Really.
She rang the bell and managed a smile, relieved to see the door opened by her newly acquired stepbrother Drew, the least objectionable member of her father’s new family.
“Hey, you made it. I was starting to worry about you,” he said, flashing her a big smile. Drew was blond, blue-eyed and drop-dead handsome if you went for that type. Roz didn’t. She found his classically featured face devoid of character with no sign that he’d experienced life, although he was only two years her junior.
Drew’s saving grace was the fact that he was the only member of his family who seemed to care one way or another about her. His interest in her definitely wasn’t romantic. Roz suspected he paid attention to her because it annoyed his mother.
He hugged Roz, then stepped back in surprise. “You’re freezing.” He ushered her inside out of the cold and dampness. “What happened?”
She knew she must look like a drowned cocker spaniel, her strawberry-blond hair a tousle of damp curls. “I had a…flat.” She really didn’t want to get into her “detour” or what she’d seen at the waterfall.
“Has anyone heard from my father?” she asked as she stepped in.
Drew shook his head. “Sorry.”
She glanced past him, trying hard not to cry. She hadn’t realized how scared she was, how worried that something had happened to him. If only she hadn’t missed his call the other day.
What little of the house she could see had changed more than she could have imagined. When Roz’s mother, Anna, had been alive, the house had smelled of baked bread and brownies. This house smelled of cleaner, new carpet and fresh paint.
Her father had warned her a few months ago that Emily was doing a little redecorating, but it still came as a shock to see everything of her mother gone. Through the French doors, she could see the living room. All of the beautiful old things her mother had collected had been replaced with new, modern furniture.
That wasn’t the only shock. While Roz’s mother, Anna, had loved vibrant colors, it seemed Emily was partial to indistinguishable shades of off-white. The furnishings didn’t fit the house any more than Emily did, she thought uncharitably.
“Don’t worry, all of your mother’s things have been moved up to the attic,” Drew said, following her gaze. “Your father insisted everything be saved.”
The attic. How appropriate.
Emily came breezing out of the dining room looking harried. “Rozalyn,” the woman gushed, rushing over to give her a quick air kiss.
Emily Lane Sawyer was blond with blue eyes like her two grown children. She was a tall, statuesque woman, far different from Roz’s mother, who’d been petite with soft brown eyes and strawberry-blond hair that curled in the humidity just like her daughter’s. Everyone had always said Roz was the spitting image of her mother, something that Emily had remarked on more than one occasion.
In her late forties, Emily was a good fifteen years younger than her new husband. Intellectually, Roz could understand what her father had seen in the woman. She had a great body for her age and she was quite attractive.
What worried Roz was what Emily had seen in Liam Sawyer.
“You made it in time for dinner,” Emily said.
Roz heard the “just barely” in her tone. Dinner was the last thing Roz wanted but it would be rude to try to get out of dining with the family. “Drew says you haven’t heard from my father.” She couldn’t bring herself to call him dad with these people.
“No, but like I told you on the phone, Liam said he didn’t know when he’d be back and not to worry about him. I hope that isn’t the only reason you drove all the way up here.”
What other reason than to see her father? “It isn’t like him to be gone this long without any word,” Roz said, not mentioning the other reason she was so concerned. The strange message on her answering machine. He’d sounded upset, said little, asking her to call as soon as possible.
That had been two days ago. Emily said she hadn’t heard from Liam for more than two weeks.
Also he’d left his cell phone number. Not the number at the house. And when Roz had tried to reach him she’d gotten the message that the phone was either out of the calling area or turned off.
He’d said it was important but it had been his tone that scared her. Something had happened, and it had to be something big for her father, the most laid-back man alive, to sound that upset.
And yet no one in this family seemed even concerned about him. Why was that? Because they didn’t want her to know that something had happened before he’d left on his latest camping trip. And Roz was certain it had something to do with Emily.
“He’s always checked in after a few days,” Roz said now. “It’s hard to believe you haven’t heard from him.”
“Well, you know him better than I do,” Emily said distractedly. “I have to admit, I don’t understand his need to go off into the mountains like he does at his age.”
“He loves the Cascades. I’m sure that’s one reason he moved back here with you.” Actually, it was a mystery why her dad had done something that ridiculous, bringing this woman to Timber Falls. Roz figured there was a lot about Liam that a woman like Emily wouldn’t be able to understand. Could her father have picked a woman any more different from him?
“Drew, would you see what is keeping your sister?” Emily said, glancing past Roz. “Our dinner guest will be arriving soon.”
Dinner guest? Roz knew her shock must have shown. Emily wasn’t letting any concern over Liam keep her from entertaining, it seemed.
Drew buzzed his sister on the intercom near the front door. “No answer,” he said to his mother.
“Has anyone looked for my father?” Roz asked.
Emily seemed surprised by the question. “We wouldn’t even know where to look. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.” She glanced at her watch, obviously more worried about her dinner than her husband, then up at Roz again. “You said yourself he’s always done this, gone off alone, no matter the weather, taking his camera and camper back into the mountains, out searching for Bigfoot like everyone else in this town right now. I can’t see this time is any different except this time there was an actual sighting.”
“There’s been a sighting?” That explained the large number of people in town this time of year.
“Two weeks ago. I thought you would have heard,” Emily said. “Some fool bread man claimed he saw Bigfoot just outside of town and your father took off like a shot.”
Was it possible her father was on the trail of Bigfoot and that’s why he hadn’t come back? Why he’d sounded the way he had on the phone message? Except he hadn’t sounded excited. He’d sounded…upset, almost scared. And he’d been gone way too long.
“I’m afraid he’s hurt, trapped somewhere, unable to get out for help,” Roz said. “I think we should contact the sheriff.”
Emily touched her temple and winced as
