Hearths of Fire (22 page)

Neal reached for the door handle and had opened it halfway before her voice reached his ears. “And what if I want it to? Happen again, that is. I’m not saying I regret our choices back then, but we’re in a different place in our lives. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you since yesterday. Would it be so bad to get to know one another again? We—”

“
Your
choice, Char,” Neal stated without turning his head. He wasn’t about to get sucked up in those blue eyes of hers and live in a fantasy world. “It was your choice. We could have made it work and regrettably, we can’t go back to a past that you didn’t want.”

“Why did you stay away from me when you came back to town earlier this year?” Charlotte asked, even though he’d opened the door and stepped out onto the road. Neal sighed when she once again couldn’t leave well enough alone. He turned to face her over the seats. “Are you still that angry with me?”

“I was angry for a long time,” Neal finally admitted, not that it would change their circumstances. If this was what she needed to hear to drop the subject, then so be it. “Time has passed and we both have gone on with our lives. Mine is now in San Diego and yours is here. Nothing has changed, not even how I feel about Mandy, which is why I’m here. I’ve already apologized for my mistake, so let’s put aside our past and concentrate on making sure Mandy makes the right decision about her own future.”

*

Charlotte hadn’t felt
so alive since she’d been nineteen. The excitement and sexual attraction that had consumed her when Neal had pulled the truck over and swung her into his lap was unlike anything she’d ever felt. Even when they were teenagers he’d never all out claimed her the way he had today. She wanted more.

Neal was right though—they had both moved on with their lives. She’d been with a few other men and she sure as hell knew that Neal had been with many other women. A man of his virility didn’t live the life of a monk. But just because time had passed and they’d gone their separate ways didn’t mean they couldn’t find out if there was a spark once again. She hated to admit it, but Neal was right. She
was
impatient and she would damn well go after what she wanted. She wasn’t saying she was making up for past mistakes…their choices had brought them here where they were today. It was about being given a second chance and if she had the ability to spend one more night with him, then she would make damn sure it happened. There would be no regrets this time…for either of them.

Charlotte stood on the sidewalk outside of the sheriff’s office as she tried to call Mandy once more. Neal had already gone inside to see what he could find out in regards to Becky’s disappearance, but with the amount of people in the waiting area trying to offer their help it was better that Charlotte remained outside. She breathed a sigh of relief when her sister finally answered her call.

“Charlotte, did you hear what happened to Becky?” It was apparent that Mandy was trying to keep her composure, but Charlotte heard the worry and panic in her sister’s voice. “No one knows where she went.”

“Neal and I are at the station.” Charlotte debated on whether or not she should tell Mandy about their afternoon visit to Ashes to Dirt and figured it was best to be upfront after everything that had transpired. “We just came from visiting with Garreth’s parents. I’m not thrilled with them.”

Charlotte might have undermined the truth, but it was better than telling Mandy that the Ashes were psychotic fanatics who thought their son was the messiah. That’s basically what this boiled down to and Charlotte was afraid that Becky might have gotten caught up in whatever the Ashes had planned. Why else would she go missing on the day she was supposed to speak with the sheriff about what she overheard Garreth say on the phone?

“Don’t start with me, Charlotte.” Mandy must have been with some other friends, because it sounded as if she’d pulled the phone away from her to talk to someone else. It wasn’t long before Mandy was back on the line. “Look, we’re going to head back to the festival and start showing Becky’s picture around. Someone may have seen her last night. I don’t think we should have dinner tonight…not with everything going on.”

Charlotte bit her tongue instead of saying what she wanted to say. Mandy had come home early last night, but where had Garreth gone afterward? Had he done something to Becky because of what she’d overheard? If Charlotte even mentioned such an idea she was relatively sure that Mandy would pack her bags tonight and go live with Garreth outside of town. Until they knew for sure it was better for Charlotte not to say anything.

“Please be careful and stay with your friends.” Charlotte leaned against the black lamppost and looked up at the sky. Something caught her eye and she wondered if it could be of help. “Keep your phone on and stay in touch with me, please.”

Charlotte disconnected the call, all the while keeping her eyes on the security camera attached to the streetlight. How many of those were actually around the town? She glanced down the street toward the shop but didn’t see any more. She’d just turned to head inside the station when Neal came down the stairs, his face set in stone.

“What?” Charlotte asked, afraid to know the answer. Had the sheriff found Becky? Was she alive, hurt…dead? “Neal, tell me.”

“They think she ran away,” Neal replied, his voice indicating he believed anything but that. He looked up and down the street as if he were looking for someone in particular. “Becky had gotten into an argument with her parents over her curfew last night. They’re assuming she overreacted and went to a friend’s house or to her boyfriend’s.”

“But no one has seen her.” Charlotte held up her phone. “I just spoke with Mandy. She’s with her friends right now and not one of them has seen Becky. You mean to tell me the sheriff isn’t even investigating?”

“I didn’t say that,” Neal replied as he started to walk down the street. To what location, Charlotte didn’t know. She followed along, sliding her cell phone in the back of her jeans. “Sheriff is running a full investigation, according to him. The mayor was inside as well, sitting with the parents and doing his part. You and I know she didn’t run away.”

