“We’ll take her riding this weekend. If I don’t get called out,” he sighed.

“Get married, have a lot of kids and suggest that they call one of the unmarried Rangers when they need assistance,” she advised.

He made a face at her and went to the door. “I’ll call you before I swing by to pick you up.”

“I really would like to take my car, just in case,” she said. “Can’t I follow you down to the ranch?”

“Sure,” he said easily. “I’ll call you when I’m on the way. And bring that stray kitten you’re trying to find a home for. Clancey loves cats.”

She laughed. “Okay. See you in a bit.”

“Fair enough.”

He went by the office at the Brandiff Apartments and asked for Clancey and Tad’s room number.

The manager looked at him curiously. “Who?” he asked.

“Clancey Lang. She has a little brother living with her. He’s nine...”

He frowned. “We don’t have any Langs here,” he said. “There’s a Carlie Lang, but she’s in her fifties.”

Banks felt his face go taut. “Are you sure?”

He nodded. “I’ve been manager here for sixteen years,” he said. “I know everybody, and I mean everybody, who lives here. Sorry I can’t help you.”

“Thanks just the same,” Banks said. He forced a smile and went back out to his vehicle.

He called Hollister. “She’s not here,” he said tautly. “She never was here.”

“Where are you?” Cal asked.

“The Brandiff Apartments,” he said curtly. “Something’s going on. This doesn’t feel right.”

“No, it doesn’t. Okay,” Cal said after a minute. “Let’s logic this out. She’s within walking distance of your office and Tad’s school. The Brandiff Apartments are the only low-rent housing within a three mile radius—I know, because I’ve been trying to help her find a place she could afford. If she couldn’t afford Brandiff, there’s only one place left that she’s likely to be living.”

Banks took a deep breath. “The homeless shelter,” he said icily.

“Exactly,” Cal replied. “And when you find her, you give her hell for me, too, because I offered twice to bring them both down here until I could find her a place in town!”

“I’ll give her both barrels,” Banks promised.

“And then call me so I can be sure she’s all right,” he added quietly.

“I’ll do that, too.”

He drove to the homeless shelter. He knew it because he’d had to interview a reluctant witness there just two weeks earlier. He asked for Clancey by name and was given permission to go to her room, after showing his credentials and mentioning that she worked for him.

He knocked on the door and waited patiently.