Page 4 of Mine to Protect

“Both her parents died when she was little. Her uncle raised her. I left a message with the limo company but never heard back from him. Which is weird. But the person who answered the phone told me they thought my brother and Jackie were on vacation.” She rubbed her temple. “Don’t you find it strange that they would leave their phones and stuff behind?” Her heart beat so fast she thought it might jump right out of her chest, through her throat, and out her mouth like a flying fish. “Why would they do that?”

“That’s a good question,” Emmerson said. “You mentioned that the hotel called you to come collect your brother’s things because he left them behind, but when you got here, they said that wasn’t true.”

“That’s right.” She’d been furious at the clerk and the manager and finally decided to just go knock on the door. “I spent last night here. When my brother and Jackie didn’t return, the manager let me in, and I called you.”

“Why didn’t you call me last night?” Rhett asked with a tight jaw.

“It was late. Besides, I wanted to stay here so I could see if he came back. Which, obviously, he didn’t.”

“Does your brother always carry this much money with him?” Emmett held up some cash.

“No. Not usually,” she said.

“And what about his car? Have you seen it at all since you got here?” Emmerson shifted his stance, moving closer toward the bathroom and sticking his head inside.

“No. And I drove around town looking for it, too,” she said.

“We’ll need the make, model, and license plate if you have it,” Emmerson said.

“Not a problem.” She choked on a sob. Having Rhett and his family here made all of this too real. Yet she kept wondering when she would wake up from this nightmare.

Emmett narrowed his eyes as he took a hundred-dollar bill and held it up to the light. “I think we have a different problem here.”

“What’s that?” Rhett asked.

“This is counterfeit.” Carefully, Emmett set it on the table. “It’s time to take this conversation outside. We’d better get Mom in here.”

“Counterfeit?” What the hell was her brother doing with fake money? That didn’t make any sense.

“Come on.” Rhett held out his hand. “There’s a picnic table in the courtyard. My mom’s got the place blocked off. We can go sit there, and these guys can do their job here.”

“That’s a good idea,” Emmett said. “This could change things from a simple missing person to something else entirely.”

“Like what?” She stood, shifting her gaze between the two men in uniform to Rhett. “What’s going on? I don’t understand. My brother’s missing, and I want to find him.”

“That money changes things.” He pointed at the hundred. “It gives us something else to look at. But we need some space to do our jobs,” Emmerson said.

It made her brother look like a bad person.

“Let’s go.” Rhett pressed his hand to the small of her back and guided her through the door, right past a woman with long, blond hair wearing a uniform, barking orders to everyone in sight. The woman paused for a moment and smiled at Rhett.

“Hey, Ma,” Rhett said. “We’ll be right over there.” He pointed to a grassy area that had a couple of tables.

“That’s fine. I’ll need to talk to her in a bit,” his mother said.

What the hell had her brother done?

She took in a deep, cleansing breath and glanced around.

The hotel itself was on the outskirts of Lighthouse Cove, about eight miles from the ocean, closer to the river but not on the water. It was kind of a dingy hotel but clean. And affordable. But it wasn’t a dump. Chris had been trying to save some money since he’d been broke for most of his life. Up until he’d been about thirty years old, he’d been paying off old debt. Now, at thirty-three, he was finally in a position where he wasn’t always living paycheck to paycheck.

But it was close.

“It’s been a long time,” Rhett said.

“Five years.” She tucked her hair behind her ears and sat with the sun behind her back since she had no idea where her sunglasses were. Besides, as crazy as it sounded, it gave her a chance to check Rhett out. Seemed odd under the circumstances, but she needed something to settle her nerves, and Rhett had always been good at that. She felt a pang of guilt for using him in that way. However, her heart hurt, and she needed a little relief. “Your hair is longer.”

He ran his hand through his dark, shoulder-length hair. “It drives my mom nuts. Of course, the fact that I’m not a cop is still a sore subject with her, but it’s worse for my little brother Miles.”

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