I Wish You Missed Me Read online

  As he spoke, his fingers relaxed on the rifle and Kit knew that she and Virgie would be safe for now, at least.

  ‘I understand if you’re trying to protect Farley,’ Kit told him. ‘But you don’t have to protect him from me. I’m one of his best friends.’

  ‘I’m sure you are.’

  ‘Don’t trivialize what I’m trying to tell you,’ she said. ‘If you speak to him, tell him Kit Doyle is here. He will tell you how close we are if he hasn’t already.’

  ‘Indeed, he’s mentioned you. But I’m going to have to ask you not to come back. I don’t appreciate being stalked.’

  ‘It’s not you we’re trying to find,’ Kit shot back.

  ‘Then you need to go.’ He looked down at the rifle again and Virgie nudged Kit.

  ‘Come on,’ she whispered and turned toward the road.

  Kit glared at Jonas, both of them standing there in what was soon to be a drizzle. ‘Farley loves you,’ she said. ‘You’ve been like a big brother to him.’

  Without changing his expression or his grip on the gun, he replied, ‘I feel the same way.’

  ‘I know he brought you that bottle of port and I think you know where he is.’ Her throat tightened and she realized she was close to tears.

  ‘Kit,’ Virgie said.

  ‘I’m coming.’ She turned back to Jonas. ‘I’m going to stay here as long as it takes, and I’m not going back home without Farley.’

  Their gazes locked. Finally Jonas shrugged. ‘It’s late. This stunt of yours got me out of bed.’

  ‘We’re leaving,’ Virgie said. ‘Soon as we know you’re inside and not pointing that thing at our backs.’

  ‘Fine. But I will be watching from in there.’ He turned without another word and marched toward the front door.

  ‘Ready?’ Kit asked.

  ‘Not until he and that rifle are out of sight.’

  Jonas walked into the cabin and closed the door behind him.

  Kit glanced back toward the barn. There was something in there – something that might be the reason the place was heated. It couldn’t be Farley, though. If he were here he’d be inside the cabin, not outside.

  Virgie stared at the barn as well. ‘Don’t even think about it,’ she told Kit under her breath. ‘Not tonight, at least.’

  Kit nodded, and together they hurried back down the muddy path to the car, trying to outrun the rain.

  Jonas snapped off the piano concerto and picked up his phone. Although they weren’t supposed to have phones out there, as was the case with everything else in life, some people lied.

  Kit Doyle didn’t lie, though. She had more courage than Jonas had guessed upon their first meeting and, he conceded, she had a kind of restrained sex appeal. It wasn’t all about her features either, or those taut, muscular legs which he could see clearly defined through her jeans. Kit Doyle wasn’t beautiful the way Megan was but, like Megan, she was both vulnerable and brave. Off limits, of course, both of them, and he had learned about off limits years ago, the hard way.

  Finally his call got through.

  ‘What’s happening, friend?’

  Jonas felt a sudden chill and crouched in front of the woodstove in hopes of driving it away.

  ‘She came back,’ he said. ‘She and the other woman tried to break into my barn.’

  ‘What did you do to her? Do you need assistance?’

  ‘She’s gone,’ he said, soaking up the heat of the stove. ‘But she’s not leaving the area. Staying as long as it takes, according to her, and says she isn’t going back without Farley.’

  ‘Oh, really?’ Jonas wasn’t sure but thought he heard a chuckle. ‘We’ll see about that, won’t we? Call if you have important news.’

  ‘Of course,’ Jonas said, but realized the call had already ended and he was talking to himself.

  FOURTEEN

  ‘He knows where Farley is.’ Kit stared straight ahead as they drove back to their cabin.

  Virgie shook her head. ‘Next time I’m going back alone, and I’ll find out what he has in that barn of his.’

  ‘Next time we’ll go back together,’ Kit said. ‘Seriously, though, I’m exhausted. Let’s get some sleep.’

  The sleeping bag over the wood bedframe was surprisingly comfortable. Early the next morning, the sun woke her and Kit realized the rain had stopped sometime in the night.

  When she got up, she looked out the front window and saw Virgie already outside with her tea mug and a small bakery box. For a moment, Kit watched her and wondered how wise she had been to involve Virgie in this search. The very habits that had gotten Virgie in trouble in the first place were the ones they were depending on to get the information they needed now. Yet, other than her brother who had been in the war, Virgie never discussed her family or her past.

