She wished she could believe that, but leaving town without notifying someone would be so unlike her mother.

“What’s going on, babe? Any news?” Reed said the moment he picked up.

The genuine concern in his voice helped comfort her. He was on a business trip, so she’d been dealing with this on her own. “No news,” she replied. “I just left the police station.”

“Are they going to start looking for her?”

“They say they are.”

“But…”

“The officer I spoke to was near the end of his shift. Although he didn’t come right out and say it, I got the impression he had some family thing to attend or something. He filed the report and told me if Mom’s not back by tomorrow morning he’ll go over to the house and take a look around. Maybe I should’ve sent them there instead of to the chicken ranch to begin with.”

“Who knows? You did what you thought was best. And don’t panic quite yet. Maybe he’ll find proof your mother bought a plane ticket and flew off to Sacramento to visit Nadine or something.”

Irritation bit deep. How could Reed even suggest that? Obviously, he wasn’t as concerned as she was, because she’d already looked through her mother’s office. If that kind of proof was there, she would’ve found it. “Reed, I’ve spoken to Nadine, and she’s worried, too. Mom isn’t there.”

“What about your other sisters?”

“They haven’t heard from her, either. And if she left Alaska hoping to surprise one of them, she would’ve arrived by now. It doesn’t take three days to get to Oregon or California.”

“Who said she’s been gone three days?”

“The neighbor across the street. He claims she forgot, or didn’t bother, to put down her garage door the last time she left, so he lowered it for her. That was Sunday. He hasn’t seen her since.”

“Did you tell the police?”

“Of course!”

“Could she have met someone?”

Officer Daniels had suggested the same thing. He’d said his aunt, at eighty-two, had eloped with a man his family had never met and they’d been happily married for the past decade. That was another reason she felt he wasn’t taking her seriously. But her mother was still grieving. She would never do that. “My father died only six months ago.”

“Your parents were together as long as you’ve known them, so you can’t really say how she might act without him, honey. Loneliness can cause people to do a lot of things they wouldn’t ordinarily do.”

“I get that. But how would she meet someone? She doesn’t own a computer, wouldn’t know how to put up a dating profile even if she did.”

“There are other ways to meet people.”

“She would never hang out at a bar.”

“She could’ve bumped into someone at the grocery store, the mall, the movies—anywhere. What about the guys she hires to shovel her walks in the winter?”

“College kids. And it’s not winter.”

“That doesn’t mean anything. It’s possible she wouldn’t mention a romantic interest, especially because it hasn’t been all that long since your dad died. She may be afraid of how you might react.”