“Any reason why?”
“He’s always said he didn’t plan to be a father,” Garret murmured.
“Plans change when the facts hit the fan,” she said, her voice cool. “I wouldn’t think he’d be somebody to ditch his responsibilities though.”
“Oh, I don’t think he would either,” he said. “I’m not sure that we know what’s going on in their personal life, outside of the fact that a big change is happening.”
“Exactly,” she agreed.
“And, if my brother is missing and if it’s something suspicious, it would make sense that she would reach out to me through my team,” he said.
“Why not the cops?”
“Because of the type of work my brother does, which is very similar to what I do for Bullard—meaning we avoid local law enforcement at all costs and only communicate with the big agencies as a courtesy. Also we heard some suspicion or a theory that he might have had something to do with the plane crash.”
At that, Astra looked at him in shock. “The plane crash you were in?”
He shrugged. “I wouldn’t have thought my brother hated me that much, but honestly I don’t know. Maybe he does.”
“I would say that he did not, but you’re right. We don’t know because we haven’t seen them in years,” she said heavily. “I do talk to Amy at times, but only because she’s called me to complain. And you have to take her words with a grain of salt.”
Garret nearly growled.
Astra nodded. “People change, but I would hope not to that extent.”
“You and me both,” he said, with a hard look.
She nodded and said quietly, “I get that you don’t like hearing about any of this going on between Amy and Gregg, but it’s still totally possible that Gregg had nothing to do with it. I’d like to believe he’s better than that. Especially as I heard he wanted to reconcile with you.”
Garret was still dealing with the shock of thinking of his brother as a father. Gregg was younger, a little wilder, and didn’t have quite the reasoning ability that Garret had. But they’d always been close—until Amy came between them. And, for that, he would always hold Amy off to the side because she’d been the thorn that festered.
Kano, quietly listening from the corner, joined the conversation. “That also explains why she may have disappeared now,” Kano interjected.
“How so?” Garret asked.
“Hormones. Pregnancy sets off a storm of hormones, and she may well be seeing things that aren’t there,” he said, “or interpreting them differently that she would otherwise. Or seeing her life as it is and wanting more. Needing maybe time alone to think.”
Astra winced at that. “I get that whole raging-hormones thing with a pregnancy,” she said, “and I know my sister is on the border of being neurotic in many ways already. But I would hope that she’s erring on the side of safety, for the baby if not for herself.”
Garret agreed. “I would say she’s definitely protecting the safety of the baby, no doubt about it. Probably in a manner that’s way over-the-top, knowing her.” That statement prompted a snicker out of Astra. “Now it’s a matter of figuring out how we find them,” Garret said.
“Well, I’m doing what I can do,” she said. “But I fear I’m in way over my head. My question is, what will you do?”
“Get them back,” Garret said. “Let’s just hope we can do it before something bad happens.”
Chapter 3
On the heels of that statement, chaos reigned. Garret’s phone went off, and so did Kano’s. Astra went over to the counter and picked up her coffee cup, then walked to the window. She’d rented this hotel room because it was the same hotel her sister had been in. She hadn’t been allowed access to her sister’s room, and, as far as she knew, the police had been in, searched, and gone. She had yet to provide that room number to Garret though.
As soon as they were off the phone, she said, “My sister was staying here, also on the second floor.”
“You and I’ll head there now. Kano will stay here. Also I’ve got the team searching for whatever they can turn up, and I’ve contacted Charles.”
“Who is this Charles?” she asked, as they walked to the door.
“Somebody in town who works in our field.”
“Good for him.”
“No, he should have retired a long time ago. In fact, he has one of those jobs that you just never retire from.” He walked to the door, waiting for her to join him, then he shut it, as he walked out into the hallway with her.
“What about Kano?”
“Kano’s on his own mission to get information. We’ll pull as many threads as we can to get people on board.”
“Do you have a team?”
“A lot of team members,” he said, with a nod. “And we’re running with other teams as well.”
She wasn’t quite sure what that meant but was willing to accept any help coming their way.
“Had Amy been working?”
“No, not in the last few weeks. She’d been doing contract work for art graphics. Websites, logos, branding, things like that. But, since she found out she was pregnant, things kind of went to pot for her.”
“Again, those emotions boiling over,” he murmured.
“And again, not necessarily all that there is to this,” she said. “I get that she’s not your favorite person at the moment. Yet, whatever is happening, she needs help.”
“I get it and would hope that you still know me better than that,” he said. “But the bottom line is that definitely some aspect of her pregnancy is involved here, no matter what else is going on. Being pregnant makes everything different for her.”
“There’s also a chance that she’s taken off because she felt she was in danger.”
“But you have no way to contact her?”
“I’ve tried every way I know,” she said. “Social media, text, cell phone, old phone numbers, messages with friends. Everything I can think of, but nothing’s turned up so far.”
“How was your relationship lately? Is she likely to respond?”
“I would have thought so, yes,” she said, but again she shrugged.
“But?”
“She knew that I didn’t approve of her getting pregnant and having his baby.”
“Why not?” he said, almost offended at the suggestion that something was wrong with his brother.
“Because she wanted desperately for her baby to have a father who would be home, and, with all his traveling, in no way does Gregg fit that model.”
“No,” Garret said. “He doesn’t.”
“Why are you getting all defensive about it anyway?” she asked, looking at him sideways. “Like I insulted him or something. Look at you. How could you possibly believe he would have anything to do with your accident?” she asked. “Do you really think he’d cause a plane crash over the middle of the ocean?”
“Only because of what Amy said. That she had information and thought he was involved somehow.”