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

Alex when I briefed her earlier.”
    “What is it?”
    Max told him about finding the gris-gris on his jeep. “I don’t like anonymous threats from someone who attacks young girls. Pisses me off.”
    “Pisses me off, too.”
    “Good. So if I wanted to spend some time checking up on a couple of things—hours that we wouldn’t bill Colette for—that would be okay with you?”
    “Of course,” Holt said, surprised at the question. “You know I trust your judgment. If you think there’s something there to find, then you should do it.”
    “Even if it’s not official agency business?”
    “Max, we all have personal things that need tending to. I wasn’t exactly following the rules of my temporary sheriff’s position when I helped Alex search for her missing niece. If this is weighing on your conscience, you have to do something about it.”
    Max nodded and stared down at the dock. Holt studied his brother, wondering how much more he’d left unsaid. Wondering if his personal interest in this case was only because of the injuries Anna Huval had sustained and the mysterious way in which they’d found her or if his interest was because of Colette.
    Holt would have to be blind to have missed how attractive his wife’s former coworker was, and no one would ever accuse him of being blind. Before he could change his mind, Holt asked. “Your personal interest in this wouldn’t have anything to do with Colette, would it?”
    “Why do you ask?”
    “Because I have eyes. She’s an attractive woman—smart and capable. Reminds me of someone else.”
    Max smirked. “Yeah, she reminds me of someone else, too, and I’m not referring to Alex.”
    Holt frowned. As far as he knew, Max had never been in a serious relationship. At least, they had never been serious for Max. He’d always figured his brother was concentrating on his career and didn’t want to get sidetracked with a relationship, but maybe he’d been wrong. Maybe Alex was right about his brother trying to figure out his life.
    “You going to fill in the blanks?” Holt asked. “Or do you just plan on leaving me hanging?”
    “Come on, Holt. We both know I spent more time with you and your mother growing up than I did with my own. She was always at a board meeting or a client meeting—this state, that country. She could have rented a hotel room for cheaper than what our house cost given the amount of time she was home.”
    Holt stared at Max for a couple of seconds, surprised at his words and trying to connect them with their childhood. “I guess I never thought about it,” he said finally. “You and your mother always seemed to get along fine, and it wasn’t like having you stay with me was any hardship. The best times I had were with you and Tanner.”
    “They were great times,” Max agreed, “but it just wasn’t very often. I spent a lot more time with nannies and housekeepers than you were ever aware of. Even when my mother was around we were more roommates than parent and child.”
    Max rose from the bench and paced the pier. “She got pregnant on purpose,” he said, “thinking our dad would leave your mom. I heard her telling a friend. She never wanted kids. All she ever wanted was her career and our dad.”
    Max blew out a breath. “When Dad was killed, I told everyone she was on a business trip and couldn’t be reached, but it was a lie. She was at the airport in New Orleans.”
    “Why didn’t she cancel her trip?”
    “She did and then hopped a plane to Bermuda so she could figure out a way to ‘deal’ with his death. The housekeeper stayed with me, sat up nights with me, cried with me. Even after she came home, she never mentioned Dad even once and never has since.”
    Holt tried to imagine what Max must have felt, must still feel, but he couldn’t stretch his mind that far. His own mother had made a bad choice in trusting their father over and over again, but Holt had never once doubted how much she loved him and his two half