Page 66 of Night Hawk
“Well, yeah, of course. That goes without saying.” Her grandfather pointed his chin at Clay. “You sound like you don’t believe us. That we did something to get our sweet little Lisa taken. We didn’t. We loved that child. Love her now, too. What I wouldn’t give to see her walk in the door. We’d throw a party for her.”
“We need her DNA,” Clay said. “Might you have anything of hers, like a hairbrush?”
“We kept her suitcase and everything in it.” Her grandmother looked at Toni. “Your parents stayed in a hotel in town for six months or so looking for Lisa. When they went back home, they left Lisa’s things behind. I was surprised they didn’t want them, but maybe the memories were too much for them.” She stood, rising slowly, her hand on her back. “I’ll get her brush.”
She hurried out of the room as if a marauding army had arrived and not her granddaughter asking a few questions.
Clay looked at her grandfather. “You wouldn’t happen to have a church directory from that time, would you?”
“Probably, but why?”
“I’d like to see who Nolan might’ve talked to. To see if he lied to you and knows something about Lisa’s disappearance.”
“I hate to dredge all this up again, but if you can find Lisa, it’s well worth the pain of getting your sister back.” He peered at Toni.
She didn’t think her sister was coming back, but she didn’t say so. She wanted to hope for Lisa too, but statistics said children who weren’t found in the first twenty-four hours were rarely found alive. With those dire stats, what hope was there for Lisa after being missing for more than thirty years?
16
Toni looked around the family room while Clay talked to Erik about looking for Nolan Wilshire. The Byrd’s beach house was now familiar and comfortable to her and felt like a sanctuary. Like the house was surrounding her with protective arms and helping her come to grips with everything.
She’d been desperate for family since her dad died. Now that she knew about the others, she honestly had no clue what she was feeling. Or even if she was feeling anything for them. She probably should. But they were strangers to her, and they may have withheld valuable information on Lisa’s abduction. Toni couldn’t move forward until they were cleared of any involvement.
Tears wetted her eyes, and the very last thing she wanted was to cry. She was an agent, for goodness’ sakes. She’d been shot at before and didn’t start boo-hooing. At least not in front of anyone. She could hold back the emotions today too. After all, she’d been containing them in front of the team for days now. She could manage it until she was alone.
She went to her boxes sitting near the dining table. She started pawing through the top one holding her dad’s work items and picked up the picture with her mother.
She’d been gone for over twenty years, but at times, to Toni, it felt as if she’d lost her mom just yesterday. She’d missed so many years of being with her mother, so many important moments. Her first date. Prom. Homecoming. Graduation from high school, college, and the Academy.
These special milestones weren’t the only difficult days. She missed her mother’s comforting arms. Their conversations. Sharing triumphs and hurts. Oh, how Toni missed her. She still remembered the day it really hit her that her mother was gone. It happened a month after the funeral. Toni had a craving for her mom’s chocolate chip cookies—crisp and extra sweet.
Without her dad knowing it, Toni grabbed her mother’s recipe box, mixed up a batch, and baked the first pan. But they didn’t turn out crispy. They weren’t like her mother’s at all. At first she’d thought it was because she was just a kid and shouldn’t have been baking. Her mind flashed to thinking,I’ll just ask Mom.
Then it hit her. She couldn’t ask her mom. Not ever again.
She’d dropped to the floor in the kitchen and sobbed. Her dad had found her there. He tried to comfort her, but Toni only wanted her mother’s special touch. Then and right now. Toni needed her mother.
Tears flooded her eyes, and she made sure Clay couldn’t see her face from the family room. The front door opened, and his brothers came barreling inside. A tornado of testosterone.
She swiped a hand over her eyes and swallowed hard.
Clay left everyone in the family room and joined her.
They looked at each other for a long moment, and something unspoken passed between them. Another thing she couldn’t put a name to, but the feeling cheered her.
He nodded at the frame she was still clutching. “You looking for something in that photo?”
“Some comfort, I guess,” she admitted. “The meeting with my grandparents has left me a mess.”
He stepped closer while his brothers settled onto the big living room sectional and clicked on the television. Erik released Pong from his crate and took him outside.
“Me too, but I’ll deny ever having said it.” Clay smiled at her, a soft, intimate smile only for her.
He really was a special guy, and she wanted to get lost in his eyes. Maybe seek comfort in his arms again, but not in front of his brothers. She turned her attention back to the photo and tapped it. “I’m still wondering how Rader got this outfit.”
“May I?” Clay held out his hand.
“I just don’t get it.” She handed over the frame. “What’s his connection to me?”