“Do we?” Charlotte asked, playing devil’s advocate. Neal was damn straight she didn’t think Becky had just run off because of an argument with her parents. Garreth had something to do with the girl’s disappearance, but how did they go about proving it? “We were just out at the Ashe’s property and we didn’t see anything unusual. You originally said I was jumping to conclusions and that she was probably at a friends.”

“I’ve changed my mind.”

“What if we’re making assumptions because we don’t like the Ashes’ beliefs? Our opinions could be skewed because—”

Neal abruptly stopped and before Charlotte had realized what he’d done, she was two steps ahead of him. She shaded her eyes as she turned to face him, having to look up into his face. The muscle in his clean-shaven jawline was visible and it was easy to see that he was frustrated.

“Char, you’re right. We don’t know. What I do know is that everything that has taken place has somehow been connected to the Ashes. The livestock didn’t start to go missing until the Ashes had moved out on Ryder’s Road. Certain groups of members of this cult are loitering around town making the townsfolk feel uncomfortable. Garreth starts dating Mandy, who gradually pulls away from her regular friends and family. Now Garreth is overheard talking about a ritual on Halloween and that person whom overheard it is missing. The law ties the sheriff’s hands until something illegal happens and can be proven. I’m not bound to the regulations he has to follow. I can act as an independent agent.”

“So that leaves us where? We sneak on their property and look around? We break into their house and see if they have Becky hidden in some cold dark room in the basement?” Charlotte didn’t think of herself as someone who would break the law, but if the sheriff had to follow procedure that would delay any chance of finding Becky, then Charlotte was ready to do what needed to be done. “I could cause a distraction and—”

“
You
are not going to do anything illegal, Char,” Neal said with exasperation. He started walking once more. “And technically I won’t either.”

“What does technically mean?” Charlotte asked, giving him a sideways look to show him that she didn’t buy a word of what he was saying. “Do you have some sort of special license that comes from working with those people you’re connected to out there in California? Becky’s not a hostage, at least not that we know of, but I’m sure an abduction goes along those same lines.”

“No license or badge for what you’re talking about, no.” Neal looked a little annoyed, but he still grabbed her hand as they crossed the street. He’d done this simple gesture from the time they’d started dating until the day they were to be married. It still touched her heart. “We’re heading over to the festival since it started a half hour ago. We’ll talk to the people who were running some of the booths last night and see if we can dig up some kind of lead.”

“Mandy and her friends are doing that as well,” Charlotte said, looking around them as they came to the field where the entrance to the festival was located along with the ticket booth for the carnival rides. Not a lot of people had shown up this early, with the exception of the older crowd milling about the arts and crafts booths. Most of the 4H crowd would be over near the barns and corrals. That wasn’t the direction Neal headed though, as he still maintained his hold of her hand and kept walking toward where the game booths were set up. Sure enough, Mandy and three of her girlfriends were talking to one of the men. “There she is. By the way, she called off dinner tonight.”

“I figured that would happen.” Neal continued forward until he was standing in front of Mandy and her friends. His tone was somber. “Girls, I want you to stick together tonight. Until we know for sure what happened I want all of you to be careful and look out for one another.”

“We will, Neal,” Mandy responded, getting additional nods from the other girls. “No one has seen her. I know they think she’s with one of us, but I promise you that she’s not. We don’t know what else to do. I’m meeting up with Garreth later today, but I promise not to go anywhere alone.”

Neal didn’t say anything to Mandy’s last statement and then squeezed Charlotte’s hand lightly when she started to speak. She didn’t want Mandy within ten feet of Garreth, but there wasn’t a whole lot Charlotte could do about it. Where had the years gone? Within one week her little sister would be eighteen years old. That was old enough to take advice, yet old enough to think she knew everything the world had to hold. Charlotte saw a lot of herself in her sister and that wasn’t as complimentary as one might hope.

“Charlotte says that you don’t want to have dinner tonight and that’s totally understandable,” Neal said, finally letting go of Charlotte’s hand. She didn’t like the feeling of loss. “I would still like a chance to sit down with you later. There’s some things that I think you ought to be aware of.”

Charlotte could see that Mandy barely contained the action of rolling her eyes at Neal’s statement. It was like the last eight and a half years hadn’t passed and that Neal was still a part of their family. In a way, he always would be…which was why Charlotte had called him to begin with. He was an integral part of them and time hadn’t changed that and it never would. After what happened in the truck earlier, Charlotte knew they had things of their own to cover later this evening. First, they needed to find Becky.

‡

N
eal ensured his
bedroom door was closed and he was away from prying eyes and ears. He didn’t want Charlotte to overhear his phone call. This afternoon and evening had provided many answers, but none that he needed. The thing of it was he needed extra time in Hearth because until Becky was found, he couldn’t leave here believing that the boy Mandy was dating could be the one responsible.

Pulling out his cell, Neal navigated the screen until he’d pulled up Starr’s number. Pressing her name, he put the device to his ear and closed his eyes as he thought of how to present his case. This wasn’t the most opportune time to extend his personal leave, especially since they still had another four months of training before launching a seaborne insertion into the country of Nigeria off the western coast of Africa for a rescue attempt that he hoped like hell wasn’t needed by the time February arrived. Starr answered by the second ring.