Read Online The Vanishing by Jana DeLeon - Free Book Online Page A

Holt when he planned his brief return to Vodoun that he’d not only end up staying and opening a business but settling down in marital bliss with his high-school sweetheart, he would have told them they were crazy. But now he couldn’t imagine any other life. He had rewarding work, a beautiful place to live, and the most incredible woman in the world working beside him every day and, even better, lying beside him each night.
    A little indigestion now and then was a small price to pay for such a good life.
    He walked down the path to the dock, thinking about Max as he walked. If only he could convince his brother that change could be the thing that made his life complete. That the need to distance himself from everyone would only hurt him in the end. But Holt knew he needed to tread lightly with his advice. Max was a grown man and definitely his own man. He respected Holt and had always looked up to him, but he wouldn’t appreciate Holt poking into his personal life uninvited.
    The worn wooden slats of the dock creaked as Holt stepped on them, and Max turned slightly to see who was approaching. He gave Holt a wave but didn’t seem overly enthusiastic to see him.
    Holt sat on a pylon diagonal to Max and tossed him the antacids, hoping to lighten the strain he could see on his brother’s face. “Alex is cooking tonight.”
    Max looked down at the bottle and smiled. “Did she see you leave the house with these?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And she didn’t shoot you?”
    “She’s a very honest woman and admits her weaknesses, but she may have hit me with a dish towel on my way out.”
    Max opened the bottle and shook a couple of the tablets onto his palm. “I hate to agree with both of you, as it doesn’t seem polite since you’re giving me a place to stay, but my stomach lining appreciates your looking out.”
    “No problem. I hear congratulations are in order. You keep solving cases in one day, you’re going to make the agency look good or my own work look really bad.”
    Max shrugged. “It wasn’t any big deal. I did everything you would have done. We just lucked out finding Anna in the swamp. I don’t think she would have made it much longer.”
    “Alex said she’s in ICU and Colette’s staying with her.”
    “Yeah. She’s stable, but they won’t know if that blow to her head caused damage until she wakes up and they can run some more tests.”
    Holt studied his brother, wondering what he was leaving unsaid. He’d expected Max to be satisfied with the work he’d done, maybe even a bit happy that they’d found the girl alive. Instead, he had that brooding look he always got when he was thinking hard on something he didn’t like.
    “You don’t seem all that satisfied with the outcome,” Holt said. “Any particular reason why?”
    Max blew out a breath. “The whole situation doesn’t make sense. Colette said that head injury was about a day old because of the color of the bruising. If she was already injured, why was she unconscious in a completely uninhabited area of the swamp? I checked the area where I found her and there wasn’t a trail anywhere nearby.”
    Holt frowned. What Max said didn’t sit well with him, either. “You think she was running from someone?”
    “That’s the best explanation, isn’t it? That someone attacked her, maybe even held her somewhere, and she got away. Running from her attacker would explain why she seemed to have no designated course. As exhaustion set in, that head injury might have worsened until she finally collapsed.”
    “That’s sounds plausible, even likely.” Holt sighed. “So what do you think we should do about it?”
    “Until Anna wakes up and tells us what happened, there’s nothing much we can do. Technically, our job is over as soon as I finish up the paperwork.”
    “And that bothers you.”
    “Doesn’t it bother you?”
    “Yeah, it does.”
    “There’s something else. Something I didn’t tell Colette when I talked to her on the phone or