Page 42 of Ten Years Later
Why did he leave her alone?
“Fuck!”
Keaton drove like a maniac back to Ponte Vedra. He dialed Tessa Gray. Again, it went to voicemail. “Tessa, where are you? This is so unprofessional. I paid you five hundred dollars. Where are the results? Where is the information on Mia Ferguson? Call me!”
Next, he dialed Emily. It went to voicemail. He didn’t leave a message.
Forty-five frustrating minutes later he arrived at their gated community. He circled the block, his blood pounding in his ears, waiting for someone to go out or come in.
A red Porsche pulled past him, stopping at the gate. It opened, and as the Porsche drove through, Keaton scooted in behind it. He raced through the neighborhood, screeching to a stop at Mia’s home. He flew up the driveway, noting the blinds shut, and pounded on the door.
No one answered.
At the garage he peered through the top bordering windows, finding the Lexus gone.
He tried Emily’s window, knocking, calling out.
He raced around the house, trying windows and doors. “Emily?” he yelled.
Back at the front, a neighbor stood where the driveway met the street. She held a phone in her hand. “Can I help you?” she demanded.
“Have you seen Mia and Emily?”
“Who are you?”
“It doesn’t matter. Have you seen them?”
She lifted her phone. “I’m calling the cops if you don’t leave.”
He growled in frustration. “Never mind. I’m leaving.”
She took a picture of his work truck and license plate.
Keaton drove like a maniac from the neighborhood, covering the short distance toPaint Away the Day!He ran into the store, finding Sharon in the middle of a lesson teaching college students how to do portraits.
He ignored the dumbfounded looks of the students as he charged through the small shop, checking the bathroom and the storage closet.
Sharon bustled behind him. “What are you doing? You need to leave.”
Keaton erupted from the store, running for his truck. He peeled from the lot, racing to Emily’s school. Being past five in the afternoon, he found only a few stragglers getting into their vehicles. He squealed to a stop beside them.
“Do you all know Emily Ferguson?”
They nodded.
“Did she come to school today?”
Their heads shook.
Keaton’s foot slammed down on the gas. He dialed the private investigator. It went to voicemail. “God dammit!”
Recklessly, he drove through traffic, his brain spinning. He dialed Emily. She didn’t pick up. A sob caught in his throat.
He’d only just found her and she was already gone.
29 /CURRENT DAY
Mia sat beside Emily,listening to her detail the last few days to Detective Sparks. She couldn’t quite wrap her brain around the specifics.
