Her laptop was set up on the pine kitchen table, and she started reviewing the notes she’d made after returning home from the previous night’s event so she could go over the hits and misses with Charlie on Monday, but her mind kept returning to Parrish’s text message.Something serious. What the hell did that even mean?
When Lola started scratching at the back door to go out, she was surprised to see it was ten thirty.
She frowned and checked her phone to make sure she hadn’t missed a text from Parrish, who, unlike most of her generation, was habitually prompt. Nothing. She picked up her phone to call, but was sent directly to voice mail.
“Parrish? Coffee’s ready. Where are you? Call me, please.”
As the minutes ticked by, she felt a prickle of unease. She drank half a pot of coffee, and tried to concentrate on work, to no avail. After an hour, she called and left another message.
Should she call Ric, to ask if he knew anything about his daughter’s whereabouts? But the thought of hearing his voice conjured up unpleasant thoughts about the nefarious scheme her brother-in-lawwas cooking up in what she was sure amounted to some kind of power grab.
At noon, she got in her golf cart and rode over to the staff dorm. Parrish was probably in her room, having overslept after the party. When she arrived, she saw her niece’s Audi was parked in the gravel lot. So she was there. Wasn’t she?
Traci was about to punch the door code into the keypad when Felice pulled up and stepped out of her car, dressed in a pastel flowered dress, with a wide-brimmed straw hat.
“Mrs. E?” Felice looked flustered at seeing her employer here, on a Sunday, so out of context. “Something wrong?”
“Hello, Felice. You look very pretty. I’m just a little concerned. Parrish and I had a breakfast date this morning, and she never showed, which is very unlike her. She hasn’t returned my calls or texts. Have you seen her this morning?”
“Me? No, I left for church at nine and nobody else was up. I think everyone had a late night at the afterparty last night.”
“Afterparty?”
She followed Felice inside. The dorm was quiet. A heap of muddy sneakers and flip-flops sat beside the door. The television in the lounge was turned on, but muted, and she could see that the dining table and kitchen counter were littered with dishes and discarded takeout containers. A bag of trash sat in the middle of the kitchen floor, and a half-eaten pizza had been left on the coffee table in the lounge, and she could definitely detect the smell of weed.
For a moment, she was transported back to that hot, creaky staff dorm that she and Shannon had lived in all those years ago. Same pizza boxes and dirty dishes. But this time with air-conditioning. And premium cable.
“It’s kind of a mess,” Felice apologized. “I fuss at those guys, but you know…”
“Don’t worry,” Traci said. “I’m not here to inspect. I just need to check on Parrish.”
She knocked lightly on her niece’s door. “Hey, kiddo. You awake in there?” After a minute, she opened the door and stuck her head inside.
Parrish’s bed was unmade. A laundry basket was overflowing with rumpled clothes and her nightstand held a phone charger and a can of Red Bull. No sign of the room’s occupant.
Felice was still waiting in the hallway. “Not here,” she told the chef.
“Maybe she’s in the shower,” Felice said. “I’ll just check.” But she was back, a moment later, shaking her head. “Nobody there.”
Traci fiddled with her engagement ring, twisting it around and around.
“You want me to wake up the others and ask?” Felice asked.
She did and she didn’t. “Maybe so,” she said finally.
Felice stood in the center of the hallway and bawled loudly in her distinctive accent. “All y’all, wake up now! Come on. Mrs. E is here and she’s looking for Parrish.”
A door popped open and Olivia poked her head out. “Parrish? Isn’t she here?”
“Nope,” Felice said.
A moment later, KJ emerged from his room, yanking a T-shirt over his head. Garrett stepped out of his room, bare-chested and bleary-eyed.
“I’m sorry to bother you,” Traci said, trying to mask her mounting anxiety. “But Parrish missed a breakfast date with me this morning and I’m a little worried. I’m wondering when was the last time any of you saw her.”
She noticed a wary glance passing between the two men.
“I saw her last night, at the Beach Bash,” Garrett offered. “We, uh, had a little get-together after the Beach Bash. A few beers, a few laughs.”
