The Dollmaker(The Forgotten Files #2)(75)

“Damn. What has gotten into you?”

“I’m fine.”

She cocked her head. “It’s Tessa.”

He didn’t speak.

She laughed. “How hard the mighty do fall.”

Ignoring her, he climbed the brick steps of Hayes’s town house. “What was Veronica’s reaction when you spoke to her?”

“She’s understandably upset.”

He understood that kind of pain. He wondered if Veronica would handle it better than he had with Kara. “Let’s hope she has information about Elena to share.”

They walked up the wide brick steps past wrought iron pillars toward a black lacquered door with a tarnished door knocker. Vargas knocked.

Seconds passed, but they heard no sound. She knocked again and still no sound. She reached for her phone. “She said she’d be here.”

Sharp leaned to the right and looked inside the floor-to-ceiling window. He saw a flicker of movement in a back room. “Someone’s in there.”

Vargas knocked again, and this time unsteady footsteps moved toward the door.

A fit and toned woman with long dark hair opened the door. In her late twenties, she bore a slight resemblance to her sister. Whereas Elena’s face was angled and lean, Veronica’s was round. She was attractive, but compared to her sister, would have been described as plain. She wore jeans and a sleeveless blouse that revealed a cuff tattoo on a honey-tanned right bicep.

“Ms. Hayes, we’re with the police. I’m Julia Vargas. We spoke on the phone. And this gentleman is Agent Sharp, also with the Virginia State Police.”

“Please, come inside.”

Veronica guided them through the center hallway of the house to the back kitchen, which offered a panoramic view of the river. The kitchen had been renovated to include marble countertops, pendant lights, and professional-grade appliances. French doors opened out onto a deck. Prime real estate coupled with top-notch renovation equaled big money.

“I’ve just brewed a strong pot of coffee,” Veronica said. “Can I get you a cup?”

“No, thank you,” Sharp said.

Vargas shook her head.

“If you don’t mind me having a cup? Jet lag is kicking my ass,” Veronica said.

“Sure, go ahead,” Vargas said.

“When’s the last time you saw your sister?” Sharp’s impatience clipped his tone.

She grabbed a white cup from the cupboard and filled it with coffee. Sipped. “Last week, before I went to Cabo. She looked fine.”

“As I said on the phone, she’s not answering her phone,” Vargas said. “And she’s not at her apartment.”

“When you called, Agent Vargas, I got worried, so I’ve been calling her cell. She’s not answering. But I never panic unless it’s been more than a few days. Like I said, she’s a free spirit.”

“Her office is worried about her,” Vargas said. “She was supposed to call in daily.”

“Elena’s boss is a workaholic who doesn’t sleep. He panics if he can’t reach her in five minutes. She probably turned off her phone to teach him a lesson. She asked for a raise, and he didn’t give it to her.”

“Her office manager thought she went to the beach. Does that sound right?” Sharp asked.

“She might have told them that, but she’s likely at our parents’ lake house. She knows she won’t get a surprise visit from her boss if he doesn’t know where she’s staying. The house is about thirty minutes north of Richmond.”

“When’s the last time you were up there?” Sharp asked.

“It’s been a while. Elena loved it, but I never liked the place.”

“Why?” Sharp asked.

“There isn’t much to do up there. No nightlife. Once you tanned for a day or two, there’s not much else. And that whole area gives me the creeps.”

“Why?” Vargas asked.

“A girl died up there when I was in high school. Elena and I are the ones who found her body.”

Sharp stood still, barely breathing. “Is that the Benson girl?”

“Yes. Elena and I were out for a morning jog a few days after she vanished. We were the ones that found her.”

“Tessa McGowan mentioned that. I wasn’t sure she’d remembered correctly given her accident.”

“Yeah, she was pretty messed up. But she’s right.”

“Tell me about that.”

“I was a junior in high school and had joined the cross-country team. I needed to get my run in, and Elena said she’d go with me. We were about two miles from the cottage when we saw a shoe in the road. We stopped, and there was a smell.” She inhaled as if remembering the scent. “We never went into the woods, but we could see her clearly from the road.”

His gut twisted. “Where was she?”

“She was leaning against a tree. We knew Kara’s parents were worried and had been searching for her. My sister recognized Kara’s outfit. She was still wearing her red Halloween dress. We called the police right away.”

“Do you remember who responded to the call?” Sharp asked.

“The police chief himself. He tried to look in control, like he could handle it, but when he came back out of the woods, he was pale and his hands were shaking.”