“That’s not like her,” Cassidy said. “I didn’t know if she was sick. But she’d always call in. With everything that has happened…”
“I’ll look into it,” he said and hung up on her.
He waved his men over and told them he had to leave.
His father was coming out of the barn when he was driving to his house to get his laptop. He was going to want to look into her camera more, but he’d go check on her first. He couldn’t ever disconnect his mind from the worst-case scenario.
“What’s going on?” his father asked when Clay rolled the window down.
“Meredith didn’t show up for work. Her friend at the school just called me. Her car is there though.”
“Maybe she’s sick,” his father said.
“She’s not replying to messages either. I don’t like this. I’m heading there now.”
“Call Ford,” his father said.
“I will if I need to.”
Clay didn’t need to involve his brother in his messy dating life.
He was more concerned she might have tripped and hit her head, knocking herself out, and was lying on the floor unconscious.
The more he thought of all those possibilities, the faster he wanted to drive and skip his laptop.
He didn’t. Always be prepared and those extra few minutes to get it now might come in handy.
He raced to town, calling and texting Meredith from his truck and getting no answer.
When he pulled in front of her townhouse, her SUV was still out front like it always was.
The movement out of the corner of his eye had him turning to see the neighbor watching him from the upper window next door again. Dude needed to get a life.
Meredith had given Clay a key before, so he unlocked the door.
“Meredith,” he yelled. There was no answer.
He could see the whole first floor and there was no sign of her, so he raced up the stairs, looking in her room and bathroom, even the craft room.
Nothing.
Where the hell could she be?
He called her phone again, heard it ringing and went in search of it.
It was nowhere visible and he finally got on the floor and saw it under her chair.
No way. She’d never leave it there. She always had it on her, or by her.
Her purse wasn’t on the counter like she always placed it either.
The hair was standing on his arms, a tingling gathering at the base of his neck.
All the signs he’d been trained to notice on his body in the past when something was off.
He stood up and walked to the kitchen to see if anything was out of place.
Looking around, he saw the kitchen was as clean as it always was. No dishes in the sink since she hated that.
