Jayne slouched in her seat. “Do you think she’d really leave if she had your mom?”
“What choice would she have? If she doesn’t show up for work without a stellar excuse, she’ll be in trouble. Especially now that she thinks she’s talked to Jimmy and already said she’d come in early. And don’t forget, we’re working on the assumption that she’s done this to impress Tony with her loyalty. If she was willing to kidnap my mom to keep her job—”
“And Tony,” Jayne added.
“Right. Then she’s not operating under the oppression of logic. She’s nuts and is just doing what seems the best for her. So yes, she’d definitely leave my mom alone. Probably tied up and gagged and—”
“Sin, don’t go there. You’re going to make yourself miserable.”
“I already am.”
Her eyes held great sympathy. “I know. I am too. I’m trying not to let it make me irrational though.”
“You think it’s affecting me that much?”
“No. Not yet.”
I sat up. “She’s getting in her car.”
Jayne straightened, too. We both watched until Carrie pulled away. Then my hand went to the car door handle.
“Wait,” Jayne said. “What if she forgot something? Give her five more minutes. After that, she’ll probably think it’s too far to turn back.”
“Okay.” I was itching to get inside, but being interrupted could cause us big problems. I twisted my wedding ring in nervous anticipation. The minutes went by like hours.
Finally, the time was up.
“Let’s go,” Jayne said.
I didn’t need to be told twice. I was a little concerned that we were doing this in the middle of the day, when neighbors could very easily be watching, but I was more concerned that my mom was inside being held against her will.
I hoped she knew we were doing everything in our power to find her.
All of a sudden, Jayne started calling out. “Charlie! Here, boy. Come to mama.”
“What are you doing?”
“The same thing you are because of that neighbor over there getting her mail.” Jayne kept a happy smile plastered on her face. “Looking for our lost dog who was headed into the back of Carrie’s yard.”
My wife. Amazing. I waved at the neighbor eyeballing us. “Charlie boy, come on,” I said. “Come to Daddy.”
Jayne went as far as to peek behind shrubs and make kissy noises.
The neighbor went inside, and we strolled into Carrie’s backyard like we belonged there. Nothing had changed since our last visit. Everything was torn up and in the process of being redone. I supposed that was a good thing. If it had looked like something had been hastily buried, my concern would have skyrocketed.
“We’d better watch where we walk,” I said. “Tracking dirt into the house is going to give us away.”
“Good point.”
We chose our path carefully as we made our way to the back patio and the sliding doors.
“Can you get in through these?”
She looked at me. “Sliding doors? They are notorious for letting air in. Might as well be an open window. Just give me a sec.” She looked around. Then she disappeared into a trail of icy vapor that vanished between the doors like smoke being sucked into a vacuum. Knowing she’d inherited the same magic that her uncle, Santa Claus, had only made it that much cooler.
No pun intended.
She materialized on the other side, leaning against the door to brace herself. I knew that particular bit of magic left her lightheaded for a few moments.
After a second, she turned and gave me a thumbs-up, then she unlocked the slider and let me in.
“You okay?”
“Yep. A little dizzy, but it’ll pass. You know how it is.”
“I do. Should we split up? I’ll take upstairs. You look around down here.”
“Sounds good,” she said. “No basements in Vegas, huh?”
“There are some, but the bedrock here is so hard they’re nearly impossible to dig in most places. Or very expensive to dig.” Which was how my parents had a garage under their house. “Still, I guess it’s worth checking for.”
“Okay. Holler if you find anything.”
“You too.” I went through the house to the foyer, where a set of steps took me upstairs. The house was much splashier than Lou’s had been. Very feminine and very Vegas. There were a couple of showgirl headdresses on display as well as a picture of Marilyn Monroe made entirely of colored sequins.
I searched each room. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms and a room with a treadmill, a set of hand weights and some other workout gear. I spent extra time in Carrie’s bedroom, looking for clues as to where the money might have come from or any hint that she was involved in my mother’s disappearance.
Nothing. Just a bunch of clothes on the bed like she’d gone through a lot of things before deciding what to wear into work. Jayne did the same thing.
Physically and metaphorically empty-handed, I went back downstairs. No sign of my wife. “Babe?”
“In here,” she called.
“Find anything?”
“Nothing to indicate your mom’s been here, but look at this.” She came out of the bathroom that was off the living room holding a little white stick.
“What’s that?”
“The answer to two questions. As in I now know why Carrie was so concerned about her costume fitting, and I know what her surprise was.” She turned the stick around so I could see the display window. “Tony’s wife isn’t the only one who’s pregnant.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Sinclair
“That might explain the money,” I said. “After all, if she told Tony about the baby, that could be his way of paying her to keep quiet.”
Jayne nodded as she put the pregnancy test on the counter and took out her phone. “That could be the first of many payments. After all, Carrie could sue him for child support.”
She took a picture of the stick, then picked it up and went back to the bathroom, presumably to throw it into the trash again.
“You are going to wash your hands, right?” I called after her. “Didn’t Carrie pee on that?”
She stuck her head out, clearly amused. “So you do know how those work.” She leaned back in, and I heard the water come on.
While I waited, I looked through the mail and stacks of paper on the counter. Jayne had probably done that already, but I wanted to look anyway. Carrie didn’t keep the neatest house.
Jayne came out. With clean hands, I presumed. She nodded at the mail. “Find anything?”
I shook my head. “No. You probably already looked through this stuff, didn’t you?”
“I did, but a second glance never hurt. Guess we should head back since we know what Carrie’s deal is now.”
That made me think. “Could you get DNA off that pregnancy test?”
“You mean to prove it’s Carrie’s? I don’t see why not. Like you said, she did pee on it. Why? What are you thinking?”
“That we need to find a baggie and take that thing with us.” I started opening cabinets. “If Tony’s willing to pay her ten grand to keep quiet about it, he might be willing to tell us where my mom is. If he’s involved.”