Taken (16 page)

M
atthew stopped Shannon with a light hand on her arm before she picked up the bowl of potato salad from the back seat. “You’ve met Ann and Paul, along with John,” he reminded her. “They’ll handle introductions to the others. And, as we agreed, whenever you’d like to leave, we’ll do so.”

She nodded and smoothed the red-and-white-striped cotton shirt she was wearing with jeans. “Get past the weather, asking about any kids, what they do for a living, I’m out of conversation topics.”

“I’ll step in if it starts to get awkward. You can depend on that,” he reassured her.

They were met by John Key before they reached the front door. “Welcome to the Bishops’ place. Anything else I can carry for you?”

“We’re good,” Matthew replied. “Should I move my car or are we okay where it is?”

John considered the array of vehicles. “You’re fine where you are. I want you to be able to leave first just as a precaution.”
He pushed open the front door for them and gave a quick tour. “Living room to your right, kitchen to the left, guest bath down the hall. We’re congregating in the backyard.”

John led the way into the kitchen. “Rachel, two more arrivals.” The woman cutting a pan of brownies looked up with a smile.

“This is Shannon, and this is Matthew,” John said, pointing to each with an easy smile as if she wouldn’t know.

“Welcome to you both. I recognize that box, Matthew. Put it in the fridge for now. I think you can find space. Potato salad, Shannon?” At her nod, the woman beamed. “Excellent. A good picnic needs potato salad, and it’s a project to make. My time today was limited to calling my husband and asking him to put brownies in the oven.”

John filled a celery stick with Cheez Whiz, said to Shannon, “Rachel’s the one with the pager going off tonight—she’s working the aftermath of a bus accident that injured some high school students from a summer baseball league. She’s good with kids. Her husband, Cole, is around here someplace—he’s the arson investigator on call this shift. We’re taking wagers on who gets called away first.”

“There speaks the man who happens to at the moment be on the job,” Rachel replied, amused. She reached over to the array of drinks and tossed John a bottled water. “Find Ann’s dog. He’s around here somewhere and panting in the heat.”

“Will do. I’ll tell Bryce it’s safe to put meat on the grill. Everyone’s here but Theo. He’s a punctual man, which tells me his date is not.”

“I’m sure she’s got other good qualities,” Rachel suggested with a soft laugh. “Help yourself to a drink, Shannon. We’ve got everything from tea and sodas to lemonade. It’s always a
bit of chaos when this group gets a chance to catch up. You already know Ann and Paul. Come on through to the backyard and I’ll introduce you to the rest. We like to eat and laugh and forget work for a while.”

Matthew took the glass Shannon handed him, found she’d poured him iced tea, and they both followed Rachel through a sunroom set up as an artist’s studio and out to a spacious patio and backyard. There were several conversations among small groups around the yard, a sweeping glance confirming to Matthew the casual, relaxed postures of friends.

“Shannon, Matthew, I’d like you to meet Bryce and Charlotte Bishop. They’re hosting tonight’s gathering.”

Bryce stood in front of an impressive grill, his apron announcing his place as Grill Master. His wife was seated nearby in one of the cushioned patio chairs. “Glad you could join us this evening,” Bryce said, then offered his hand to Matthew and a smile to Shannon. Charlotte stayed seated but smiled her own welcome.

“You have a beautiful home,” Shannon told them, “and a fabulous backyard.”

“Thanks,” Bryce said with a nod. “We both work from home, so we keep tweaking this place to make it even more comfortable. This grill is a recent addition, hence a nice excuse for a cookout.”

“It’s your studio, Charlotte?” Shannon asked, gesturing with her glass to the sunroom.

“It is. I’ve been sketching life for a lot of years. Ellie Dance, John’s fiancée, is around here somewhere. She manages my art, co-owns the gallery where my work is displayed. Want to come wander around, see what I’ve done recently? The guys are likely to take another half hour setting up the grill the way they’re fussing.”

