Page 66 of The Woman Left Behind

“We think we’re onto something. Few days, we’ll be home. Before that, just so you know, and Lillian probably didn’t know this at the time, but the Rainier place in LA was broken into when Avery was home, Sonny was at work and Lillian was at school. She was okay, it was just a junkie looking for something to pawn so he could get his fix, and she reported she thought she scared him more than he scared her, but still, it tweaked her. Friends say Sonny wasn’t much of a city boy, and the rat race of LA was beginning to wear on Avery too. They said the break-in was the last straw for Sonny. They had their place on the market within a week of the incident and took off the day it closed.”

That was an explanation, but not a full one.

Before he could dig into that, Jace kept talking.

“Needless to say, property values in LA are a lot higher than in MP. The equity they had in their place, plus the fact it was known both Sonny and Avery didn’t live beyond their means and regularly set money aside in savings, it’s not a stretch they could buy a small two bedroom in Misted Pines.”

That explained more.

“I hear you. But that’s not exactly upping stakes and leaving,” Harry pointed out.

“When I was ten, Dad could have had a for sale sign in the front yard for a year, and I probably wouldn’t have noticed it, but I definitely would have pitched a fit if I knew Dad was going to sell our place. Better to say you’re sorry than get in a discussion with a ten-year-old who doesn’t want to leave her friends.”

That tracked, though now they’d never really know why Sonny and Avery didn’t share with their daughter they were moving.

“Right. So what are you on to?” Harry asked.

“I don’t wanna say unless it doesn’t pan out. But we think we got a lock on the hotel where Sonny and Avery stayed here in Coeur d’Alene.”

So the twins were already in Idaho.

Fantastic.

He had no idea, after all this time, how the twins had managed to possibly track the Rainiers to a hotel, or why that might be important at this juncture. But he’d learned in dealing with the twins to give them their head and let them get on with it. The results rarely disappointed.

“I’m on my way to go tell Lillian the results of the tests,” Harry shared. “You find anything, I want to know so I can decide if she’ll want to know.”

“You got it.” There was a heavy pause before, “Don’t envy you, brother. Take care of you while you take care of her.”

“You’re heard. Thanks, Jace. Later.”

“Later.”

They disconnected and Harry shut down.

He stopped in Polly’s office on his way out.

“I’m gone,” he told her.

He knew word had gotten around when her eyes were somber as she looked at him.

“I’m sorry, honey,” she said gently. “So sorry for you and for Sonny and Av’s girl.”

He nodded, said no more, and noted a number of solemn eyes of his deputies and staff as he hoofed it out of the station.

He headed down the block, but he didn’t go to Lillian’s house.

He went to her neighbors.

He hit the doorbell and Ronetta opened it within seconds.

Tears hit her eyes the minute she clapped them on him.

“I need you,” he said the instant he clapped his on her.

Her voice was throaty when she bid, “Come in, she’s not home yet. I need to call George.”

She stepped back. He stepped in. She closed the door and went to her phone. He went to the window to keep a lookout for Lillian’s return.

---