looked startled, then laughed again. And he got that same little jolt of pleasure out of it. Natural, he thought. She’d been crying when he’d arrived, and he’d managed not to make it worse, maybe even a little better. Something any guy would be happy about.
“But the point is, we were inseparable after that. We shared everything. We poured our hearts out to each other. When I had my first crush on a boy, she was the one I told. When her mom got sick, I was the first to know. She’s the sister I never had.”
“A long time ago, my father used to say there’s two kinds of families—the one you’re born into, and the one you build yourself.”
“Your dad sounds wise.”
“At one time, he had his moments.” He knew he sounded a little odd, but went on easily enough. “He also used to say that’s not something you can pass down to your kids. You have to earn your own wisdom. Usually the hard way.” Too bad he forgot his own lessons, Teague thought.
Laney grimaced at the words. Thinking of Amber, Teague guessed. It was time for those cop questions. He certainly wasn’t about to keep discussing his own family; that was not a topic he lingered on. Ever.
As if he was finally sure things were progressing properly, Cutter lay down. But for insurance, he put his head on Laney’s foot. She seemed to take it as a sign the time for idle chatter was over. Teague saw her take in a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
“When did you last talk to her?” he asked.
“It’ll be four weeks on Friday.”
“That’s a long time, for friends as close as you are.”
He didn’t say ‘female friends,’ although he at least knew enough to realize there was a difference. Girls seemed to always want to be in touch, whereas with a guy he could go for weeks, even months without any contact, and then run into him and it would be like nothing was wrong. Nothing was wrong. But a woman tended to take offense at that kind of benign neglect. At least, that had been his sad experience.
“That,” she said firmly, “is unheard of. For us. We talked or texted every day. Usually multiple times a day.”
“Wow.”
He couldn’t imagine that. It had boggled him when Quinn and Hayley had come out of that mess so tightly connected they did the same; neither of them was happy if they went longer than a few hours without contact of some kind. He teased his boss about it, but beneath the joking was a thread of wonder. He’d never felt that way about anyone.
“Now she’s blocked incoming calls,” Laney said. “I had another friend try, and my mother. Even the police officer tried, I’ll give her that, and she was blocked, so it’s all incoming calls, not just me.”
“Hmm.” It was the most noncommittal sound Teague could manage.
“Look, I know how it sounds. I even understand why the police feel the way they do. On the surface, it looks simple. Woman meets a new man, they hit it off in a big way, then head out on a romantic getaway. They want to be undisturbed, so woman blocks incoming calls on her phone.”
“But you don’t think so.”
“No. She just wouldn’t, not without telling me. In fact, she’d call me and giggle about it for an hour first. And then there’s the texts.”
“Texts?”
“The ones that came after my calls were blocked.”
His brow furrowed. “So you have heard from her? Via text?”
She sighed. “Yes. And no.”
He leaned back. “I think maybe you’d better explain that one.”
“I’ve gotten texts sent from her phone. But they’re...off.”
“Off how?”
“They just don’t sound like her.”
“The wording or what she’s saying?”
“Yes. And there are mistakes. Things that are just flat-out wrong.”
He tapped the side of his now-empty cup with his index finger. “All right. Could she have lost her phone, had it stolen?”
“She would have a replacement by now. Amber wouldn’t go from the living room to the kitchen without a phone. And besides, she missed our get-together yesterday, without even a call to cancel. She would never, ever do that. All of this is completely out of character for her.”
Which probably explained the tears today, Teague thought.
“I remember my sister telling me about girls who blow off their friends when a new guy comes along,” he said, trying to keep his tone neutral.
“Amber’s not one of them. Nor am I. We always hated that, swore it would never happen, and it never did.”
She was so adamant he decided to leave that one alone. “So she would have told you if she was going to run off with this guy she just happened to meet.”
Laney went a little pale. Cutter’s head came up, so Teague knew he wasn’t imagining her sudden tension.
“She didn’t just happen to meet him.” He saw moisture gathering in her eyes, saw her visibly fighting the tears. “I introduced them. This is my fault.”
“Whoa. Slow down. You knew this guy?”
She nodded. “Slightly. I knew him from my old job, where I learned, over in Lynnwood.”
“A bit of a drive, from the U-District.”
“My boss specialized in pocket dogs,” Laney said. “People came from farther than that.”
He smiled at the term, but said only, “Go on.”
“So, Edward, he’d even asked me out a couple of times. But I wasn’t attracted, and I was too busy with plans for this shop.”
“And?”
“Last month Amber and I went to the mall there. She loved to shop. Edward was there with a friend, we ran into him. I introduced them. She seemed interested, and so did he, she’d just broken up with a guy and was kind of down, so I told her she should go, he was a nice guy.” She blinked again, more rapidly this time. “I told her she should go, damn it. I practically set her up on a blind date with this guy, and now—”
“Easy.” Instinctively he reached across the table and put his hand over hers. “You didn’t know.”
Not that he was sure anything was wrong himself, not really. He needed to know more about what had triggered her worry.
“Tell me about the texts you felt were off. Did you answer?”
“Yes. But she never responded. Which isn’t like her, either.”
“What if you initiate a text?”
She
