how or when she could pay her friend back, so she couldn’t accept the loan. Mia Hughes paid her own way. Always. Heck, she didn’t even have a credit card because she paid cash or she didn’t buy.
“Sophie,” she said on a sigh, “I really appreciate the offer. But we’ve been looking for Alex for months and it’s like he vanished off the face of the earth. We don’t know when he’ll come back.” If ever, her mind added, but she didn’t say it aloud, not wanting to tempt whatever gods might be listening in on them. “I’m fine. Honest. The thing with my debit card was just a bank mistake.” Okay, a small lie, but one she would cling to. She didn’t want her friend worried about her and she simply could not accept a loan. Mia had been making her own way in the world since she was eighteen, and she wouldn’t start looking for handouts now. No matter how hungry she was.
“You have the hardest head,” Sophie murmured.
Mia smiled. “Thank you.”
“Wasn’t a compliment,” her friend assured her on a laugh. “But okay. I’ll let it go. For now.”
“I appreciate it.”
“That’s not why I called, anyway,” Sophie said.
Instantly, Mia’s friend radar started humming. Sophie had only recently become engaged to Zach Lassiter, Alex’s business partner. After a shaky start, the two were so happy together, Mia was afraid that something had gone wrong between them. “Are you and Zach okay?”
“We’re fine. He’s great. This isn’t about us.”
“Okay, then,” Mia said as she carried the phone across the kitchen, lifted the lid on her lunch and sighed before setting the lid back in place. “What is it about?”
“Remember how we talked about you going out to gather more information on Dave Firestone?”
“Yeah,” Mia said. “I don’t have anything yet, though. I’m not exactly a private investigator.” She’d tried internet searches, but so far all she had found were the sanitized information blurbs you found about any wealthy, successful man. And she wasn’t sure where to dig up anything else.
“Well,” Sophie told her, “I have something. I just got off the phone with Carrie Hardesty.”
Mia frowned, trying to place the name. Before she could say she didn’t know the woman, Sophie was continuing.
“Carrie’s husband, Bill, is a ranch hand on the Battlelands.”
“Uh-huh.” She still didn’t see what this had to do with her or Dave Firestone or why she might be interested. And now she was hungry enough that she was even anxious for her beef-flavored noodle lunch.
“So Bill called Carrie to tell her he’d be home early today because he and Nathan had finished work faster than they’d thought despite an interruption.”
“Okay...” Mia had to smile. She still had no idea why this should interest her, but Sophie’s voice had taken on that storytelling tone, so she didn’t stop her.
“Bill told Carrie that Dave Firestone had shown up to talk to Nathan.”
Mia stiffened. Dave had been one of the last people to see her employer before he disappeared. She’d heard the talk around town. She knew that people were wondering if Dave had had something to do with Alex going missing. But she also knew that gossip was the fuel that kept small towns going, so she didn’t really put a lot of stock in it.
Still, though, Dave Firestone was wealthy, determined and too gorgeous to be trusted. Plus, she and Sophie had decided to check the man out.
“What was he talking to Nathan about?”
“Apparently, he went there to find out if he was a suspect in Alex’s disappearance.”
Mia sucked in a gulp of air. “He did?”
“Yep,” Sophie said, then added, “but Bill says Nathan assured Dave that he was officially not a suspect.”
Disappointment curled in the pit of her stomach. Not that she wished Dave Firestone arrested or anything, but she wanted answers. Soon.
“It’s not surprising,” Mia said, chewing at her bottom lip. “Dave Firestone is an important man around here. There would have to be serious evidence against him for Nathan to keep him as a suspect.”
“I know.” Sophie sounded as dejected as Mia felt.
“Tell the truth, Soph,” Mia said. “Do you really think Dave is involved in Alex’s disappearance?”
“Probably not.” Her friend sighed.
“Me, either,” Mia agreed.
“But he’s the only link we have, Mia. I think we should stick to our plan and you should find out anything you can about him. Even if Dave is innocent, he might still know something that he doesn’t even know he knows, you know?”
Mia laughed a little. “Sadly, I understood that completely.”
Sophie added, “And according to what Bill told Carrie, Nathan admitted that he doesn’t have a clue what happened to Alex.”
Her heart sank a little further at that news. Of course, she’d thought as much. Nathan Battle had been working this case for months and he’d kept her apprised of his lack of progress. The sheriff and Alex were good friends, so Mia knew that Nathan was just as much personally involved in the search as he was professionally.
And none of that had helped them find Alex.
In the time Mia had worked for Alex Santiago, she’d known him to be warm, generous and kind. But he also had secrets. No one was allowed in his home office, for example. He had only allowed Mia in to clean once a month and then only if he was present. And when she and Sophie had started comparing notes, Sophie had told her about the secret phone calls Alex had been getting.
Since Alex had been gone, Mia had searched his home office top to bottom and Sophie had gone through his emails and phone records, but they hadn’t discovered a thing.
Which told her that either Alex had taken whatever he’d been safeguarding with him—or whoever had taken Alex had also gone through that office and taken what they’d found.
There was that now familiar twist of worry inside. Where was Alex? Was he hurt? Was he...
“He’ll show up,” Mia said, cutting short a disturbing train of thought. “There’s a reasonable explanation for all of this and when Alex comes back, it will all make sense.”
“You really believe that, don’t you?”
“Absolutely.” Almost, she added silently. But Mia had spent so much of her life searching for the silver lining in dark skies that it was instinctive now. She wouldn’t give up on Alex and, until he was home, she would do whatever she could to help find him.
Even if it meant eating enough flavored noodles to sink a battleship.
“Oops,” Sophie said suddenly, “Zach’s at the door. He’s taking me to lunch at the diner.
