She pushed Send before she could rethink it. A.L. needed to know so that he didn’t get caught in a lie with his daughter. They could deal with why he’d kept it a secret at a later time. Definitely after the police had found the missing five-year-old.

A.L. got the text from Tess just when he and Rena were about to park in front of Kara’s house. “Fuck,” he said.

Rena looked around quickly, as if expecting trouble. “What?” she asked.

A.L. waved a hand. “Nothing.”

“Tell me,” she said. “I need something to take my mind off the fact that we’re more than twelve hours into this day and not much closer to a happy ending.”

“Tess ran into Traci at the mall,” he said.

Rena waited. Finally she said, “And Traci told her that her butt looked fat in the dress she was trying on?”

A.L. frowned at her. “Of course not.”

“Then what is making you suddenly act as if your cat prefers me over you?”

“That will never happen,” he said. Then he sighed. “I didn’t tell Traci that Tess was going to California with me. And now Tess knows that.”

“And she’s going to wonder why?”

“I imagine,” A.L. muttered.

“So tell her why.”

“Nothing to tell.”

“Not sure I understand,” Rena said.

“Nothing to tell because I’m not sure why I didn’t tell Traci or Jacqui or anyone but you. I just didn’t.”

“Because you don’t like people knowing your business,” Rena said.

He hated that. “Maybe.”

“But maybe not?” Rena said. She could always get to the heart of the issue. “Maybe there was another reason?”

“I just said, I don’t know.”

Rena reached for the door handle. “You should really try not to screw this up with Tess. I like her.”

“Thank you for your counsel. Very helpful.” Tess wasn’t going to buy that he’d simply forgotten to mention it to Traci the night before they were leaving town.

He took the moment to send a quick text back to Tess. Thanks. We’ll talk later.

He pushed Send. There was no immediate response. He tried not to read too much into that.

Nine

Rena knocked on Kara’s door. When she opened it, Rena thought the woman looked tired, and her nose was sunburned. “Can we come in?” she asked.

“Of course,” Kara said. She stepped back.

Her house was a midsize ranch with a great room off the kitchen. Kara led them there. It smelled of lavender. Rena saw the lit candle on the fireplace mantel and figured that was the reason. “Is your husband home?” she asked.

“Working,” Kara said. She looked at the clock. “Well, by now, close to done with work. But like I said before, he’ll stop for beers with his friends.”