The Vanishing (8 page)

“Alex said she’s in ICU and Colette’s staying with her.”

“Yeah. She’s stable, but they won’t know if that blow to her head caused damage until she wakes up and they can run some more tests.”

Holt studied his brother, wondering what he was leaving unsaid. He’d expected Max to be satisfied with the work he’d done, maybe even a bit happy that they’d found the girl alive. Instead, he had that brooding look he always got when he was thinking hard on something he didn’t like.

“You don’t seem all that satisfied with the outcome,” Holt said. “Any particular reason why?”

Max blew out a breath. “The whole situation doesn’t make sense. Colette said that head injury was about a day old because of the color of the bruising. If she was already injured, why was she unconscious in a completely uninhabited area of the swamp? I checked the area where I found her and there wasn’t a trail anywhere nearby.”

Holt frowned. What Max said didn’t sit well with him, either. “You think she was running from someone?”

“That’s the best explanation, isn’t it? That someone attacked her, maybe even held her somewhere, and she got away. Running from her attacker would explain why she seemed to have no designated course. As exhaustion set in, that head injury might have worsened until she finally collapsed.”

“That’s sounds plausible, even likely.” Holt sighed. “So what do you think we should do about it?”

“Until Anna wakes up and tells us what happened, there’s nothing much we can do. Technically, our job is over as soon as I finish up the paperwork.”

“And that bothers you.”

“Doesn’t it bother you?”

“Yeah, it does.”

“There’s something else. Something I didn’t tell Colette when I talked to her on the phone or Alex when I briefed her earlier.”

“What is it?”

Max told him about finding the gris-gris on his jeep. “I don’t like anonymous threats from someone who attacks young girls. Pisses me off.”

“Pisses me off, too.”

“Good. So if I wanted to spend some time checking up on a couple of things—hours that we wouldn’t bill Colette for—that would be okay with you?”

“Of course,” Holt said, surprised at the question. “You know I trust your judgment. If you think there’s something there to find, then you should do it.”

“Even if it’s not official agency business?”

“Max, we all have personal things that need tending to. I wasn’t exactly following the rules of my temporary sheriff’s position when I helped Alex search for her missing niece. If this is weighing on your conscience, you have to do something about it.”

Max nodded and stared down at the dock. Holt studied his brother, wondering how much more he’d left unsaid. Wondering if his personal interest in this case was only because of the injuries Anna Huval had sustained and the mysterious way in which they’d found her or if his interest was because of Colette.

Holt would have to be blind to have missed how attractive his wife’s former coworker was, and no one would ever accuse him of being blind. Before he could change his mind, Holt asked. “Your personal interest in this wouldn’t have anything to do with Colette, would it?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I have eyes. She’s an attractive woman—smart and capable. Reminds me of someone else.”

Max smirked. “Yeah, she reminds me of someone else, too, and I’m not referring to Alex.”

Holt frowned. As far as he knew, Max had never been in a serious relationship. At least, they had never been serious for Max. He’d always figured his brother was concentrating on his career and didn’t want to get sidetracked with a relationship, but maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Alex was right about his brother trying to figure out his life.

“You going to fill in the blanks?” Holt asked. “Or do you just plan on leaving me hanging?”

“Come on, Holt. We both know I spent more time with you and your mother growing up than I did with my own. She was always at a board meeting or a client meeting—this state, that country. She could have rented a hotel room for cheaper than what our house cost given the amount of time she was home.”

Holt stared at Max for a couple of seconds, surprised at his words and trying to connect them with their childhood. “I guess I never thought about it,” he said finally. “You and your mother always seemed to get along fine, and it wasn’t like having you stay with me was any hardship. The best times I had were with you and Tanner.”

“They were great times,” Max agreed, “but it just wasn’t very often. I spent a lot more time with nannies and housekeepers than you were ever aware of. Even when my mother was around we were more roommates than parent and child.”

Max rose from the bench and paced the pier. “She got pregnant on purpose,” he said, “thinking our dad would leave your mom. I heard her telling a friend. She never wanted kids. All she ever wanted was her career and our dad.”

