Read Online Trace (TraceWorld Book 1) by Letitia L. Moffitt - Free Book Online

There was one with your name in it, about that case with the girl last year. I’d never heard of trace, though I do believe in ghosts and I . . .”
    Nola tuned out Lynette’s chatter. So Grayson had been aware of her even before his brother’s disappearance. She wasn’t sure what to make of that. “Do you think Grayson is involved?”
    Lynette looked confused. “Involved in what? You mean he and Culver have something cooked up?” She shook her head. “No way. They get along and all, but they’re not close. They don’t talk much. Don’t have much to do with each other. Culver would have told me if Grayson was involved.”
    That wasn’t quite what Nola had meant, but she didn’t know how to ask whether Grayson might have cooked something up on his own without freaking Lynette out—or confusing her further. “What about Culver’s business partner, Vincent Kirke?”
    Lynette’s face softened, and she smiled. “Vincent’s a sweetie. Culver would have told me if Vincent was helping him.”
    Nola suspected that Lynette would say only positive things about attractive, wealthy men regardless of who they were. She decided to test her theory. “And Maureen Bryant?”
    Theory gained support. Lynette’s face hardened, her lip curling into an ugly sneer, and she let loose. “That bitch. She married him for his money. He married her because he felt sorry for her. They never loved each other. Now he’s stuck with her and she won’t divorce him, because she says she’s Catholic, and I mean, come on, like no Catholics have ever gotten divorced before. They don’t have any kids— her fault—so they could get an annulment, but she won’t do it, the fucking bitch.”
    Nola had a feeling that this little rant would go on for a while if unchecked. “One more thing,” she interjected. “The bird.”
    “The what ?”
    Again Nola tried to read Lynette’s expression and saw nothing but puzzled annoyance for being interrupted. Still she needed to make sure. “You know what I’m talking about.”
    “Uh, no . Look, are we done here? You are agreeing to help, right? If that’s the case, then stop jerking me around.”
    “All right, never mind.” There seemed no point in prolonging the interview, so Nola got up to leave. Lynette got up, too, flouncing around the bar and turning her back without so much as a good-bye. That was fine with Nola. Lynette was exhausting. She wondered whether Culver Bryant really intended to run away with her after all or if that wasn’t just one of those things married men said to their mistresses. After just half an hour, Nola was eager to run away from Lynette.
     
    ___________
     
    When she got home, Nola could hardly take the time to struggle out of her leather jacket, fling it and her purse aside, and grab a notebook and a pen. Something about this business demanded literally hands-on work and not a keyboard and screen. She wanted to write down everything she knew about the case and then figure out what else she needed to know and how she might find out about it. It was goofy, she knew, but she was excited. This would not be another Sunday night of lousy TV and leftover pasta. True, it wouldn’t be a night at Tryst with the cool kids (what did they all do for a living that they could go clubbing on a Sunday night, anyway, and why did thinking about them always make her feel like she was eighty years old?), but that was fine. She had a sense of purpose. That’s all she needed at the moment.
    She wrote down the names of the four key players, in the order in which they were interviewed. The wife, the business partner, the mistress, the brother. Interestingly, if she had to order them in terms of their likely involvement in Culver Bryant’s disappearance, that’s how it would go. Under each name she jotted down whatever came to her without censoring anything or trying to organize it. After half an hour of solid writing, she put the pen down and considered what she’d written to see