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“There’s your mom.” Jacquie pointed to a booth selling cookies and brownies.“Let’s go say hi.”
His mother smiled as they approached. He kissed her on the cheek and pointed to the cookies he knew she baked. “Hey, Mom. These look great.”
“Thank you!” She beamed with pride and introduced him to the woman working the booth alongside her.“This is my son who lives in Charlotte. Chase, this is Harriet.”
When his mom finally acknowledged Jacquie, they exchanged pleasantries. “I hope you’re feeling better?” she asked.
Jacquie smiled warmly. “Thank you, I am.”
She looked a lot better too. More color in her cheeks, and her energy was high. In fact, Chase was having a hard time keeping his eyes off her.
“Are you here for the barbecue?” Harriet asked. “I think Allen’s is the best, and I’ve tried them all.”
His mother laughed and gestured to the nearby booths. “Several of the men have a wager going for who has the best barbecue.”
“Well, we’ll give Allen’s a try,” Chase said. “Any chance you’ve seen Aiden today?”
She shook her head, and a touch of sadness filled her eyes. “No, but I sure would like to see him.”
That look alone had Chase clenching his fists. He was going to give his brother a good kick in the pants when he did find him. “What about these two?” He held up his cell phone and showed her a picture of the two missing girls.”
She shook her head. “No, sorry.”
“Keep an eye out. We’re going to look around.”
She nodded and flashed an adoring smile. “All righty. I’ll see you tonight back at the hotel.”
“Save me some of those cookies.”
She winked, and filled bag with one of each flavor and put it in her purse.
Jacquie looked around the large park. “What do you say we split up? I’ll head that way and see if I can find Josh and ask around about Aiden and the girls.” She pointed due west. “I’ll meet you at Allen’s in say, twenty?”
He looked at his watch. “Okay, but try and stay out of trouble.”
She rolled her eyes and tightened her lips just as he expected.
He laughed and gave her a good-natured nudge. “Your chain is still too easy to yank.”
“Ha ha, very funny,” she quipped and walked her ridiculous pink-tutu-wearing dog through the crowd. He shook his head and chuckled as she was constantly stopped by people oohing and ahhing over Killer. With each one, she held up her phone asking if they’d seen Aiden or the missing girls. Smart.
He watched her for a long minute then moved in the opposite direction, keeping an eye out for his brother’s tall form. He walked behind the stage, checking the area that faced the parking lot and hesitated as he saw a man heading away from him. A man who from behind looked an awful lot like Aiden.
He wore a cowboy hat, so it was hard to tell, but he had the same lanky gait. A swagger Chase hadn’t seen for a very long time. He followed after him, and didn’t notice the woman who was hurrying to meet him.
“Hey, Chase. I thought that was you. It’s been a long time.”
“Tamara?” She came out of nowhere and stepped right in front of him while the man disappeared into the parking lot. Soon he’d be in his car and gone.
“What have you been up to all this time?” she asked.
“Sorry, Tamara, I have to run. We’ll catch up soon, promise.” He stepped around her and took off running for the parking lot, but by the time he got there, the man was gone. He couldn’t have gotten away that quick.
Chase started weaving through the parking lot, looking for an older model blue pickup truck or four-door silver sedan that had been seen the morning his car was vandalized.
Of which there were many.
Next, he looked for anyone sitting in their car, but there was no one.
