“Are you sure about that?” Landon pressed, peering at him.
“Yeah.” Jay met his gaze. “Feel free to check the house if you want. No one’s inside but my dog, Piper. He’s a twelve-year-old golden Lab that’s a bit ornery but otherwise harmless.”
Raquelle wanted to take him up on checking out the house—if only to verify his truthfulness, though having no particular reason to disbelieve him—but Landon responded, “That won’t be necessary.”
Jay nodded. Folding his arms, he asked Raquelle, “What makes you think Eddie would have come to thereservation? Not exactly like he’s been part of this community of late, any more than you’ve been.”
Ouch, Raquelle thought, feeling the sting. “We’ve always been a part of the Catawba Nation. That will never change,” she expressed. “No matter where we live or happen to be doing in our lives.”
“Okay.” Jay sighed. “You made your point.”
“As for Eddie showing up on your doorstep,” she told him, “it was just a thought since you’re his longtime friend and someone he could trust to keep him out of harm’s way.”
“Believe me, I would do anything for Eddie, if I could,” Jay insisted. “But I have no idea where he is. You could talk to Chief Quincy Marsh. But I’m sure he’d say the same thing. Not many places on the rez Eddie could go unseen.”
“I’m sure you’re right about that,” she conceded.
Landon handed Jay his card. “If you happen to hear from Eddie, give me a call.”
“I’ll do that.” Jay stuck the card into the back pocket of his light denim jeans. “I have to get to work. Nice seeing you again, Raquelle, even if under these circumstances.”
“You too, Jay.” She also wished it was a less stressful visit. Maybe that could come later, once Eddie was found, safe and sound.
After Jay had left in his Jeep, Landon asked Raquelle in the SUV, “What do you think?”
She twisted her lips, pondering this. “If Eddie’s on the loose and not being held captive, he’s probably still somewhere closer to home and familiar surroundings. Or else he’s left the state altogether for his own safety.” Both were preferable to her brother being already dead and buried.
“A statewide endangered person alert has been issued for Eddie and been extended to nearby states,” Landon told her. “Though there have been no credible leads to his whereabouts thus far, that doesn’t mean he’s not still out there—maintaining a low profile till he’s ready to make contact with one of us.”
“Hope so,” Raquelle said, even as she was finding it harder with each passing day to keep the faith that they hadn’t already gotten to her brother—meaning she had seen him for the last time.
Landon put a hand on her shoulder and said evenly, “Let me take you home.”
“All right.” She fastened her seat belt, and both were thoughtful during much of the drive to Dryer Woods.
* * *
“DO YOU WANTto come inside?” Raquelle surprised Landon by asking as he pulled up to the house, inviting him in for the first time since the divorce became official. “Nothing’s really changed much over the years—it was perfect the way it was—but you’re welcome to check it out anyway if you’d like.”
“I would like to,” he answered without delay, relishing the chance to see again the house Landon once believed they would spend the rest of their lives in as a married couple.
She smiled. “Okay.”
They left the car and went inside the house. It took him only a moment or two before Landon acclimated himself with the familiar surroundings as a flashback of the time they spent there together came flooding back to him like a tidal wave of mostly good memories. He noted some subtlechanges in accent pieces and arrangement of furniture but otherwise felt as though he had stepped back in time.
“Looks great,” he told her while gazing at the piano and wondering how often she put it to use these days.
Raquelle grinned. “You deserve as much credit for that as I do,” she suggested.
Landon wasn’t sure he agreed as, aside from choosing the house together, it was her natural inclination for interior decoration that made the place what it was. Apart from that, she deserved to be able to hang on to something that helped make their marriage so special. He smiled and said graciously, “I’m just glad you have somewhere to feel at home.”
She considered this thoughtfully and asked, “Would you like something to drink—wine, coffee or…”
“Wine would be nice,” he replied.
“All right.”
Landon ventured further into the great room and walked up to the piano. He sat on the bench backward and admired the surroundings, wishing he was still a part of them.I blew it, he told himself for his part in acting prematurely in wanting out of their marriage. Maybe there was still hope yet to fix that mistake.
