“Get Riley and I’ll explain.”
“Okay, give me a second.” Lowering the phone, I press it to my chest and walk to the bedroom where Riley sits staring out the window. “Riley?”
Turning toward me, she smiles, but it’s forced, and there’s a sadness in her expression I hate. “Yes?”
“Chief Yunker from Winter Lake is on the phone. He wants to talk to you.”
“Oh?” Her face scrunches in confusion, but she moves to the edge of the bed and swings her legs over. “Is something wrong?”
“Honestly, I don’t know.” I have suspicions, but I’ll wait to hear what the chief has to say first. “I’m going to put him on speaker so we can both hear, okay?”
“Yes, of course.”
Sitting beside her, I pull the phone from my chest and hit the speaker button. “We’re here, Chief.”
“Hello, Riley, how are you?”
“Good.”
“That’s great to hear.” He clears his throat. “The department received a missing person’s report this morning. Warren Sanders informed us you haven’t been seen for several days and the last time he spoke to you, he was concerned for your state of mental health. He was worried you might have done something to hurt yourself.”
“Why would he do that? He drove me here.”
“He did?” Yunker asks.
“Yes. He tricked both me and Felix. I thought I was coming here for a job, and Felix thought… Well, he was not expecting me. But he let me stay here anyway.”
“Okay, well, as long as you’re safe and well, I’ll contact Warren and let him know you’re safe?—”
“No!” I blurt the word out too loud, but it’s important for Riley’s future safety to keep Warren in the dark about what she’s doing. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell. But I believe Warren isattempting to access Riley’s trust funds and take possession of her house.”
“Oh?”
“She’s been lied to about her parents’ estate her whole life.”
“I didn’t know they’d left me anything,” Riley adds. “I thought everything was my aunt’s.”
“I see. And this missing person’s report would benefit Warren how?”
“I’m not sure.” My mind is spinning with possibilities. “But with her aunt dead, he’s Riley’s only living relative that we know of, and if there are restrictions on her age or something, she might not be able to control her inheritance yet. And if she was missing, presumed dead, he’d stand to inherit it, right?”
“He might, but I’m not a lawyer and I’m unfamiliar with her situation; her parents died before my time in the Winter Lake PD.”
“Okay. Still, I’d prefer not to give Warren any information yet. Uncle Granger is going to take Riley to her parents’ lawyer tomorrow. If the roads up here are clear enough to make the drive to town.”
Yunker chuckles. “They will be clear. He’ll pull the snowplow out and do it himself if he has to.”
I smile in agreement. Uncle Granger will want to get Riley to the lawyer’s office as soon as he can now that Warren has filed a missing person’s report.
“I’ll get him to keep you informed of their movements and after she’s seen the lawyer, she might need to have you present when she returns home.” The word home is bitter on my tongue.
“I’d appreciate being kept in the loop. I find it’s best to be prepared for the worst and hope for the best. I’ll make sure to be available.”
“Thank you,” Riley says. Her hand finds mine, squeezes. “Thanks to both of you.”
“I’ll let you both go and make some calls of my own to see what else I can dig up on Mr. Sanders.”
Yunker hangs up before either of us can say goodbye, and Riley’s hand is still over mine. Putting the phone on the bed beside me, I turn toward her.