Her husband just grinned. “Only way to have a respectable cookout, I say.”

Ann’s dog rolled to his feet from under the table. “Have you two met Black?” Bryce asked.

Matthew knelt to greet the animal. “We have.”

“Don’t let his lazy nature at the moment fool you. He knows these events mean good food with some errors coming his way. This is a guy who knows the word
steak
.”

The dog’s ears perked up as his attention slapped to Bryce. The group laughed. “Don’t tease him, Bryce, unless you plan to deliver,” Charlotte chided, rubbing Black’s head.

“Top shelf of the fridge, brats and hamburgers for us, a small steak for the dog. I know how to treat my guests.”

Ann joined them. “And you wonder why Black wants to hang out over here. Speaking of which, where are your dogs, Bryce?”

“We’ve got two golden Irish Setters,” Bryce explained to Shannon. “They’ll be home in an hour,” he told Ann. “They’re out on loan to a neighbor who’s starting a dog-grooming business. They’re going to be the stars of his marketing materials.”

“Nice work if you can get it,” Shannon offered with a small smile. “Get pampered and brushed and immortalized, all in one sitting.”

Charlotte laughed. “How true. Come on, Shannon, let’s go find out what kind of art you like. Maybe I’ll do a sketch of Matthew before the evening’s done, if you want something to tease him about. Ann, bring Ellie. We’ll leave the guys to their grilling.”

Matthew shared a brief look with Shannon and thought she’d found her role for the night—amused listener to other people’s stories. She’d be okay. It was an evening she desperately needed, among people who were friends.

“I’m partial to nature images, Charlotte,” Shannon mentioned as they moved inside. “The seashell sketch in the kitchen already caught my eye.”

Matthew glanced over as Paul stopped beside him. “Well, she didn’t bolt in the first two minutes,” Matthew offered.

Paul smiled. “It’s the women. Put a group of them together, kick out the guys, and they can work through any stress lingering around like it was melted butter. Want to play a game of croquet? We’re debating the possibilities of setting up a truly difficult course.”

Matthew scanned the yard. The guy who would be, by process of elimination, Rachel’s husband, Cole, was getting out the equipment. “You could put a hook shot around those railroad ties and bank one along the woodpile,” Matthew suggested. “I’m in.” Paul nodded. Before Paul could step away, Matthew paused and said in a low voice, “We need a word in private.”

“Sure.” Paul stepped over toward the garage. “What’s the recent news?” he asked.

“Shannon handed me a diary this afternoon, covering the month of her abduction,” Matthew began. “She had the diary with her when she was taken, and they let her keep it. I haven’t read it yet, and it’s not coming to you until she agrees, but whatever I can give you on names, locations, I’ll have for you by morning.”

Paul glanced toward the house. “No matter the hour, call. I’ll let Theo know. The news she isn’t her father’s daughter was its own earthquake this morning. Theo’s been looking, but he hasn’t seen anything in the financials that looks like someone was blackmailing the mom. It’s going to take several more days to figure out if that information and the fact of her abduction are in any way connected.”

“I don’t know which will be worse for Shannon—to have
her mother’s affair and the news she’s not her father’s child be related to the abduction, or have it be an independent sorrow.”

“I hear you. Anything else significant?”

“She’s getting a lot more reserved. The call she’s waiting on would be my guess as to why.”

“My national inquiries have drawn a blank so far. If there’s a second person who slipped free of this, there should be something to find. I’ve got people checking local reports and hospitals around Atlanta, Boston, and Seattle, given we don’t have much else to go on for locations until she tells us more.”

A new guest stepped out onto the patio. “We’ll talk more later,” Paul said quietly. “Theo, about time you made it,” he called, walking back into the yard. “Grab a mallet and join us for some croquet. Where’s your date?”

“That didn’t work out as planned, so I brought along Nancy Beach. She just disappeared somewhere with a lot of laughter and hugs when she and Rachel spotted each other.”

