“Why?” Garret said. “I want to hear it. Why?”
“Because it was her boyfriend, and a lot of money is involved. They think she has the money or at least access to it. And, if not to the money, they think she can lead them to him. Gregg. His name is Gregg.”
*
The two men were gone. Jonas had taken them away, and Garret was back in Astra’s room, pacing the floor.
“You don’t have to believe him,” she said.
“I don’t believe him,” he said. “I know Amy came between my brother and me, but I’d like to think me and my brother had a whole lot more between us than her.”
“Do you think she could have poisoned the relationship that much?”
“I would like to think not,” he said, but his tone was cold, cutting. The last thing he wanted right now was to analyze his brother’s relationship with Amy. It was bad enough that Garret was even here, having to deal with Gregg’s disappearance. And that Gregg’s girlfriend, and apparently the mother of his child, had obviously booked it and was hiding out somewhere. But to think that his brother actually had a hand in the plane crash that nearly killed Garret, that was taking things farther than Garret was comfortable with. He spun around and stared at Kano. “There has to be another explanation.”
“There will be,” he said comfortably. And that was one of the great things about Kano. He was always there to be on your side. If they found out that it would be something uglier than Garret wanted to look at right now, they would both deal with it later.
Garret took a long slow deep breath. “Right.” He spun and looked at Astra. “Think about places that she could have gone,” he said. “Where would she go, if she’s hiding out because she’s terrified?”
“I’ve been trying to figure that out,” she said, feeling bewildered. “I just don’t know where she would go.”
“Do you have any other property? Or does she? Did your parents have any property?”
“Oh, crap,” she said, staring at him in surprise. “Remember the cabin? You guys went there, and I met you there that one day. Remember?”
He nodded slowly. “Yes. What about it?”
“She used to always go there, when she was upset. We both did. It gave us time to think.”
“Which is why she was there then, after I proposed, but I thought it was her favorite place.”
She gave him a sad smile. “No, that’s where she used to go to make the major decisions in her life.”
“That’s where she told me that she would marry me,” he said, frowning.
“I know,” she said. “I presume she was struggling with her answer because that’s where she goes when she has those kinds of troubles.”
“How far away is it?” Kano asked.
“About an hour, hour and a half or so from here,” she said. “Up the coast.”
“Well, let’s go then,” Kano said. “Because I’d put money down on this one.” When they didn’t jump up, he looked at Garret on the left and Astra on the right, from one to the other. “So, have you got any other ideas where she could be?”
“No,” she said slowly. “That would be my bad.”
“Then let’s go.” At that, the three of them jumped up and headed downstairs.
“Wait. We don’t have a car,” she said.
“Yeah, we do,” Kano replied. “It’ll be here in a minute.”
“Whose is it?”
“Charles’s,” he said. “I’ll have to remember to thank him. So far, we haven’t even seen him yet on this trip, but some trips are like that.”
“Unfortunately a lot of our trips are like that,” Garret said. He looked at Astra, who was standing outside, her hands in her pockets, her purse slung over her shoulder, and her long blond hair blowing back in the breeze. She was stunning. How come he hadn’t noticed that before? Well, he had, but it hadn’t been kosher at the time. She was his girlfriend’s little sister, after all, so he’d always kept the looking to a minimum. But no need to do that any longer, and, man, she was gorgeous.
She turned and looked at him, noticed the look in his eyes and then frowned. “What are you looking at?”
“A beautiful woman,” he said, and she frowned even more. “Still don’t know how to take a compliment, huh?”
“Haven’t received very many of them in my lifetime,” she said. “Not enough to get comfortable with it anyway.”
Kano looked at them, frowning, as he picked up on the conversation, his gaze going from one to the other. Then he gave half a headshake and turned away.
She looked at him. “What was that look for?”
“Nothing,” he said. “I just see the cycle happening again. It’s bloody amazing.”
“If you say so,” she said, obviously not understanding.
But Garret understood. He gave a hard frown in Kano’s direction. “Hardly the same thing.”
“Exactly the same thing, Garret,” he snapped. “Just don’t let it infect me, will you.”
At that, Garret laughed. “Well, buddy, if I’m infected, you’re already exposed.”
“Better not be,” he snapped. “I don’t need that shit in my life right now.”
“Nobody ever needs it when it comes,” Garret said. “You have to be ready, just in case though.”
“Hell no, I don’t. You can go play that game all you want, but I don’t have to.”
“Says you,” he said. “Anyway, it’s a minor point.”
“Says you.”
Just then a car pulled up in front. The driver got out, walked around, and handed Kano the keys. “Please bring this one back in one piece, if you can.”
Kano laughed. “Always,” he said. “If I can, anyway.”
“Says you,” the man quipped, as he walked down the street and disappeared.
“Who was that?” she asked.
“Somebody I’ve met a time or two,” Kano said, with a big grin. “Jump in. We’ve got places to go.” With that, they all climbed in and hit the road.
Chapter 5
Astra didn’t want to admit, even to herself, how uncomfortable Garret’s comment about her appearance made her feel. It’s what she had always wanted, but, in this instance, and in these surroundings, it’s not what she wanted at all. She wanted to be somewhere else, far away with him, where they could just spend time getting to know each other again. The fact that she’d always wanted him didn’t mean it was the right thing. She couldn’t convince her heart that it was anything other than the right thing, but sometimes it was hard to know what to do. And what she really didn’t want to do was have him see her as Amy.
Astra settled into the vehicle, watching as the city disappeared behind them. It was hard to even keep track of the traffic, it moved so steadily, becoming part of the surroundings. “How is it people live like this?” she asked, as they finally exited London.
“I think they don’t know any other way,” Garret said. “Unless you deliberately tried to change or to make change happen, it’s pretty hard without that.”