Max blew out a breath. “When Dad was killed, I told everyone she was on a business trip and couldn’t be reached, but it was a lie. She was at the airport in New Orleans.”

“Why didn’t she cancel her trip?”

“She did and then hopped a plane to Bermuda so she could figure out a way to ‘deal’ with his death. The housekeeper stayed with me, sat up nights with me, cried with me. Even after she came home, she never mentioned Dad even once and never has since.”

Holt tried to imagine what Max must have felt, must still feel, but he couldn’t stretch his mind that far. His own mother had made a bad choice in trusting their father over and over again, but Holt had never once doubted how much she loved him and his two half brothers, even though they weren’t hers. “I’m sorry, man. I had no idea.”

“You were a kid, too. It wasn’t your job to know those things or fix them.”

Holt knew Max was right, but it still bothered him to know that Max had been alone so much when they were boys. Their father had fidelity issues, producing three sons with three different women, all born within a two-year span. He’d been married to Holt’s mother at the time, and she’d tried to stick it out after Max was born, but when another mistress turned up pregnant, she filed for divorce.

Unfortunately, their father hadn’t been overly interested in being a good parent, either. He spent more time making money than he did making men out of his boys, which left most of the child-rearing responsibilities to their mothers.

Holt’s mother and Tanner’s mother had never been able to resist their father’s charm, and he bounced in and out of their houses and lives for years. If he hadn’t been murdered, Holt had no doubt he’d still be playing them against each other. Only Max’s mother had cut him off completely, and now Holt realized that had left Max with even less parenting than he and Tanner had.

“So what does any of that have to do with Colette?” Holt asked.

“Colette’s a career woman. She’s dedicated to her job, and it’s not the sort of job you can be less dedicated to just because you feel like it that day. She’s got to be one hundred percent all the time or not do it at all.” Max shook his head. “Don’t get me wrong—I admire and respect that. I just don’t want it for myself. I especially don’t want it for my kids.”

“So what…you want to put women back in the fifties? I have to tell you that may get you shot.”

“Not at all. I just don’t want a woman in my life who’s chosen a career that has to come before everything else. I’m not going to do it, and I expect my spouse not to do it, either. I quit police work for that reason. It can swallow you up.”

Holt rose from the pylon and clapped his brother on the shoulder. “Only if you let it.” He left the dock and walked back into the cabin.

“You were right,” Holt said as he walked inside.

“Of course, I was right,” Alex said. “About what this time?”

“He’s got things on his mind.” Holt recounted their conversation. “I feel guilty that I never realized…”

“If it makes you feel any better, I’ve never thought about it, either. Looking back with a different perspective, everything he says is clear as day, but it wouldn’t have been when we were kids.”

Holt sighed. “He’s carrying a lot of anger around over his mother, not that I blame him after hearing all that. His views on careers and parenting are totally skewed, but I don’t think he’s ready to hear that things don’t have to be that way.”

“No. In his mind, his mother made a choice between her job and him because she couldn’t do both. You and I know she could have chosen both, but she didn’t. That’s the part he doesn’t want to come to grips with—that she chose to cut him out of her life.”

“Who the hell would want to come to grips with that?” Holt blew out a breath. “Given all that, I can’t even imagine what he thinks about our father.”

“You’re going to have to ask. You’ll need help from him and Tanner if you ever want to solve your dad’s murder.”

“I know, but the time’s not right just yet. Maybe when all this business with Colette is settled, I’ll pull out the files and go over everything with him.”

Alex nodded. “You know him best.”

Holt stared out the kitchen window, barely able to make out Max’s silhouette in the fading sunlight. “I used to think so,” he said.

He turned to face Alex. “There’s something he’s not telling me. I could see it racing through his mind, on the tip of his tongue, but he wouldn’t let it out.”

“Be patient. He’s trying to find balance in his own life. Right now, everything is either-or. When he gets to the middle himself, he’ll be able to understand that in others, then I imagine he’ll talk to you.”

