Missing persons, p.28
Missing Persons, page 28
part #1 of Kate Conway Mystery Series
I laughed. “He never stops trying.”
“No, he never gives up. He told me he and his wife are going to Europe for the entire month of August. Second honeymoon kind of thing. He said you inspired it so he wanted you to have the house.”
“I’m not going to use it. You go, Vera.”
“My family has three houses on Lake Michigan, two on Martha’s Vineyard, a place in the south of France, and a small estate in Scotland. And I think we still have a place somewhere in the Caribbean. I can’t remember where.”
“So you’re saying you have somewhere to go if you need to get away.”
She laughed. “I’m good, yeah.”
I took the key. Maybe a few weeks dangling my feet into one of the Great Lakes wasn’t a bad idea.
“I’ve got a million errands to run today,” she said. “But normally I’m around. If you ever want to talk. Or just anything.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
“And Victor’s band is playing Friday. He called and invited me to come, so if you want to have a night out . . . ”
“Maybe.”
“I think Andres and his wife are going so it would be a bunch of friends.”
I got in my car. “I’ll see you around, Vera.”
As I drove away, I saw Vera talking to an elderly neighbor. They sat on her front steps and were laughing. It was just like something Frank would have done. A million errands to run, and yet he’d get distracted by a friend.
I had gone only three blocks when I pulled over and looked at my cell phone. Her number was the last I’d dialed. I could delete it, or I could just do nothing. Within days, as I made and received new calls, it would disappear from my phone, and I could let go of Vera forever.
I hesitated, then pressed “Add to my address book” and typed in her name. I hesitated again before pressing “Save.”
ALSO BY CLARE O’DONOHUE
The Lover’s Knot
A Drunkard’s Path
The Double Cross
Clare O'Donohue, Missing Persons
