should go without saying but if you try to leave or do anything suspicious, I’ll find you and arrest you.”
“I understand.” He responded without hesitation. “I assure you that you now have my full cooperation.”
“Good.” Braydon patted the top of the car and went back to his truck. He was surprised to see Sophia already sitting in the cab with the air conditioner blasting. “How did you turn the car on?”
She remained still as she answered, her eyes closed in the cold air stream. “I used the key. You know, the things that people use to start cars?”
“Your sarcasm is noted, but what I meant was how did you get my keys?”
“You threw them on the dash here.” She opened one eye, watching as he climbed into the driver’s seat. “Not the best hiding place.” He shifted into Drive and began following Richard out onto Loop Road.
“Tom says I have a nasty habit of doing that.” Being a cop in Culpepper had seemed to activate an invisible barrier around the truck. No one wanted to steal or strip down his vehicle. The townspeople knew better. “That still doesn’t give you the right to turn it on.”
“Listen, it feels like it’s over 100 degrees in this place. I needed some air and I needed it fast.” She closed her eyes again and let the air conditioner push against her face. It was flushed from the heat, he could now tell. There were patches of red across her soft skin, though she was still attractive.
“That outfit isn’t helping,” he observed.
“And that is also noted.”
They dove into a small silence. Sophia’s perfume was slowly filling the space of the cab. He marveled at the contrast between its airy sweetness and her hard resolve.
“I’m surprised you didn’t want to ride with Richard,” Braydon admitted. “I thought you two would want to catch up.” She had picked him, a stranger, over someone she knew of and who had close ties with her sister. Plus, that man had been Richard Vega. He could charm his way out of a jail cell faster than Braydon could lock the door. Another reason why he hadn’t yet arrested the man. Though, he would in a heartbeat if he needed to.
Sophia snorted.
“Remember when I said Lisa and I weren’t on the best terms this past year?” She motioned to the sports car in front. “Meet Richard Vega. He was the hammer to our nail.”
Braydon glanced over at her. “What happened?”
Sophia turned her head so fast that her bun released the rest of her hair. “It’s none of your business,” she snapped.
“It is if you want me to find your sister, I need all of the details pertaining to her and Richard.” Her anger seemed to fade.
“Why? Do you think Richard had something to do with her disappearance?”
Braydon thought about it before he answered. Richard certainly had the means to make a person fall off the radar but there had been an unmistakable concern that had covered every word and movement when he spoke of Lisa. “I personally think the only thing he’s guilty of is being a prideful son of a bitch, but I don’t want to rule him out, either. So, if there was a fight between all of you, there could potentially be a motive.”
She went back to fidgeting with her hands.
“I really don’t think that has anything to do with what’s happening....”
“A good detective can’t leave clues half-uncovered.” He prodded with a gentler tone, “If we’re going to find your sister, I need all of the information.”
She put her hand up to the vent and quieted. The past wasn’t a pleasant place to frequent, he knew that, but sometimes it was a necessity. He remained patient and watched as Richard turned off Loop Road and onto a connector that would get them to the main one. His red little car could easily outrun the truck. Braydon imagined the only reason he was going the speed limit was to avoid pissing him off any more.
Sophia sighed, touching her face with her now-cold hand.
“It was over money,” she started. “And we never really had a fight. It was more of a buildup of things we didn’t say. My dad died when we were little and Mom worked full-time while doing odd jobs along the way to support us. The years went by and we could see her trying to not blame us for her having to work so hard, but eventually the resentment set in. Lisa and I picked up the slack and looked out for one another—encouraged good grades, gave each other rides to work and helped take care of everything else. Lisa was my older sister, but she didn’t raise me—we raised each other.” Her voice shook and Braydon had to look to see if she was crying. Her head was bent, her fingertips suddenly fascinating. “Lisa has always been the prettier, more charming sister. As we got older, she was handed more opportunities, but she never really took them. That is until she started dating Richard. He offered her a world on a gold platter and she just took it. No questions asked. We spent years working so hard to make something of ourselves and then it was like she took the easy way out.” Her voice softened. “We never fought about it—I never said those exact words—but she picked up on how I felt.”
“And that was?”
“Anger...with a touch of resentment.” Her face flushed red. “Saying it out loud seems stupid, especially now with everything going on. I should be happy for her, but Richard was just a hard pill to swallow, I suppose. Still, I don’t think that has anything to do with her disappearance. The times we did talk this past year, she seemed genuinely happy.”
Again, Braydon was surprised by the woman next to him. Just like that she had not only told him a personal story, but she had admitted her true feelings about it. He understood her stubbornness; however, it was the ease at which she told the truth that made the younger Hardwick sister more and more intriguing.
“Does your mother know about Lisa, then?” He couldn’t remember her bringing the woman up in detail before. Surely she would have been there.
“No.” She didn’t elaborate and Braydon didn’t push her. The way her body tensed like the string on a bow, he knew he had hit a deep nerve. Her openness apparently had its limits.
“What about you, Detective? Any family drama to share?” Sophia said it as a joke, something to lighten the dark mood, but she couldn’t have picked a worse topic. Years of experience saved his composure. He smiled and shook his head.
“Nothing worth talking about.”
Richard took them west on Highway 20, following the slight curve of the two-lane until they passed Tipsy’s Gas & Grill on the left. Sophia was surprised at the appearance of “One of the Best Eats in Culpepper” gas station/eatery. It was bigger than she had imagined—the original convenience store attached to another building, twice its size. She didn’t know if it was the city girl in her, but she hadn’t expected it to look as cozy as it did. Her stomach growled at the idea of Tipsy’s advertised fried shrimp. The last thing she had eaten was a granola bar the night before.
They drove a few miles past Tipsy’s before Richard turned on his blinker and pulled