  ‘What are you looking at?’ She jerked around and stared into Kit’s eyes.

  ‘Just trying to guess what the weather will be like today. Looks sunny for a change.’ Kit stepped outside and joined her at one of the four wicker chairs around a redwood table topped with navy-and-white glazed Catalina tile.

  ‘You were standing at that window for about five minutes.’

  ‘As my mom would say, you must have eyes in the back of your head.’

  ‘I’m always watching even when it don’t look like I am.’ Although she said it pleasantly enough, Kit felt as if she were being warned not to get too close. Virgie motioned toward the box on the table. ‘I got us some pastries down at the Safeway. They open at five. I couldn’t sleep.’

  Kit picked up a scone flecked with dried cranberries and knew at once that Virgie was holding back something.

  ‘What aren’t you telling me?’ she asked.

  Virgie glared at her over the mug of tea, and then put it down on the table. ‘You’re pretty good at this mind-reading stuff yourself,’ she said.

  ‘Meaning?’ Kit asked.

  ‘I had to try it one more time.’

  Kit paused with her hand on the scone. ‘You went by Jonas’s again, didn’t you?’

  Virgie stared to squirm in her seat and then went motionless. ‘Kind of.’

  ‘Kind of what?’

  ‘I kind of went by there but I didn’t get very far. Was going to tell you anyway.’

  ‘Why didn’t you get very far?’ Kit asked.

  ‘Cars,’ she said. ‘Two in the driveway. And lights. He was playing that Chopin again. I could hear it from three houses away.’

  ‘How do you know music?’ Kit asked.

  ‘My daddy raised us on everything from Beethoven to BB King, or maybe it was the other way around.’

  Kit wanted to know more but knew what happened when she pressed Virgie for personal details. ‘So that’s all that happened?’

  ‘Honest.’

  Kit could tell by the sharp tone and clear-eyed, challenging expression that Virgie was telling the truth. She wrapped her hands around the mug of tea. ‘You can’t do this,’ she said. ‘If this is going to work, we have to be a team.’

  ‘I know. But when you come up the way I did, you learn when to trust your gut when it says you ain’t safe, and that’s what it’s saying right now.’

  ‘Then we’ll stay somewhere else,’ Kit said. ‘You just need to promise me that you’ll never do something on your own again without telling me first.’

  ‘Deal. Now, do you want to hear about what I saw in the driveway?’

  Kit felt a flash of hope. ‘Not Farley’s car?’

  ‘No. Sorry.’ Virgie leaned across the table. ‘There was some old kind of pickup parked out there.’

  ‘Anything else?’ Kit asked.

  ‘That was the weird part. Jonas was leaning in the window of the pickup, talking to some woman.’ Virgie sighed and shoved the mug of tea across from her.

  ‘A woman? What did she look like?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ Virgie said. ‘Couldn’t risk getting any closer. We have to go back to his place. He’s the only hope we’ve got. But first we got to
get out of here.’

  Nickel headed toward them in a neatly pressed flannel shirt and jeans, carrying a bottle of strawberry soda.

  ‘Not until we find out what this one knows about Farley,’ Kit said under her breath.

  ‘Glad to see you ladies enjoying the morning.’ He glanced over at the bakery box.

  ‘Join us,’ Kit said. ‘Would you like some pastry?’

  He paused and then walked over. ‘Don’t mind if I do.’

  He pulled out a chair next to Kit, took out one frosted in lemon and pinched off a piece. ‘How was your evening?’ he asked.

  ‘Peaceful,’ Kit said. She looked into his dark brown, bloodshot eyes. ‘We’re trying to find a friend of ours and we believe he stayed here recently.’

  ‘Most here are long-termers.’ He chuckled, and the scent of stale liquor wafted off of him.

  ‘A white guy,’ Virgie said. ‘Driving a black Corvette.’

  He chewed on the pastry as if thinking about it. ‘There was a guy in a Vette here last week. Don’t remember what he looked like, though. I only double-check the troublemakers, and I guess he wasn’t one.’

  ‘Here’s his photo.’ Kit took it out of her bag and placed it on the table.

