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Mimi’s jaw dropped. “Claire is involved with someone who’s selling cocaine?”
“No, no, no,” Allie said. “There was some underage drinking involved but no drugs, at least not that I could see.”
“Not that you could see? Brilliant,” Zeke shot back.
Allie took a deep breath. She deserved this. Why hadn’t she told Mimi and Zeke the entire story the other night? How could she be so naïve? “I’ll tell you everything. Later. But right now, let’s just make sure Claire is all right,” she said trying to reason with her brother.
“Look,” Tom said, “let’s not waste time laying blame where it doesn’t belong. I say we break up and go search for her.”
Zeke looked as if he’d forgotten Tom was still there. “Who invited you to the party? This is between family. My family.”
“Tom has offered to help and we’d be stupid to turn him down,” Allie said.
“She’s right, Zeke.” Mimi grabbed the car keys from her purse. “We can sort this out later. We’ll go search the beach and you two go back to this Jordan’s house. See if her mom knows where they are.”
“Good idea,” Tom said.
Zeke didn’t say anything. He climbed into the minivan and he and Mimi took off.
The house in Grayton Beach was dark with just a few scattered lights visible toward the back of the house. The driveway was empty.
“It doesn’t look like there’s a party here,” Allie said.
“Looks can be deceiving,” Tom said.
True enough.
They made their way up the driveway. It was nearly midnight but despite the late hour Allie had no qualms about ringing the doorbell. Jordan’s mother looked surprised, but not unpleased to see them. She wore a short black cocktail dress and full makeup. She took one look at Tom and smiled. At least, the parts of her face that weren’t frozen, smiled.
Not nice, Allie.
“Remember us?” Allie said.
Tom placed his hand against the small of her back. It was a subtle, intimate gesture that Allie appreciated. Right now she needed all the support she could get. “Is Claire Grant here?” he asked.
“Is that one of Jordan’s friends? Jordan’s at a football game.”
“The game ended two hours ago,” Tom said.
“You were there? I was going to go, but I had a previous engagement.” She frowned. “Two hours ago? I’m sure the kids are just somewhere having fun.” But from the look on her face it was obvious she didn’t believe her own words.
“Yeah. I used to have that kind of fun, too, when I was in high school,” Tom said.
For the first time, she looked nervous. “I grounded her after the party the other night and told her she was to come home directly after the game. I called her cell phone a few minutes ago but it went directly to voice mail.”
“That voice mail virus seems to be going around,” Allie muttered. “Thanks, anyway.”
They went to leave but Jordan’s mom stopped them.
“If you find her, will you please tell Jordan to come home?”
Despite the woman’s behavior a couple of nights ago, Allie felt sorry for her. “Sure.”
“Where to next?” Tom asked once they were back in the truck.
Allie sunk into her seat. “Honestly? I have no idea. Let me see if Mimi and Zeke have had any luck.” She pulled out her cell phone and made a call. Unfortunately, Mimi and Zeke weren’t having any better luck than they were.
“I say we try the beach ourselves. It’s dark out and they could have missed her,” Tom said.
