“Are diners even open on Sundays?”
“Let me check.”
She entertained the idea of calling. Surely his family, once they found them, would be willing to pass her name and number to Rocky.
“Some of them are open Sundays and some aren’t. If we don’t find Rocky’s family on Sunday, we could hit the other diners early on Monday and still have time to drive home that night.”
That seemed like a logical plan. But it also meant waiting a whole week. Not knowing was going to drive her crazy.
Josh took her hand. “What are you thinking?”
“That I can hardly bear the thought of waiting a whole week to figure this out.” To put this behind her.
“Tell you what. In the meantime we’ll keep searching for the guy, showing his picture around. Not just at the carnival but all over town, at the beaches and restaurants.”
“But not to anyone who knows your family.”
“Yeah, we have to be careful about that. Sound like a plan?”
She mulled it over for a long moment. “All right.”
Maggie checked her watch. It was going on seven o’clock. “Would you mind if we stopped at my mom’s on the way out of town? I still haven’t heard back and I want to check on her.”
“No problem. I’ll go help Zoey clean her room.”
“Good luck with that.”
Chapter 9
Maggie pulled into her mother’s drive, eyeing the two-story brick home situated on a large wooded lot in a prestigious neighborhood. Mom had bought the property shortly after being promoted at work. Maggie found the size and grandeur of the home off-putting.
She put the car in Park. It was hard to tell if Mom was home since she parked her car in the three-car garage.
The click of Zoey’s car-seat buckle sounded as Maggie shut off the engine. “Stay in your seat, honey. Let me see if Grandma’s home first.”
“I wanna see Cleo.”
The cat was usually the main attraction for Zoey. “If Grandma’s home.”
“I’ll wait with Zoey,” Josh said.
“Thanks.” Maggie exited the car and followed the walkway’s arc to the brick porch steps. If her mom wasn’t home, Maggie would have to use the hide-a-key to enter. After that last cryptic text, she needed to make sure Mom wasn’t unconscious on the floor or worse.
She knocked on the storm door, anxiety buzzing through her. There were no lights or movement through the sidelight. She should’ve had one of her friends check on her yesterday.
She knocked again. Or at the very least she should’ve comestraight over when she’d arrived in town. She’d convinced herself this was just another of her mother’s antics, but if something was really wrong, Maggie would never forgive herself.
The door swept open and her mother appeared, blue eyes widening. Every dark hair on her head was in place, and her makeup was done to perfection. “Maggie, what are you doing here? I thought you’d run off to the beach for the summer.”
She didn’t seem to realize Maggie had been trying to reach her since yesterday afternoon. “Mom, didn’t you get my texts? I’ve been worried about you.”
Her drawn-on brows arched as she opened the storm door. “Well, whatever for?”
Maggie’s blood pressure shot into the danger zone. “Mom, your last text said something terrible had happened and then you didn’t answer my calls or texts.”
“Something terrible...” Her head tipped back. “Oh, that. It was nothing. Just an issue with Cleo, but it turns out she’s fine. Are you just doing a drive-by or are you going to come in? And where’s Zoey? You didn’t leave her out in that hot car, did you?”
Still flustered, Maggie turned and waved Josh over. “Why in the world didn’t you answer my calls and texts? I’ve been worried sick.”
