Page 47 of Vanishing Point
“I sure won’t,” she agreed with a smile. “You know we could take a lunch and stop by the jewelry store now,” Laurel said.
It was a good idea, but Thomas was distracted. His phone screen had no alerts. He didn’t have any texts or messages from Vi, and considering how long he’d been in the courtroom, he should.
“Vi didn’t text me what happened with the postal inspector.”
“Maybe she forgot.”
“Maybe, but that’s not like her.”
“Maybe it’s bad news she doesn’t want to text you. She wants to tell you in person.”
“Yeah, maybe.” But it still didn’t feel right. He called her. The phone went to voicemail. Then he clicked the location finder. She’d been fine with him tracking her phone, as long as she gotto track his. The problem was, if the phone was off or in use, no location came up.
And that was exactly what happened. “I don’t like this,” he grumbled. He checked the time. “I’m going to swing by my house. I’ll just grab a sandwich there.”
“Sure,” Laurel agreed easily. “We don’t have time to split, so I’ll just come with if you’re worried.”
“Yeah. I’m going to call Franny. She was supposed to meet Vi for lu—” Before he even managed to go into his contacts, his phone rang. Sadly, it wasn’t Vi.
But itwasFranny. Maybe Vi’s phone wasn’t working.
“Franny?” he answered.
“Hey, Thomas. Sorry to bother you. Have you heard from Vi? She was supposed to meet me at the park at noon, and she isn’t answering her phone. I could go by your house, but if she’s still meeting with the postal inspector, I didn’t want to barge in. She’s only ten minutes late, so…”
His whole body went ice-cold. If she missed meeting up with Franny and Mags, and wasn’t answering her phone, something waswrong. Even if it was only ten minutes.
He got in the patrol car, motioned for Laurel to do the same . “I need you to do me a favor, Franny. Just…stay put or head back to the ranch. I’ll catch you up once I get to the bottom of things.”
“Is something wrong?”
He wanted to lie, but there was no good lie for it. “I’m not sure. Look, I’m on it now. Can you just take Mags to the ranch and focus on taking care of her? I’ll focus on finding Vi.”
There was a brief pause, but he didn’t have time for it. “Please, Franny. I’ve got to go.” He hung up, prayed like hell Franny would listen, then pulled up the doorbell camera app on his phone.
He watched the footage in double time. “The inspector leaves.” He checked the time stamp. “Nine fifteen. Adds up. But then there’s nothing. Vi doesn’t leave.”
“Then she’s at home,” Laurel said. “We’ll drive out. In the meantime, who’s close by that’s home that could stop in?”
“I’ll call Zach and Cam.” He started the engine, pulled out of the parking lot. “Their office isn’t even a ten-minute drive from my place.”
“If they’re there and not out on a job. I’ll text them. You call…Lucy. Her and Zach are still above the general store, right?”
“Yeah, but she’ll have Cooper to wrangle.”
“You know what? I’ll send out a full Carson-Delaney family text.Someonewill be free to go pop by and see if everything’s okay.”
“It could be dangerous.”
“She didn’t leave the house or it would have shown up on your doorbell camera. And no one besides the inspector wentinthe house, so… It’s just… Maybe something happened to her phone.”
And maybe something happened toher. But Laurel was right. There was no clear sign of anything…
“You know what? While I text, you call the postal inspector. Maybe see if she’ll tell you about the meeting.”
“Good idea.” He flipped on the lights and sirens, which would make a phone call impossible. “But we’re going to get to my house first.”
He drove like hell from the courthouse, and toward his house. When his phone sounded—a sign that someone was at his front door on the doorbell camera—Laurel picked up his phone.
