Read Online VANISHED, A Romantic Suspense Novel (Edgars Family Novel) by Suzanne Ferrell - Free Book Online Page A

shrug, not liking the twinge of guilt that nibbled at her brain. Even though they’d talked several times a month by phone or internet, she and Brianna had drifted apart more the last year or so. She should’ve kept in closer contact, known more about what was going on in her friend’s life.
    Their waitress returned, saving her momentarily from further questions. While they dug into their food, Luke and Jeffers chatted amiably about baseball and the Indians’ chances this year against the rest of their division. Despite how good her sandwich tasted, Abigail picked at her food, idly listening to the two men.
    What was it about men and sports? A woman is missing and they can focus on the earned run averages of starting pitching as if there were no crisis going on. Of course they didn’t know Brianna, hadn’t held her hand after they’d both had their tonsils removed, hadn’t stayed up and listened to her heartache when her first college boyfriend dumped her.
    Burning started behind her eyes and in her nose. Abigail set her Rueben back on the plate then clutched her linen napkin in her lap with both hands, biting her upper lip and staring out the window, willing the tears to stop. She was a professional. She shouldn’t be crying in public.
    “Hey, come here, sweetheart,” Luke said as he draped his arm around her shoulders and pulled her into the side of his body.
    It was an act for the detective, keeping him thinking they were a couple, but she couldn’t help how good being held and comforted against Luke’s strong warm body made her feel. Even with her eyes closed tight, tears slipped out to slide down her cheeks, but after a few minutes, she’d managed to get her control back. With a little sigh, she dabbed at her eyes with the napkin and blinked back the remnants of her tears.
    “I’m sorry about that detective,” she said with an embarrassed lift of the corner of her mouth.
    “Quite understandable.” He wiped his mouth, set the napkin on the table and pulled a notebook out of his pocket, indicating he was finished with his meal and the question period had started. “So exactly what branch of the government are you working for?”
    “The Treasury.”
    A lift of his brow was the only indication he was surprised by the news. He looked at Luke. “You, too?”
    Luke gave a quick nod.
    “And Ms. Mathews? What function did she have at…” Jeffers looked at his notes. “…Hollister-Klein Exporters?”
    “Brianna was…” Abigail paused and swallowed the lump in her throat. “She is the assistant to the Chief Financial Officer for the company.”
    “A secretary then?”
    Luke snorted beside her. She cast him a narrow-eyed look, then smiled at Jeffers. “No, sir. Brianna was the A/P manager.”
    “A/P manager?” he asked making a note in his small notebook.
    “Accounts Payable. She reported directly to the CFO. Despite what you see in her pictures, she was probably smarter than most of the men in her department, if not all of them.”
    Jeffers had the grace to look embarrassed. “Did she ever talk about anyone she had a problem with at work?”
    “Not that she ever mentioned to me.”
    “Any particular boyfriend or lover?”
    The question and his tone suggested he believed Brianna was a loose woman. Abigail wanted to defend her friend, but given the number of pictures of Brianna with so many different men Jeffers had obviously seen in the condo the night before, Abigail didn’t argue the point. “We hadn’t talked in a few weeks, but she hasn’t mentioned anyone special in her life.”
    “Did she ever use any on-line dating services?”
    The question caught her so off-guard she choked on the sip of water she’d taken. “Excuse me?”
    “The last page she had open on her computer screen last night was to an on-line dating service. Do you know if she was a member or if she’d been a member of other sites like it?”
    Her mind quickly retrieved the first page Brianna had left open. She