Page 102 of Vacation Friends

“That’s right.” He nodded, his voice absent of any emotion. “Why don’t you have a seat?”

“What’s going on?” She still felt confused about why she was called here. She slowly lowered herself onto the edge of the bed.

Adrienne and Brody remained in the background, but the detective didn’t ask them to leave.

“Is this about Fowler?” Maddie rubbed her hands against her jean shorts when she realized they were sweaty.

“We still haven’t found him.” Kalani sounded professional and stiff—and all business, as usual.

Maddie reached toward Bree and squeezed her hand. “I’m so sorry, honey.”

“Maddie . . . the police don’t think something bad happened to him.” Bree’s voice trembled. “They think he walked away . . . on purpose.”

“What?” Maddie’s head spun with the thought.

Why in the world would Fowler leave on purpose? And why had Kalani asked Maddie to come here? What did any of this have to do with her?

The questions swirled in her head as a pounding began at her temples.

CHAPTER

FORTY-SIX

Maddie looked from Bree to Detective Kalani to Adrienne then Brody.

Then she glanced back at Kalani. He was the only one who could answer her questions. “What are you talking about? People think Fowler walked off on his own? Why would he do that?”

Silence stretched through the air. Not just any silence.

Awkward silence.

“I wanted to talk to you before I talked to your fiancé,” Detective Kalani started.

Maddie touched her empty ring finger, but this didn’t seem like the right time to bring up the fact they’d broken up.

“I’m still unclear why you want to talk to me,” she said instead. “Or Josh.”

“Because a couple of hours ago, we examined Fowler’s laptop.”

“Because you think he left on his own and that there could be evidence in his files?” Maddie clarified, still not sure she was following.

“Perhaps,” Kalani said. “But we found something far different.”

Maddie didn’t like where this was going. Didn’t like the fact she’d been pulled into it either. “Okay . . .”

“We found hidden emails.” Kalani shifted in front of the patio doors, his perceptive gaze still on her. “Emails that indicated Fowler was trying to sell company secrets to the highest bidder.”

Maddie’s lips parted.

Fowler? He was the corporate spy?

No . . .

Her gaze snapped back to the detective. “I know the company suspected someone might be trying to sell plans involving their technology.”

“And now we have evidence that it may have been Fowler,” Kalani finished.

“So you think Fowler saw our hiking trip as an opportunity to disappear before anyone found out what he did?” Maddie clarified. “That he just walked away? Still, he couldn’t just disappear. He’s out there somewhere.”

---