“I can see that. It just doesn’t help when you lie to me.”

“I won’t anymore. Look, just find Milton Kearns. Then we can get the police to question him. Then I’ll talk to them and tell them everything I know. Hopefully I can finally walk away.”

“Well, like I said, we’re getting close.”

“Where is he?”

“It’s complicated. But the next time we talk, maybe I’ll have good news.”

“Ryan, take care of your...sisters.”

I disconnected when I heard the familiar beeps. But I didn’t move for a very long time. I sat staring at pink reindeer and plotted what I would do next.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

When I arrived in Gulf Sands, the Christmas decorations in my parents’ front yard were being carefully removed to go back to a nearby storage facility. The realistic topiaries with velvet bows and handblown bulbs that had flanked the door, and the twin golden reindeer as tall as my nieces were now under the care of two energetic young men with T-shirts that read “Stohr and Moore: Store More.”

Not surprisingly, Mom was supervising from the porch. “Don’t forget the three nutcrackers on the lanai. Remember they have moving parts.”

The guy wrestling the last reindeer into the truck made one final adjustment. “They’re already in the truck. We’ll be finished in a few minutes.” The back of his T-shirt said he was Jerry Moore. When the other man turned his said Greg Stohr. The gimmick was cute.

Mom didn’t say anything to me until I was standing beside her. “The girls are back in school?”

“As of this morning. I only have an hour before I pick them up, but I need to talk to you. Without Dad overhearing.”

Adding that last sentence was key. Her expression changed from austere to worried. “Bryce is very upset.”

“He should be.”

Her eyelids fluttered, and for a moment I thought I might need to steady her. But she straightened. “Your father’s napping. We’ll go out by the pool.”

She thanked the men and handed Jerry a check. Obviously a tip was included, because he looked delighted.

Through the house and out to the lanai, she didn’t say a word. But when we were seated in the shade, she wasted no time.

“You’ve been hiding things from me since the day your sister disappeared. But how can you keep her husband in the dark, too? He’s the father of those girls. He has every right to know what’s really going on with Wendy because it affects them. And I am tired of waiting!”

“Before you recommend Bryce for sainthood, you need to know he hasn’t exactly told the truth, either.”

I had her full attention so I plowed on. “A divorce has been in the works for a while. In his defense, he probably thought Wendy should be the one to tell you. Apparently she said she’d go along with it, but now he can’t find her to move the paperwork along.”

“A divorce?”

“He told me himself, and Wendy confirmed it.”