“Nice compromise. I didn’t know she was in town. Bryce, what’s the official clock?”

“A few more minutes and the meat goes on.”

“Let’s get gates in the ground and balls in play. Dogs interfering count as your bad luck—you play wherever it stops.”

Theo laughed. “I can see where this is going.”

Matthew helped finish setting up the wire gates, then selected blue as his ball and mallet. It was mild fun made competitive because it was guys playing the game. He tapped the mallet against the side of his shoe, glad for the evening. He’d needed exactly this kind of break.

Food came off the grill, plates got filled, and people sat around the back patio and inside at the kitchen table, enjoying the meal, laughing at stories, showing good humor as events from the past
few months were recounted. Matthew tracked down Shannon every twenty minutes or so, found her relaxed, settled back in listening mode and simply being in the moment. That was the best news of the evening—Shannon staying engaged among a group. She liked Nancy Beach, with the two women getting deep into a conversation about favorite travel destinations. And Shannon loved Charlotte’s artwork. She pointed out several to him she particularly appreciated among the sketches on display. On more than one occasion Matthew spotted Shannon reaching down to pet the dog. Black certainly approved, planting himself near her and leaning in.

Matthew eventually brought Shannon a piece of cheesecake and hunkered down beside her. “One hour plus. Doing okay?” he murmured.

“Another hour is fine,” she replied, offering him a bite of the cheesecake. He wasn’t turning it down and nipped it neatly off her fork. “Which one is Ruth Bazoni?” she asked.

He raised an eyebrow. “You haven’t figured that out yet? Charlotte.”

She looked surprised, then thoughtful. “Okay.”

“I’m going to be out back. Come hit a ball around later. It’s surprisingly fun.”

She grinned. “I might do that.”

Matthew walked outside, content with the way the evening was working out. He rejoined Cole, an interesting man with a good eye for how the yard played. It wasn’t golf, but the tall grass and the occasional past rabbit nest with its bald spot of earth meant some tactics were required to make it through the eight gates in only a few shots.

They had worked it down to fifteen shots as par when the Bishops’ two dogs arrived home and the backyard game of
croquet turned into a melee of great shots and dog interference. The comedy was worth the evening, and the women wandered out to watch. Black was determined to chase down any ball Paul hit, and the two Irish Setters were paws down on the earth, waiting for a ball to come their direction. Matthew spotted Shannon talking with Bryce between shots and delayed walking over to join them until the conversation looked like it was coming to a close. Shannon seemed more relaxed than she had in all the time Matthew had known her.

In the end, Bryce laughingly declared the dogs the winners of the croquet match. The group began to break up, calling out their good-nights. Matthew added his thanks for the evening and chose to steer Shannon out as one of the first to depart.

“Are you glad you went?” Matthew asked as they drove back to the apartment.

Shannon stirred to glance over at him. “Mmm. They’re nice people. Nancy travels a lot with her job. We were comparing favorite parts of the country, great scenery, tucked away places to find really good food—we’ve overlapped quite a bit. Rachel bubbles, I really liked her. And Bryce and Charlotte seem . . . like a close couple, nicely in tune with each other.”

“They’ve put together a good marriage.”

“It looked like it.”

Shannon went quiet. Matthew decided it was as peaceful a time as he would get to tell her about the next evening. “We’re going to stop by your brother’s home tomorrow night around nine so you can meet his wife. Their daughter will already be asleep, but you’ll be able to look in on her. Jeffery heads south for three days of campaign-related events, and this makes sense for the timing.”

“I would like to meet his wife again, so I can update my memories of her.”

“The rest of the day is wide open. I’d even be okay with shopping as the plan for the afternoon.”

She offered a tired smile. “I’ll think about it.”

Shannon broke the silence a few minutes later. “Matthew, earlier today I know you accepted my conditions, but before you start reading that diary I need to repeat one of them. I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I’ll respect that, Shannon.” He’d be reading it tonight, and he was already bracing for what it would say.