The Reluctant Vampire - Lynsay Sands [105]
“Beth?” Harper glanced to her with a frown. “Beth of the madam days Beth?”
Drina nodded. “I was just thinking that when Beth ran from Jimmy, she went straight back to the empty brothel. The last place she’d been safe and called home.”
“Casey Cottage,” Harper said, getting it at once. He turned at the first corner, and Drina closed her eyes and sent up a silent prayer that they’d find her there, safe and sound and well. However, it appeared no one was listening to prayers that day because a thorough search of Casey Cottage turned up nothing.
“I guess it’s back to driving around.”
Harper frowned at the weariness in Drina’s voice as he ushered her out of the house and across the deck. She sounded exhausted, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she was. Surely she hadn’t slept much on that stool of hers the night before while waiting for the drugstore to open. But he suspected most of the exhaustion was caused from worry. She was beginning to lose hope.
“I need more gas, and the one by the highway is the only one open at this hour,” he said, as they walked along the side of the garage to the driveway. “We’ll head back there and start another circuit.”
Drina nodded, not looking terribly encouraged.
Harper opened the car door for her, but when she went to get in, he caught her arm. “We’ll find her, Drina. We won’t stop looking until we do.”
Drina let her breath out on a sigh, then leaned forward and kissed his cheek, whispering, “Thank you.” She looked just as calm and strong as she had all night, but there was something in her voice that told him while she appreciated his effort to encourage her, it hadn’t really worked. Harper watched her slide into the car and wished he could do something to make her feel better. But the only thing likely to do that was finding Stephanie.
Where the hell was the girl? he asked himself as he closed the door and walked around to get in the driver’s side. Unfortunately, he didn’t have a clue.
They were quiet on the drive back to the gas station, both of them scanning the passing scenery for Stephanie. They were nearly to the station when Harper said, “Maybe we should call the house and make sure no one’s found her.”
Drina glanced at him with surprise. “I’m sure they would have called if they had.”
“Oh right,” Harper muttered, and then suggested, “Still, if she’s causing a fuss about leaving, they might be a little distracted and forget to call.”
“That’s possible,” Drina said slowly, and then straightened a little, and asked, “Can I use your phone?”
He pulled his gaze from the road to glance at her with surprise. “Where’s yours?”
“I lost it the night of the fire,” she admitted.
Harper grimaced and turned his gaze back to the road before admitting, “So did I. It was in my back pocket.” It was probably a melted mess by the end, he supposed.
“Neither of us has a phone?” Drina asked with amazement, and then smiled slightly, and said, “Then they couldn’t call us. She could have been at Teddy’s for hours.”
Harper glanced at her, worried about her getting her hopes up only to have them dashed, but said quietly, “We can call from the gas station. I know Teddy’s house number.”
Drina hung up with a little sigh, and stood for a minute, waiting for her disappointment to ease. Harper had given her Teddy’s number and suggested she call while he pumped gas. But Stephanie wasn’t back at the house, and no one had even reported a sighting of her, “Not the gals at Timmy H’s, or Val at the twenty-four-hour Quicky mart, nobody.” Teddy had sounded as frustrated as Drina felt.
“No joy, huh?”
Drina glanced to the skinny, sandy-haired gas-station attendant behind the counter. His nametag read Jason. “No joy?”
“No luck,” Jason explained, his Adam’s apple bobbing with the words. “No one’s seen her?”
“Oh, no,” she said on a sigh, pushing the phone back toward him. “Thank you for letting me use the phone.”
“No problem,” he said easily, turning away to set it back where it belonged on the counter behind the till he manned. “Least I could do since