’s mind was starting to wander and cut her off.  “Don’t worry sweetie, if he wrapped his car around a tree the hospital would have called you by now.”  The detective gave her a look for that, but Lexi wasn’t sure how to interpret it, so she just ignored it. 

“I think I have enough to get started here, Allie.  Why don’t you go up and look through his things and check on that bank information while I talk to your sister, okay?”

“Just
look
through his things,” Lexi gave her a pointed stare, not wanting to spell it out in front of the cop and Allie seemed to catch her meaning, giving her a short nod.  When Lexi turned back around, Gabriel was watching her intently and she gave him a self-conscious smile, tucking an errant blue lock of hair behind her ear. 

Flipping open his notebook to a new page, Detective Ryan set pen to paper.  “It’s Lexi Morgan, right?  Is that short for something?”

“Alexandra,” she replied, watching him write.  He’d been a big deal back in the day; Captain of the swim team and the track team.  The years had been kind to the former jock, his build still slim and muscular under the sports coat and his jeans were tight enough that she could see he was still in pretty good shape.  Straight brown hair threatened to spill over his forehead, nearly touching his eyebrow as he looked down, giving him a slightly tousled look, as though he’d gotten ready in a hurry, but as soon as he looked up again the hair fell back into its regularly schooled style.  Lexi couldn’t tell if the stubble around his chin and upper lip was just from forgetting to shave for a couple of days or if it was meant to be a short mustache and goatee.  Either way she had to admire the overall effect; on him it looked good.