Page 27 of The Missing Couple

She jumped, pressed her hand to her throat. “I didn’t hear you walk up.”

He slid into the passenger seat. “Sorry. I was so caught up watching you I forgot to speak up and let you know I was here.”

She frowned at him. “Watching me?” She laughed. Tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. “I look a fright. I’m still a little unsteady after what happened so I’m moving a little slow and a whole lot uncoordinated.”

“You,” he said as she reached to start the engine, “are an interesting woman to watch. You take such care with whatever you do. Briana is like that. It shows me that you, like my sister, love all that you do.”

She shifted into Low and headed for the first cabin. “Well, thank you. I do love this place and being a host to all sorts of people who visit Guntersville. It feels important in some maybe not so important way.”

“It is important.” He hesitated as she braked at her destination. “Most people work hard and when they take a vacation, it’s important they feel they got their money’s worth. Equally important is the need to feel the pleasure of it.”

She couldn’t argue his points. In fact, she thought, glancing at him, he made damned good points.

“I finally received the list of places Martin’s credit card was used since they left Chicago.”

His tone suggested it wasn’t as helpful as he’d hoped. “Anything useful?”

“After they left the airport in Huntsville they drove straight to Guntersville. If they stopped anywhere they used cash. But they did stop at a local restaurant. The Top of the River. Do you know it?”

She nodded. “I do. It’s a nice place on the waterfront. Great reputation and great food.” She shut off the engine. “Did they come straight here after that?”

“No credit card usage after that so I’m guessing they did.” He stood at the back of the vehicle while she reached for a fruit basket. “What items should I take inside?”

Charly pointed to an empty basket she kept hanging on the bar across the top of the backseat. “Put six bottles of water and six each of the snacks in that basket.” Shelly had taken care of everything else but Charly had been out of bottled water and snack bars until her ill-fated trip this morning.

Billie took the basket from its hook. “Got it.”

She headed to the front door and unlocked it. This cabin, the Woodland she’d named it, had all sorts of fairy decor, including little doors at the bases of many trees. Statues of fairies. The place was actually designed in honor of her sister, Jen. She had loved all things faery when she was a little girl and even well into her teens. She’d left all that stuff when she headed to college. Once Jen was married and Charly had the retreat started, she had used all those knickknacks for this cabin. She’d added lots more as well. It was quite magical with little lights that came on after dark. Orbs hidden in the bushes glowed and twinkled in the enchanting setting.

Billie was coming through the door by the time she had the fruit basket perched on the small dining table.

“How did you come up with all the themes?” he asked.

Charly took the basket he carried and headed to the counter on the kitchen side of the space. As artfully as possible, she arranged the snacks and bottled water. “This one was inspired by my sister’s room when we were growing up.” She turned to him when she’d emptied the basket. “Each one has a similar story. Someone or something sparked the idea. It started with this one actually and I just kept going until they all had a bit of uniqueness about them.”

“You’ve done a great job.”

His compliment warmed her. Made her breath hitch a little. “Thanks.” She headed for the door; he followed. “Any other credit card use found?” she asked, moving back to the very important reason he was here.

He closed the door behind them. She handed him the key and he locked it. “On Saturday, they did some shopping downtown on Gunter Avenue. They made purchases in two shops. Had lunch at a café. Then there’s the order delivered on Saturday evening.”

“Nothing for Sunday?” She had really, really hoped they would learn something about how the couple spent Sunday.

“There was one,” he said as they loaded into Lola. “They stopped at a convenience store for gas and snacks on Sunday afternoon.”

Charly headed for the next cabin. “And that’s it?”

He nodded. “But that’s important,” he countered, “because five of the eight other victims who match the profile of our pattern visited that same convenience store, too.”

She didn’t have to be a cop to understand the significance of that information. She didn’t even ask how he found this information. The Colby Agency had its sources and they were extensive. “We need to go there. See if the store has cameras.”

“They do,” Billie told her. “The footage was shared with the police on all five occasions, but nothing came of it according to the case files.”

She didn’t ask how he knew this, either. “Okay.” Her hopes deflated a little. “I guess they didn’t find anything relevant to the other cases.”

“The question is,” he offered as they ferried along to the next destination, “were they looking for the right relevant thing?”

She glanced at him as she navigated the narrow gravel road. “Like anyone who might have been watching the soon-to-be-missing person?”