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Elisa turned on the water, hoping to drown out any sound of their conversation that might linger. “Tell me your plan. Help me understand your choices.”
“Not now.” Rachel looked into the family room and met Josh’s gaze. She winked at him.
Elisa managed not to vomit. “When?”
“Just know I’m on your side.” Rachel touched Elisa’s arm. “We’re in this together.”
Elisa stared at Rachel’s new ring. “It feels like we’re working against each other.”
“That’s how it needs to be right now.” Rachel rushed her words. “And before you ask, you know what it’s safe for you to know.”
The cryptic conversation circled and dove but didn’t go anywhere. The whole whispered exchange gave Elisa a headache. “If you tell me, I can help. I have resources.”
It was a risk. If Rachel said yes, she might ask for something Elisa could never deliver. But the not knowing, the confusion and planning, kept Elisa off-balance. She hated the sensation. She also needed something concrete to give to Shelby. She knew Shelby would run with it and call her contacts, possibly call the police in sooner rather than later, but right now they only had pieces.
And then there was Josh. Her former sisterly affection for Josh had been wiped out. If her suspicions were right, he’d done unspeakable things. Evil things. And she’d be the one responsible for pointing a spotlight at him.
“Give me a little more time.” Rachel shifted from touching to squeezing Elisa’s arm. “It’s almost over.”
It?Elisa did a quick glance around and saw Harris and Josh locked in a serious conversation with Nathan about robots. She abandoned caution and dipped into the topic that mattered the most.
“Do you know where Abby is?” Elisa asked in a voice barely above a breath.
“Yes.”
A gasp escaped before Elisa could pull it back in. “Is she okay?”
Rachel leaned in even closer. “He’ll pay, Elisa. I promise.”
Chapter Fifty-Four
The next morning Elisa left an emergency message for Shelby, who was in a meeting outside of her office. Elisa kept her mind busy and off Abby while waiting for a return call and engaging in the mundane job of hunting for a cat. She hadn’t seen Fuzz all morning. Nathan whined about not being able to feed him before going to school and insisted Fuzz would starve. Apparently no one in the household thought she was capable these days.
No matter what she said she couldn’t totally console Nathan. She promised to hunt the little black fluff ball down by the time he got home from school. Now she had to deliver on that assurance. The problem was Fuzz could hide all day by stuffing his body into some small space. In a historic house small spaces existed in every room.
One floor down and no signs of the cat. She gave up on the upstairs and ventured to the first floor. Turning the corner at the bottom of the staircase, she caught sight of a shadow in the window of the front door. If the doorbell had rung she’d missed it.
She wasn’t in the mood for company. She’d become soisolated and people averse that no one she knew stopped by these days. Well, except for Josh and Rachel, and they barged in without bothering to call or ring the bell.
She took another few steps and the shadow didn’t move. A person stood out there. The realization probably should have scared her in light of everything else going on, but she felt more annoyed at being bothered than anything else.
Curiosity pulled at her. She peeked out the window on the side of the door. A woman in a raincoat, facing away from the front door. Not just any woman. Meredith.
Theredhead.
Talk about nerve. Elisa threw open the door. “What do you want?”
Meredith jumped and let out a faint panicked sound. “I didn’t mean... I’ve been standing...”
Meredith shuffled around, stammering. Hardly the same confident woman who spouted theI’ve never heard of Joshbullshit to Harris. But the pathetic act didn’t work.
Elisa was done with this woman. “Let me guess, you’re here by accident, and you still don’t know who Josh is.”
“I’m here because of him.”
“Ah, so you changed your mind again.”Whatever. “What do you want?”
Meredith twisted the belt of her raincoat in her hands. “May I come in?”