  ‘Oh, that guy.’ Nickel wiped his fingers on a paper napkin. ‘Now I remember him. A funny first name, right?’

  This was too easy, Kit thought. It was almost as if he had wanted her to ask about him. ‘Farley,’ she said.

  ‘That’s the dude!’ He squinted at the photo again. ‘Well, you’re a little late. He left Friday night and never came back. I don’t remember where he was heading but I did direct him to the highway.’

  ‘How did he seem when he left?’

  ‘Just eager to get on the road.’ Nickel played with some crumbs on the paper napkin and then took a long swallow of his soda. ‘I got the impression he was going north. Oregon, maybe.’

  ‘And this was the first time you met or talked to Farley?’

  ‘I think so.’ He shrugged and held up an unsteady hand. ‘Sometimes my memory’s not as good as it used to be, though. Sometimes I’m lucky if I recognize myself in the morning.’

  He tried to laugh but it came out like a cough.

  ‘Well, I guess we’ll be checking out.’ She glanced over at Virgie, who nodded as if they actually believed Nickel.

  ‘Sorry to hear that.’ He rose from the table. ‘I’ll get your refund, and I’m sorry it was less-than-ideal circumstances for you.’

  Kit and Virgie stood as well. ‘It was fine,’ Kit said. ‘You’re welcome to the rest of the scones, if you’d like them. Please keep my phone number. If you remember anything about where he was going, text or call.’

  ‘Sure thing.’ He picked up the bakery box.

  ‘One thing.’ Kit asked, ‘Which highway did you direct him to? That’s the way we’ll go as well.’

  ‘The 101. I can show you ladies the best way to get there too.’

  ‘That’s OK,’ Kit told him. ‘We already know.’

  And so did Farley.

  Nickel squinted in the bright light. ‘Hope you’ll stop here on the way back.’

  ‘No doubt we will.’

  ‘What a liar,’ Virgie muttered as he walked away. ‘From what you’ve said, Farley knows that road like I know the streets.’

  ‘Nickel just wants us out of here,’ Kit said, ‘but why?’

  Virgie reached for the door of the cabin and paused with her hand on the knob. ‘Because we’re getting too close to something.’

  ‘Let’s get closer then.’

  ‘You sure?’

  ‘Of course I’m sure. Whatever this guy and Jonas are hiding has something to do with Farley. They want us out of here. Let’s let them think we are.’

  ‘We got to stay someplace,’ Virgie said.

  ‘We’ll find something.’

  ‘OK.’ Virgie stepped into the room, leaned against the doorframe and exhaled heavily. ‘Before we go far, though, let’s check out Jonas again.’

  Kit couldn’t argue. That barn was the only lead they had. They parked down the road from the school that morning, determined to wait there with their leftover tea as long as it took for Jonas to appear again.

  ‘Are you sure there was a woman in that truck?’ Kit asked.

  ‘Oh, yes. Unless Jonas has a wife we don’t know about, she’ll be leaving sooner or later.’

  ‘No wife.’ Kit remembered something Farley had told her. ‘Jonas was right out of college when he taught Farley – young. He got involved with one of his students a few years later.’ She couldn’t remember more.

  ‘Woo,’ Virgie said. ‘Did he get fired?’

  ‘Maybe. I’m not sure. I just know the woman he was engaged to left him.’

  ‘So who do you think is the woman in the truck?’ Virgie asked. ‘A student?’

  ‘The sign in front of the school says spring break.’

  ‘A girlfriend then? No wonder he was in such a hurry to get rid of us last night.’

  The sun had moved behind them and its heat filled the car.

  Virgie cracked the windows. ‘You sleepy?’ she asked Kit.

  ‘No, because I didn’t get up at dawn to stalk this guy. Close your eyes. I’ll wake you when he comes out of the house.’

  ‘Can’t do that.’ Virgie’s eyes closed as she spoke. Soon she was breathing evenly. ‘I’m fine,’ she muttered. ‘Fine.’

  Kit watched her and wondered how they had ever gotten here together. Virgie had been homeless with a history Kit knew only by inference. Now she was the only reason Kit might find Farley.

