Page 64 of Silent Ridge

Ronnie hands the note to me. It’s handwritten.

Jess, take care of the shop for me until I return.

I’m not an expert on handwriting, but it looks like Dan’s perfect hand. I show it to Jess and ask, “Is this his handwriting?”

She shakes her head. “How would I know?You’rehis girlfriend.”

My hand makes a fist again and I shove it in my pocket. “Have you tried to call him?”

“When?” she asks.

“Today?”

“No.” She looks at me as if I’ve asked her to calculate the earth’s distance from the sun.

“When was the last time you saw him?”

“A couple of days. I don’t know.”

“How many days?”

“Yesterday morning.”

“Yesterday morning what time?”

“What’s with all the questions? Is he in some kind of trouble? Am I going to lose my job?”

Ronnie makes me proud. She reaches out and grabs Ms. Moonbeam by the shoulders. “He’s not in trouble with us. But you may be if you don’t start answering our questions.” She says this forcefully and Jess seems to snap out of her childish games.

“I don’t know where he is. Honest. He was here yesterday morning when I came to work. I was here about six thirty and I left around five thirty yesterday. He was still here when I left. His truck was parked around the back. I haven’t heard from him since yesterday when I left work. He never said anything about not coming in today. I came to work at six thirty this morning and his truck wasn’t out back. I don’t know if he’s coming to work today or not, but he’s usually here before I am.”

“Was the front door locked or unlocked when you got here this morning?” I ask.

“I thought it was locked still. I used a key to get in but I don’t know if it was unlocked or not. I thought I locked it behind me. That’s why I was so scared when you yelled at me. The front and back were supposed to be locked.”

“Call him,” I say. He’s not answeringmycalls. He was really ticked off when he left me at the restaurant. But he may answer for Jess. She hesitates only a split second, then pulls a phone from the back pocket of her skin-tight blue jeans. She calls and listens. After a dozen rings her expression becomes quizzical. She hangs up before I can stop her.

“It didn’t even go to his voice mail. That’s really strange,” she says.

Fifty-Five

We’re back in the Taurus. It’s not like Dan. None of this. I haven’t told Ronnie about the little fight we had the other night. It’s none of her business but it is quickly becoming necessary.

“I notice you had Jess call Dan,” Ronnie says. “You don’t think he’ll answer if he knows it’s you? Did you have a fight?”

“We went out for drinks the other night and I had one too many.”

I don’t know why I’m lying.

“He got mad because you had too much to drink?”

“It’s not important, Ronnie. We just need to find him.”

“Megan, if I’m going to help you, I need to know what’s going on. I don’t understand why we’re looking for Dan. Was he a friend of Mrs. Delmont’s too? You haven’t told me much about why we’ve talked to these other people. And I think you’re keeping things from the sheriff.”

Ronnie’s been a big help. More of a partner, really. But I don’t know how much I can tell her. She’s intuitive. That’s the problem with not telling her enough.

“I’m going to tell you something that only I and the sheriff know. That means if you tell anyone I’ll have to kill you.”

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