Songbird(36)

“Maybe she got a ride into Hodges. Hell, Tagg, I don’t know. I don’t understand any of this. It’s late and I don’t know what we should do. One of us should go back to the ranch in case she comes back. We don’t know if she planned to leave permanently or if she just got upset.”

“Buck and Rand can wait up,” Taggert said. “You and I can keep looking for her. They’ll call if she shows up at the ranch.”

“Tell them to sit on her if she shows,” Greer said in a low growl.

“Let’s go find our girl,” Taggert said.

Chapter Sixteen

Dawn had long since come, bringing with it the grim realization that Emily was gone. Not just gone but vanished. For hours, Taggert and Greer had searched every conceivable location. They’d questioned motel owners, cab drivers, they’d gone to the airport and every spot in between. She simply wasn’t anywhere they looked.

They both needed sleep, but they also knew that with each passing minute, Emily was further away. Hell, she could be across the entire country by now.

“Maybe the best thing to do is go home and wait,” Taggert muttered. He was dead on his feet after a long day repairing a fence line and then all night spent searching for Emily.

Greer didn’t look any better. He wore a haunted look that Taggert hadn’t seen since the night they’d been called with the news of Sean’s death.

Greer raised a hand then let it fall to his side, his shoulders sagging.

“She left us.”

Taggert flinched at the betrayal in Greer’s voice. It was a feeling he’d tried damn hard not to experience himself, but how could he not? One minute Emily was pledging her love, her commitment to them, the next she had hotfooted it to parts unknown. The big question was why?

“It doesn’t make sense,” Taggert said wearily.

He climbed into the truck and turned home. They were several hours from the ranch. It would be afternoon before they got there. He was hungry, he needed a shower and he needed sleep. Mostly he needed Emily. In his arms. Back home where she belonged.

“Nothing makes any goddamn sense,” Greer muttered as he slouched in the seat.

The two didn’t talk on the drive home. They didn’t even look at each other. They stared out the window at the passing scenery, and Taggert focused relentlessly on the road.

Why had she left?

The question haunted Taggert. He couldn’t have been that wrong about Emmy. Not their Emmy.

By the time he pulled up to the house, dusk had bathed the world in shadows and pale shades of lavender. Without a word, they got out and trudged inside where they were met by Buck and Rand.

“No luck finding the girl?” Buck asked.

Greer shook his head and continued on past the two men.

“Get some rest. Both of you. We’ll look again in the morning. I’ll sit by the phone. If she calls, I’ll wake you up,” Buck said.

Taggert raised his hand in acknowledgement and went up the stairs to his bedroom. His bed was still unmade, the covers twisted and shoved to the side. The fitted sheet had popped off and was dragged halfway across the bed. What the hell?

Had Emily woken up in the midst of a nightmare? Had she been driven from bed by past demons, visited Sean’s grave and taken off on impulse?

He stood by the bed, staring down at where he and Greer had made love to her just two nights ago. Where was she now?

Not bothering to undress, he fell over the bed, eyes closing as soon as his head hit the pillow. He could smell her. He inhaled deeply and curled his fingers into the sheets.

A few hours was all he needed. Then he’d find Emmy. He had to.

***

Taggert woke with a start, unsure of what had disturbed him. Christ, it was light again already. How long had he slept? He rolled, wincing at the soreness in his muscles.

A beam of reflected sunlight flashed across his window, and he frowned. The sound of a vehicle reached his ears.

His pulse picked up a notch and he hurried to the window, lifting the slats of the blinds with one finger. His frown deepened when he saw Rand’s truck driving slowly down the driveway.

An uneasy feeling slithered through his veins. Why did it bother him?

Rand was the last to see Emily. Rand was the one who had taken her from the ranch. Into town. Where no one had seen her. Where the hell was he going right now? Could be nothing. But his gut was screaming.

Responding to his gut, he raced down the stairs, not bothering to get Greer. He didn’t have time if he wasn’t going to lose Rand.

He bounded off the front steps and threw himself into the truck, his fingers fumbling with the ignition before he ever got the door closed.

He peeled out of the yard and hit the dirt drive with a cloud of dust billowing behind him. He forced himself to slow. Last thing he wanted was to get too close to Rand and spook him. And if Rand was doing a legitimate errand, he’d apologize later for the ugly suspicions that had suddenly taken root.

Everything about Rand’s earlier demeanor took on new light. When he’d faced them with the news that Emily had left. Maybe he hadn’t been reluctant and worried about their reaction to her being gone. Maybe he was nervous because he was the cause of Emily’s disappearance.

Nausea rose in his throat, and he forced himself not to succumb to the dark thoughts tormenting him.

He caught sight of Rand up ahead and immediately slowed to allow Rand to take the corner. When he rounded the curve, he saw Rand pull out on the main road and head away from town.