Mrs. Otis made a derisive sound and waved off Alyssa’s suggestion. ‘Of course not.’

‘Then, if she’s never pulled something like this before, what makes you think she has this time? In fact, let’s take it one step further… what if you’re wrong?’

Before Mrs. Otis could respond, the alarm over the front door emitted a long, loud beep, the sound followed by a bellowing, ‘Mother? Father?’

Mr. Otis yelled back. ‘In the kitchen.’

Heavy footsteps fell across the tiled floor, muffled only when they hit carpet. A brown-haired, brown-eyed young man, tall with what Alyssa liked to think of as a tennis player’s build, and a charming smile rounded the corner, hesitating only a fraction of a second before walking up first to Alyssa, then Cord, shaking their hands in turn.

‘You must be the detectives searching for my sister. Angela called me after she spoke to my parents.’ His lips tightened before he continued. ‘I’m Nick. Rachel’s older by four minutes and thirty-three seconds brother.’

A disgusted ‘hmmph’ burst from Mrs. Otis’s mouth, causing her son’s smile to widen as he explained. ‘Mother here simply despises it when I introduce myself as Nick. She prefers Nicholas, as it sounds so much more distinguished and snobby, much more befitting of her social circle.’ Despite the smile, his eyes were full of concern.

Alyssa liked the young man already. ‘Nice to meet you, Nick,’ she said, intentionally using the nickname his mother apparently loathed. His grin told her he approved.

Almost immediately though, the smile fell from his face as he reached up to rub two fingers over his eyebrows before catching himself and dropping his hand back down to his side. ‘Thank you,’ Nick said now. ‘But to be perfectly frank, I wish I wasn’t meeting you, or at least not needing to.’ Then he shot a narrow-eyed glare over his shoulder as he said, ‘If I’d known Rachel hadn’t been seen since Saturday night…’ He let the rest of the sentence trail off before saying, ‘As it is, I had to find out from my sister’s roommate.’

Alyssa didn’t miss the blush that ran up Mr. Otis’s neck and burned into his cheeks, nor the pursed lips indicating Mrs. Otis’s displeasure at her son’s irritation. Guessing she’d get more information from Rachel’s brother, Alyssa focused her attention on him instead. ‘Nick, your parents seem to think your sister isn’t missing, that she’s merely taken off. Do you share that view?’

She ignored the disgruntled huff coming from his mother, and so did he. His thumb and forefinger traced over an invisible goatee as he considered how to respond. ‘Well, now, to be fair, I wouldn’t put it past Rach to take off for a few days, especially if she’d done something stupid.’ When his mother muttered something that sounded like I told you so, Nick clenched his jaw and flicked his wrist as if trying to swat away an irritating bug. In this case, his own parent. Alyssa liked him more with each passing second.