At First Sight - Nicholas Sparks [42]
“What did Rodney say, exactly? Did they have an argument, or . . . ?” Jeremy finally asked.
Doris shook her head. “He didn’t say anything. He came in this morning and asked if Rachel was around, and when I told him she hadn’t come in yet, he took a seat to wait for her. When she didn’t show, he decided to swing by her house. The next thing I knew, he was back here, asking if she was in yet since she wasn’t at home.”
“Was he angry?” Lexie asked, finally joining the conversation.
“No,” Doris said, reaching for a napkin. “He was upset, but he didn’t seem angry.”
Lexie nodded but said nothing else. In the silence, Jeremy shifted in his seat. “And she hadn’t stopped anywhere else? Like at her parents’?”
Doris worked the napkin in her hand, wringing it like a washrag. “Rodney didn’t say, but you know how he is. I know he didn’t stop after swinging by her house. He probably looked everywhere for her.”
“And her car was gone, too?” Jeremy pressed.
Doris nodded. “That’s why I’m so worried. What if something happened to her? What if someone took her?”
“You mean abducted her?”
“What else could I mean? Even if she wanted to leave, where would she go? She grew up here, her family’s here, her friends are here. I’ve never even heard her talk about someone from Raleigh or Norfolk, or anywhere else, for that matter. She’s not the type to just up and leave without telling anyone where she’s going.”
Jeremy said nothing. He glanced at Lexie, and though it appeared that she was listening, her gaze was unfocused, as if she were occupied by other thoughts.
“How have Rachel and Rodney been getting along?” Jeremy asked. “You mentioned that they were having some trouble before.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Doris asked. “Rodney’s more worried than I am. He didn’t have anything to do with this.”
“I’m not saying he did. I was just trying to figure out why she might have left.”
Doris eyed him, her expression unwavering. “I know what you’re thinking, Jeremy. It’s easy to blame Rodney, to think that he did something or said something that drove Rachel away. But that’s not it. Rodney had nothing to do with this. Whatever happened has to do with Rachel. Or someone else. Leave Rodney out of it. Something happened to Rachel. Or Rachel took off. It’s that simple.”
Her voice brooked no argument about the matter. “I’m just trying to figure out what’s going on,” he reasoned.
At his words, Doris’s tone softened. “I know you are,” she said, “and I know there’s probably nothing to worry about, but . . . but this is wrong somehow. Unless there’s something I don’t know about, Rachel just wouldn’t do this.”
“Has Rodney put out an APB?” Jeremy asked.
“I don’t know,” Doris said. “All I know is he’s out looking for her now. He promised to keep me informed, but I’ve got a bad feeling about this. I just know that something terrible is going to happen, if it hasn’t already.” She paused. “And I think it has something to do with you two.”
When she finished, Jeremy knew she was talking less about her feelings than her instincts. Though she readily claimed to be a diviner and someone who could predict the sex of babies before birth, she’d been less willing to claim clairvoyance regarding other matters. Nonetheless, her words left Jeremy with no doubt that she believed she was right. Rachel’s disappearance was somehow going to affect them all.
“I don’t understand what you’re trying to tell us,” he said.
Doris sighed and stood up, tossing the crumpled napkin on the table. “I don’t know, either,” she said, turning toward the windows. “I can’t make sense of it. Rachel’s gone and I know I should be worried about that, and I am . . . but there’s something else about this . . . something I can’t make sense of. All I know is that none of this should have happened, and that—”
“Something bad is going to happen,” Lexie finished.
Both Doris and Jeremy turned toward her. Lexie sounded as convinced as Doris, but more than that, a note of understanding underscored her pronouncement, as if she knew exactly what it