Page 33 of Save Her Life

His gaze traveled past her to the counter. “Champagne. Does that mean that—?” When she nodded, he grinned. “That’s great news.”

“I think it’s worth celebrating.”

He grinned. “I second that.”

She prepared to pop the cork. Eric moved in behind her, nuzzling into her neck. “You might want to stand back while I do this,” she told him, but he stayed put.Can’t say I didn’t warn him…She pulled the cork, and some bubbly ran down the bottle. Thankfully not much. She looked forward to drinking her fair share tonight. Upon further thought, Avery would probably be delivered home by cab or spend the night. She poured out glasses for them and raised hers to his in a toast. “To keeping the bastard behind bars.”

He clicked his glass to hers. “Amen.”

“Now, let’s eat,” she said. “I’m starving, and the smells coming from those bags are heavenly. Oh, and since Olivia’s going to be fending for herself, there’s more for us.”

As they dished up the food, she was filled with gratitude. Life wasn’t always easy. She’d faced loss, suffered setbacks, rode waves to great heights and crashed when they broke, but the journey itself was very beautiful. And in this moment, she felt extremely blessed.

SIXTEEN

The next day was a slow one and just what Sandra needed. Most of the morning her head was fuzzy from the champagne. She was considering packing things up at the office when her cell phone rang. The name of Olivia’s violin teacher flashed on the screen, and Sandra answered.

“Sandra, it’s Penelope Randall, do you know where Olivia is? I’ve tried reaching her but keep landing in her voicemail.”

It took a second for her mind to process Penelope’s words. Olivia’s lesson was from five to six and when she’d just looked at the clock it was ten after five. She’d drilled punctuality into Olivia from a young age. There was no way she’d be late unless she didn’t have a choice. The mother in her panicked. The FBI agent thought about it rationally. “She could have been held up getting there. You know what traffic can be like.” She had an hour’s journey from her school back to their neighborhood on a good day. It was possible that had delayed her.

“But she’s never late.”

To have that stressed hushed her inner agent’s voice of calm. And Penelope said she’d tried Olivia without success. So why wasn’t she answering? “Let me see if I can reach her.”

“I’ll wait for a bit longer, but every minute that passes is cutting into her lesson. I have another student scheduled after her.”

“I understand.” The location of the lesson alternated between the penthouse and Penelope’s rowhouse, which was only two streets east of theirs. “Just give me a minute. Do you want to hold the line and wait, or have me call you back?”

“Either is fine.” Penelope let out a rush of breath, clearly frustrated.

“I’ll call you back.” Sandra ended the call and hit Olivia’s name. The line rang.Come on, come on, pick up…

“Hey, you’ve reached Olivia’s voicemail. Leave your message, and I’ll call when I can.”

Somethingwaswrong. It was a feeling that started in the pit of her gut and worked its way up to her chest. She gripped her St. Michael pendant. “Liv, it’s Mom. Call me. Penn’s wondering where you are, and so am I.”

Sandra hung up but didn’t release her phone. There had to be a logical explanation for this. Maybe Olivia had left her phone in her locker at school. But the likelihood of that was zilch when the device was attached to her daughter like an appendage.

“Vos, everything all right over there?” Brice was looking at her.

“I don’t know.” The cold, honest truth.

“Anything I can do to help?”

“I don’t know yet. It’s probably nothing.” Sandra looked at the phone in her hand. Olivia had made her promise she wouldn’t install a tracking app on her device. Sandra had kept her word despite it working in conflict with her instinct. Now she wished she hadn’t. Being with the FBI she wasn’t without resources but if she acted without navigating the proper channels, she’d violate her daughter’s rights and break the law. Legally, she needed a court-ordered warrant. If she brought thisto her boss, he’d be sympathetic, but it was hardly time yet to raise the alarm. He’d argue she was a teenager and had lost track of time. Not that it would explain her failure to answer her phone. And her daughter loved the violin and wouldn’t miss a lesson unless she couldn’t help it. That right there was enough reason to be concerned.

Breathe, Vos…

She pinched the pendant tighter, shut her eyes and took some steady, even breaths. Nothing good ever resulted from losing focus or clear thinking.

“You’re panting like a fat man on a hot day over there. Clearly, it’s not nothing.”

She opened her eyes at Brice’s offensive comment. “Speaking of panting”—she pulled back—“I feel your breath on my arm.”

“What is up?” he persisted.

“I can’t reach my daughter, Olivia. She should be at her violin lesson right now.” She snapped her mouth shut. Just sayingviolin lessonsounded uppity. Her family money wasn’t something she ever flaunted. It was one reason she dropped Davenport from her professional name. The nice home and car were things she got for herself because she loved them. Simple as that.

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