She paused at the office door. It opened from the inside before she could change her mind and leave.

Anne greeted her with an easy smile, as if they had been friends for a long time.

“Hi, Lauren, come on in. The desk called and told me you were here.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to chat with you on the phone when you called,” she went on as she led the way back from a small reception area to her private office. “I had someone waiting for me.”

“No problem,” Lauren said. “I had errands to run anyway. Not a problem stopping by.”

She didn’t say that she had a suspicion this was a setup. Not a great idea to show paranoia in front of a mental health professional.

“Have a seat,” Anne said, waving toward a cushy gold chenille sofa and two matching oversized chairs as she went around behind her French antique writing desk. A coffee station was set up on the credenza beneath the bookcases. “Would you like something to drink? I’m having peppermint tea. A little morning sickness today.”

“I’m fine, thanks.”

Even with morning sickness, she looked the picture of glowing health. Especially by comparison, Lauren thought.

“I hope you’re all right with having Leah come stay tonight,” Anne said. “Wendy is all excited.”

“Her mother is going out of town?” Lauren asked, settling into one of the chairs.

“Yes. Sara has been making a name for herself as a sculptor. She just found out she’s won the commission to do a piece for a municipal building in the Monterey area. She needs to go up there for a meeting.”

“Is Wendy’s father around?”

Anne set a pair of Italian pottery mugs of tea on the coffee table and settled into the near corner of the sofa.

“That’s complicated,” she said on a sigh. “Wendy’s parents divorced a few years ago. Wendy hasn’t forgiven her dad for that. She doesn’t want to have anything to do with him—beyond punishing him, that is. Steve pays handsomely for those riding lessons, and the tennis lessons, and the clothes . . .”

She reached for her mug and took a sip of the tea. “She’ll work her way through it eventually. Her father is a man with some issues of his own, but he loves his daughter. And she loves him. She’s just hurt.”

“It’s not easy being a kid these days,” Lauren said.

“I’m sure it’s been difficult for Leah—losing her sister and her father so close together.”

“It’s been a nightmare.”

“How old was she when her sister went missing?”