Page 30 of Cougar Point

I cock my head to the side and smile. “Ronnie’s incorruptible. I’m incorrigible. Glad to meet you.”

He looks at Rebecca. “Okay. You win. They can help. I’ll tell Molly she’s fired.”

Leave it to an attorney to look at everything in life as a win or loss. Either way he might not like what we find.

“Now,” he says, consulting his watch. “It’s getting late. Have you two eaten?

Now he’s talking. Jack suggests ordering in, and I willingly agree. We should get an early night. I suspect it’s going to be a long day tomorrow.

TWENTY-TWO

MONDAY

I sleep like a log for a change, probably all that sea air. I wake just after dawn, dress, and go downstairs, following the smell of coffee.

Kitchens are the most used room in a house. The Marsh kitchen is the exception. It’s completely decked out with all the newest appliances but Ronnie tells me they barely know how to use the espresso machine. Rebecca said Jack gave the house staff the next couple of days off. I don’t know if he’s just being a nice guy or if he doesn’t want us talking to them. The walls have ears type of thinking. Jack is sitting at the head of the table with Rebecca and Ronnie on one side, me on the other.

“Have you shown your dad the note?” I ask.

Jack answers, “I’ve seen the note. Roger made a copy and texted it to me. It could be from anyone. It could mean anything or nothing at all.”

Rebecca says, “Yesterday we talked to Missy, the night manager that found the note.”

He gives Rebecca a stern look. “You started talking to people without my permission.”

“That’s right,” I say. “The police haven’t been there and they haven’t formally taken a missing person report. You can’t find a missing person if you don’t look.”

With a self-important look Jack says, “I know Sheriff Longbow personally. He assured me his best detective has been assigned. Sergeant Lucas has already started an informal investigation.”

I assume by “best” and “informal” he means it will be low key and eyes only, which means slow and casual and most of all “quietly”.

“Some detectives I’ve known are satisfied to wait and see if the missing person shows up. They feel justified because over ninety percent of missing person cases are family drama related—the spouse decides to leave, the child runs away and is staying down the street with a friend. In ninety percent of the cases, the missing person either comes home or makes some kind of contact within a few days or weeks.”

“And the other ten percent?” he asks.

“I won’t lie to you. Some are never found. Some are found too late.”

“You mean dead.”

“Mr. Marsh, your wife has been missing for almost three days and she hasn’t made contact. An informal investigation is not what you need. More is at stake than your reputation or hurt feelings. Let us work on this. The worst that can happen is that we find her and she doesn’t want to come home. We apologize but at least we know what happened.”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” he says.

“Look, Ronnie is better at finding missing persons than I am.” I don’t mind telling a lie in this case. “You are in a unique position to help us know your wife’s mindset. Her relationship with your daughters. Her best friends. Extended family members. All marriages have ups and downs. We need tohear all of it. Don’t hold anything back. The one tiny thing you don’t tell us, no matter how personal or embarrassing it may be, might make a difference in finding her quickly.”

He’s a lawyer so his expression is unreadable. If he won’t talk to me, maybe he’ll talk to his daughters. However, if this starts looking more like an abduction than a wife leaving her husband, I’ll have to advise Ronnie and Rebecca to push Sergeant Lucas to take off the kid gloves.

Ronnie puts a hand over his. “Dad, if one of us were missing, you would do anything to find us. I know you would. You love us. We love you. I know you and Mom don’t always get along and sometimes she gets on your last nerve. But you’ve been together through hard times. I remember you telling us stories about your own childhood and your own dad and how you all struggled. It wasn’t easy then, and it’s not going to be easy now. Please don’t wait until it’s too late. Megan’s right about me being good at this. I know you don’t approve of my life choices but I love my job. If something happens to Mom, you’ll never forgive yourself.”

And Ronnie will never forgive you.The stiffness of his posture tells me she’s gotten through.

He surprises everyone and says, “I would prefer to talk to Megan alone.”

Ronnie and Rebecca exchange a look, get up, and both put a hand on his shoulder as they leave the room. This family is not as broken as I first thought. They’re just pigheaded. I’ve never been that way myself.

Jack makes us coffee and puts the cup in front of me, waiting for me to speak first.

I oblige him and start with, “Did your wife leave you?”

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