Page 114 of Sing with Me

“But we don’t have a fence around the house.”

“Dad doesn’t want a fence,” Diehl reminded her. “It ruins the view of the beach and ocean, he says.”

“Oh, the irony.” Mom laughed. “Now he’s in Atlanta, landlocked and no ocean.”

Landlocked.

Oddly enough, Diehl missed his job in Atlanta. Was this sabbatical long enough for him? It had only been two weeks. At some point—after they found Elisa—he’d have to go home to Atlanta before the new school year started. Already the private school the kids would return to had sent him copious emails about this and that.

He hadn’t had time to read them all.

But the eventuality was clear: he had to go home to Atlanta by August.

Landlocked.

Would Skye appreciate the big city? She had been to Atlanta before, but would she want to stay there?

It didn’t look like anything could come of their relationship, could it? Once summer blew over, they’d each return to their regular lives.

He shouldn’t have kissed her.

But he wanted to.

He wanted to be with her more and more. After this, he expected to find her in the kitchen upstairs. He looked forward to seeing her again, even though he had seen her at lunch and before that, on the beach.

Focus, Diehl.

He told himself twice to not think about Skye right now.

He stared at the frozen collage of videos on the big screen. They showed various camera angles all around Brooks Cottage where Elisa had spent her last night on the island. There was nothing more to see.

“When did Cara leave last night?” Diehl asked.

“Eleven, as usual. She never leaves until Chef Pierre does.”

“When did he leave?”

“Chef Pierre and Hans left at nine o’clock,” Malik said. He cleared the screen and displayed the chef’s van, parked outside the kitchen, where catering vans parked whenever the Brooks family hosted dinner parties in the ballroom on the other side of the kitchen.

“That’s a big utility van,” Diehl said. “His usual?”

“He usually drives a smaller van, but it was in the shop. This was his catering van.”

“With lots of room inside.” Diehl wondered if Elisa had stowed away. “Who drove it?”

“Hans,” Malik said. “The police questioned Chef Pierre and Hans extensively.”

“After they see this video, they might have more questions for him.” Diehl turned to Mom. “Do you have Dr. Endecott’s number?”

“Why?” Mom asked.

“Just in case we need him for any reason.”

Mom blinked. “You mean if the kidnappers hurt Elisa in any way?”

Well, Diehl hadn’t thought that far, to be honest. He only wanted to ask Dr. Endecott for local referrals to a child psychologist who might be able to coax more information out of Ethan. Someone who worked on weekends. Monday might be too late.

Diehl was convinced that Ethan knew something more that he hadn’t told Detective Jeong in the interview this morning. The child had been distraught, like his grandma was all morning.

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