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wanted to know or not. Just like she’d told her about JD’s divorce from
Darla Jenkins. Just like she’d made sure to tell her JD had never sired any
children with Darla, either. “Who cares,” she muttered, stopping her SUV at the
bottom of the drive and looking up at the house.
         At least the wind had
stopped and the snow had abated. For now. She knew they were in for another big
storm within the next forty-eight hours or so though.
         The modest little ranch
house was wood sided and had plenty of windows. Smoke curled from the chimney.
It looked cozy and inviting. Perhaps because she knew the cold bitch had moved
out. Perhaps because being here, on this mountain again, was making her
completely daft.
         Without further thought
she jumped out of the SUV and walked for the front door, her steps brisk, lest
she chicken out. Too late for that now anyway , she thought to herself as
she saw the living room curtains flutter. A face appeared briefly but she
couldn’t make out who it had been before they were closed again.
         The door opened just
before she got to the landing and her heart beat so wildly she thought she
might pass out. What if it was JD? What then?
         “Lizzie Waring?”
         She looked into blue
eyes. But not JD’s. Thank God. Not JD’s. “Julie?” she asked, sure it was her.
There was no mistaking the family resemblance. She looked so much like Arlene
it was almost uncanny. She had the same honey blonde hair, the same big blue
eyes and the same thin face with high cheekbones and sharp nose. She was not an
earthy beauty, but a classic, goddess type beauty.
         “It is you,” Julie said,
her voice quiet but musical. “My gosh, what are you doing here?” And then her
eyes lit up. “JD isn’t—”
         “I’m not here to see him
at all,” she corrected before Julie could finish her sentence. “I came here to
see my sister.”
         “Katy,” Julie said. She wrinkled
her nose as though she smelled something bad. “Well, she sure isn’t here.”
         “I didn’t figure she was.
But I was hoping someone here had seen her. Maybe Josh. Or you?”
         Julie stepped back.
“Where are my manners? Come in out of the cold and we can talk for a minute.”
When Lizzie was in and she had the door shut she asked, “Would you like some
coffee? I just made some so the boys can warm up when they get back to the
house.”
         “No, I think I’ve had
enough for the day. The stuff at the police station is triple strength, I
think. Besides, I won’t take up much of your time.” She and Julie, though they
knew each other because they’d lived in the same town and gone to the same
school had never really been close. They were nearly ten years apart in age,
for one thing. The other… money and their stations in life.
         “The police station?”
Julie asked, her eyes widening a little.
         “I stopped there to
report Katy missing.”
         Julie pursed her lips and
stared out the window for a moment. “Missing?”
         “She was supposed to come
visit me in Seattle. She never showed up and I can’t seem to find her here
either.”
         “Maybe she took off for
somewhere warmer,” she suggested just like everyone else. “She had a habit of
just taking off unannounced sometimes. Well, actually, most times.”
         “Not this time,” Lizzie
said with a certainty which was beginning to wane. Maybe everyone was right.
Maybe her flakey sister had run off.
         “What makes you think
so?”
         “I… She was very excited
about something. Aside from that she doesn’t work. She doesn’t have money, so
where could she have gone?”
         Julie stared out the
window again.
         “Do you know something?”
         “Oh. No, of course not. I
just know your sister always had a way of finding money when she needed it. I’m
sure if she really wanted to she would have gotten