“Hmm.” Holt glanced back outside before turning on the sink water to wash up for dinner. He hoped whatever Max was hiding didn’t cause him more trouble before he decided to talk.

Chapter Seven

A gasping sound yanked Colette out of a deep sleep and sent her bolting out of the recliner and to her feet. When she managed to get her sleepy eyes into focus in the dim light of the ICU, she screamed.

Someone was holding a pillow over Anna’s face, trying to smother her.

Her scream caused the attacker to drop the pillow, and he grabbed the IV stand. Before she could even register what was happening, he swung it around and struck her in the head. Her temple exploded in pain and the entire room blurred as she stumbled, trying to remain standing. Unable to maintain her balance, she crashed to the floor.

A second later, the IV stand clanged on the floor next to her. By the time her vision cleared, he was gone. She heard yelling down the hallway and the sound of running.

Anna!

She struggled to rise from the floor, still dizzy from the blow, and staggered over to the bed. Pressing her fingers against Anna’s neck, she let out a huge burst of air she hadn’t even realized she’d been holding. Her pulse was steady. Anna was still with them.

A second later, a nurse burst into the room. “What happened?”

“Someone was attacking her. He hit me with the IV stand and ran.”

“Is she all right?”

“She’s fine for now. Please call security and try to catch him before he gets out of the building.”

The nurse nodded and ran back out of the room. Colette picked up the IV stand and reconnected the tubes that had come loose in the fray. When she stepped next to the bed, Anna grabbed her wrist.

Her nerves were so shot, she almost screamed again before she realized it was Anna. She looked down, surprised to see the girl looking back up at her.

“Anna, are you all right? Can you hear me? Can you talk?”

Her eyes were wide-open, her gaze wild. She stared at Colette for a couple of seconds, as if trying to figure out who she was, then she clenched Colette’s wrist tighter.

“He’ll kill them all,” she said, her voice raspy. “My fault. Shouldn’t have taken the coins. Have to find them. Have to save them.”

“Save who? What coins? I want to help, Anna. Please tell me more.”

“Cache… Please save my mother....” Anna’s voice trailed off and her eyes closed again.

Colette shook her gently but couldn’t awaken her again.

Who had attacked Anna and why? Was he going to kill all the residents of Cache, including Anna’s mother? Had Anna gone there to warn them and then run into the killer herself? Had he tracked her to the hospital to finish off what he’d started in the swamp?

The nurse rushed back into the room. “I alerted security. They’re searching the building now. I’ve also called the police.”

“Thank you.”

The panicked nurse scanned the monitors. “Is she okay?”

“She woke up for a very short time and spoke, but then slipped back into unconsciousness. I’d like for the doctor to check her again given everything that happened.”

“Of course. I’ll page him now. Is there anything else I can do for you?”

“Just keep an eye on the doors and make sure that no one gets in here without the appropriate credentials.”

The nurse nodded and hurried out of the room, probably wishing she worked any shift but this one. Attempted murder in the ICU wasn’t exactly something she was trained to handle. Colette, either, for that matter.

But she knew someone who was.

Before she could change her mind, she pulled her cell phone out and dialed the number of the one person she knew could get her answers.

* * *

M
AX RAN DOWN THE HOSPITAL
hall, completely ignoring the nurse at the ICU desk who yelled at him to stop. Holt and Alex were only minutes behind him. They could explain. He didn’t slow until he reached the room Colette had given him during her phone call.

Colette stood at the end of the bed, speaking softly to a police officer. He felt a rush of anger when he saw the knot on her head. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“Yes. The doctor checked me out. It’s just a bump.”

“And Anna?”

“Stable but unconscious again.”

“What do you mean ‘again’?”

“She woke up for just a bit after the attack and talked to me.”

“Wow,” Max said, trying to process that bit of information. “Did they catch the guy who attacked you?”

Colette frowned. “No. Security couldn’t find him in the building. He must have gotten out before the nurse sounded the alarm.”