  As Virgie dozed and Kit finished her tea, she felt her phone vibrate and saw a text from Monique. At first she thought there might be news, but Monique was only asking if she had heard anything. A second text followed saying that they had announced Farley’s disappearance on the air and given photos of him to the media. As grateful as Kit was, she had no desire to communicate with Farley’s girlfriend just then. Besides, any movement or noise would probably wake Virgie, who clearly needed a few minutes of rest.

  Jonas’s front door opened and he stepped outside in what looked like the same shorts, this time with a gray sweater. He had pulled his long hair back into a knot and put on canvas shoes.

  ‘Wake up,’ she whispered to Virgie, who jerked awake, her fists clenched. ‘He’s out there,’ Kit said.

  Just then, a woman stepped outside beside him. Her dark hair was hidden under a knit cap but Kit recognized the white-rimmed sunglasses and the long, prairie-style skirt.

  ‘It’s Megan,’ she said, ‘that woman from the roadside stand.’

  Virgie squinted through the glass as Jonas and Megan stood before his car. He put an arm around her, patted her shoulder, and then opened the door.

  ‘Gentleman, ain’t he?’ Virgie snorted. ‘And she pretended she didn’t know him. Both of those women did.’

  FIFTEEN

  As Jonas and Megan drove off, Virgie started the car and Kit’s stomach lurched. Not now. Just try to stay calm. ‘And both of the women were lying.’ She tried to keep her voice steady but Virgie glanced at her anyway.

  ‘You all right?’

  ‘I’m fine.’

  ‘OK then.’ Virgie gripped the wheel and the car spun around the steep curve.

  Kit put on her dark glasses so that Virgie couldn’t see the fear in her eyes. ‘He’s heading east, isn’t he?’

  ‘Seems to be.’ The road widened ahead of them.

  ‘Can you get any closer?’

  ‘Afraid to. After being followed myself, I know how easy it is to get noticed, and I don’t want to risk that.’

  ‘No wonder Megan wanted to get rid of us in such a hurry. She knows where Farley is too.’

  Kit realized she was hyperventilating and tried to slow her breathing. Slowly, slowly. In through the nose, and out through the lips.

  Virgie glanced over at her again. At the same moment the car Jonas was driving disappeared.

  ‘The
y’re gone.’ Virgie slowed down and they both scanned the side of the road, which had no direct access. Slowly, she took the next curve, and the edge of the road seemed to creep closer to them.

  Kit didn’t dare look to her right and the steep drop. ‘They didn’t get this far.’

  ‘I know. Just looking for a little more room. There might be a lumber truck or something out here and I don’t want to get caught trying to turn around in such a small space.’

  Kit understood. A large vehicle coming down the steep grade toward them wouldn’t be able to stop in time. She remained silent, letting Virgie focus her attention on the road. Instead of widening, it narrowed as they climbed upward.

  ‘You’ve got to go for it,’ Kit told her. ‘It’s not going to get any better.’

  An old truck sped down the other lane. ‘You see what I mean?’ Virgie said in a tight voice. ‘It would have hit us.’

  ‘Well, it came from somewhere. We just have to keep going.’

  Another mile and a turnout lined with a short fence on the cliff side appeared on their right.

  ‘Do it.’ Virgie could not hesitate because of her. Kit forced herself to watch the drop move closer as their car entered the turnout. It was like looking into a montage of green and blue. Her hands dripped sweat.

  ‘Hang on,’ Virgie said. ‘You’re doing great. You’re doing fine.’

  Then she went silent. The car felt like a vacuum, sucked free of any noise. It inched into a turn and entered the downward lane. It was as if someone had turned on the volume again. The sound of the wind exploded through the trees. Kit could hear Virgie’s hard breathing. She could hear her own.

  ‘You did it.’ Kit bit her lip to keep from crying.

  ‘I think I did.’ Virgie exhaled and rubbed first one hand and then the other against her shirt. ‘Lord, I don’t ever want to do that again.’

  Then for some reason she laughed, and Kit found herself laughing too, emptying out all of that bottled-up tension.

  They passed the area where Jonas and Megan had disappeared. ‘There must be a dozen roads along here,’ Kit said.

  ‘You sure you want to stay up here and keep looking?’ Virgie stared straight ahead, speaking as casually as if asking Kit if she’d like more tea.