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

hadn’t been logged in as herself. Guest. That’s what had been on the login bar and what she’d been browsing under.
    “No. As far as I know she’s never used any online dating sites. Besides, Detective, you’ve seen how stunning Brianna is. She wouldn’t need to advertise for a date. She got them by simply walking into a room.”
    “I didn’t think so, but it I wanted to be sure it wasn’t connected to another case.”
    “You’ve had more women disappear like this?” Luke asked, the edge in his voice surprising Abigail.
    Jeffers finished off his drink before answering. “No, just covering any possibilities.”
    “I can assure you, Brianna wasn’t part of an online dating service. At least she hasn’t ever mentioned one to me.” Could her friend have been part of this? If so, why would Brianna have been so insistent that she come see her this weekend?
    “And you just came to town for a visit?” Jeffers asked as if reading her thoughts.
    “That’s right,” Luke answered before she could, his hand lightly rubbing her shoulder. “Like I said last night, when the lady wants to visit an old friend on a whim, we hop on a plane and come visit.”
    “Right.” Jeffers locked gazes with Luke and for a moment Abigail was reminded of two gunslingers in an old-time western movie—the first one to blink lost.
    The hair on her neck lifted and a chill ran through her, not from the tension between the two men, but something else in the pub. She slowly looked around the room. The lunch crowd had thinned out. A family of four sat at a table near the window. Two different couples sat in cozy booths, talking intimately.
    No one was near the bathrooms, but the wait staff filtered in and out of the doors to the kitchen. She let her gaze slowly slide over the few men seated at the bar, then studied them a little closer through their reflections in the mirror behind it.
    There. The younger man with the baseball cap and hoodie, his body turned away from them, seated closest to their table—near enough to keep an eye on them, but not close enough to hear their conversation, his fingers flying on the phone in his hands. Caucasian by her best guess, although he might have some Hispanic features, she couldn’t quite tell. Possibly mid-twenties to mid-thirties. Something about him was familiar, but at this angle she couldn't get a good view.
    “If you'll excuse me, please.” She gave an apologetic smile to Detective Jeffers and a light elbow nudge to Luke. “I need to go to the ladies’ room.”
    As she scooted out of the booth, Luke gave her a worried look and whispered, “Everything okay?”
    His warm breath against her ear startled her as much as the concern in his voice. “Yes. I’ll be right back.”
    Focused entirely on getting to the bathroom, she kept her gaze straight ahead, even though the urge to stare at the man seated at the bar ate at her. She was sure she’d seen him somewhere before. As she turned to enter the women’s room, she took one hard look at his face in the mirror, then went through the door.
    Inside the stall, she sat and closed her eyes, letting her mind pull out images and work backward over the past two days. He hadn’t been on the street outside the pub, nor at the shopping center. She scanned the images from the hotel and the parking lot this morning. No. Not there.
    She switched further back to their arrival at the hotel. No one had been in the lobby except the guest registration boy and the man mopping the far end of the lobby. Both had been African-American, the housekeeping man much older than the man at the bar.
    Further back she went to the walk from Brianna’s condo to Luke’s BMW. She pulled out the mental pictures of the crowd that gawked from the opposite side of the street. Two elderly couples huddled together. An extremely tall man and woman, with an equally small dog. Several young teens.
    There. Just off to the side. Same hoodie, same hat, same muscular build. Adjusting