Page 8 of Cougar Point

A tear falls into her coffee, and I say, “Tell me. You’ll feel better.”

“It’s my mom.”

You too? Sheesh!

“You know I’m not super close to my family.” Ronnie stirs several teaspoons of raw sugar into black coffee, then adds enough creamer to half fill the mug.

Ronnie is dressed in one of her best outfits and has traded her work boots for moderate high heels. Her makeup is perfect, not that she needs any. She is a beauty and I’ve taken advantage of her appeal many times to get things from men.

“Are you going somewhere?” I ask.

Using a manicured fingernail to remove a coffee ground from her mug, she doesn’t seem in a hurry to tell me why we’re here.Instead she excuses herself to use the restroom. “Give me a minute, Megan.”

Moe comes with a carafe and casts several looks at Ronnie’s retreating figure and shakes his head. “That girl is troubled, Megan. You take good care of her.”

I just nod, and Moe disappears into the back room.

Ronnie returns from the washroom and sits looking out of the window.

“Ronnie,” I say and reach across the table taking her hand. She takes a breath before turning toward me. Her eyes are red from crying. Her cheeks are red and puffy.

“Ronnie, do you want to talk here or back at your place?”

She sniffs and dabs her eyes with a napkin. “We can talk here. I don’t want to be alone right now.”

She’ll tell me when she’s ready so I sip my coffee to brace for what might be coming. I’m just hoping she’s not pregnant. Marley Yang. Or, God forbid, Hayden.

“It’s my mom,” Ronnie finally says.

Welcome to my world.

“She’s missing and my sister thinks she was kidnapped.”

EIGHT

“Is it possible your mom left for her own reasons?” It’s a good question considering the rift between Ronnie and her family. From what I’d garnered about her father he sounds like a man who’s used to having his way. Ruling the roost so to speak.

She says, “Rebecca doesn’t think so. She wants to involve the police but is unsure if she should.”

“Rebecca?”

“My sister.”

Rebecca. Of course.“So why does Rebecca think this is a police matter?”

“Mom’s been gone for two days with no word to anyone. Dad didn’t want Rebecca to call me or the police. But she called me and I told her to call the police anyway. She agreed with me and called the local Sheriff Department.”

“So the police are looking for her?”

Ronnie’s face drops. “No. They told Rebecca they had to wait forty-eight hours to report her missing. But it’s Sunday morning now, almost the full forty-eight, and they still haven’t taken a report.”

Her dad doesn’t want the police involved. Ronnie knows, as well as I do, that most domestic murders start this way. But Isay, “I’m thinking maybe your dad knows where she is. They’ve had a fight. It happens.”

“Rebecca doesn’t think so. You’d have to know our dad to know how prideful he can be. He’s going to try to handle this himself. He’ll hire investigators that he can pay to keep quiet.”

“Has there been a ransom demand?”

“Why? Do you think she’s been kidnapped, Megan?”

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