Page 410 of A Matter of Time

“You want me to help you look for any paperwork?”

“That’d be great.”

Gwen carefully went through drawers with me, but after half an hour she left me alone to go get another cup of coffee. She promised to bring me back a bottle of water. As soon as she walked out the door, I went immediately to check between the mattress and the frame of the bed. There was nothing there, but that gave me another idea, and I checked underneath all the drawers in the room.

There was nothing anywhere, and when Gwen came back, she told me that she could just call her mom and ask the name of the agency. She felt stupid for not thinking of that earlier, but she had gotten caught up in feeling like a detective, looking for a clue with me.

I explained that telling Susan would be a bad idea because then she would tell Dane and it would be a mess. I didn’t want to alert him in case I was wrong.

“Oh.” She smiled at me. “Smart.”

“Where else could we look?”

“Her office?”

“Perfect, where’s that?”

“Downtown. I’ll go with you to the office, introduce you to everyone, go to class, and then afterward we can get lunch with Casey and some of my friends. Sound good?”

“Sounds great.”

“Okay, lemme get my bag.”

We left the rural area of Mesquite, and she drove me back toward downtown. Apparently, Susan had taken a job to help bring in some extra money, to help the business get back on its feet. She was working at a doctor’s office as a medical transcriber and manager. The other nurses were happy to see Gwen and interested to meet me. When Gwen left, with orders for me to meet her right off campus at a really good restaurant that served great Mexican food, I agreed quickly. I was left alone in Susan’s office and instructed not to move anything. Her friend Nancy gave me a serious look over the top of her glasses, but I grinned, and she broke down and smiled back.

Alone in the office, I carefully ransacked it, getting under every drawer, going painstakingly through the files in her desk. I was sure the file cabinet behind me only had the doctor’s files in it, but I had to look anyway. When I went back out to the front, Nancy told me that I was right—the large steel drawers were full of patient information, and I wasn’t getting in there.

“What are you looking for, anyway?” she asked irritably. “I’m not sure I want you going through her office without her permission. The more I think about it, the weirder it is.”

“I’m just looking for some papers that pertain to my brother. She told me to come get them while I was in town because she’s helping me run down a lead with the adoption agency.”

“Oh.” She nodded, going to a desk drawer and opening it up. “Then you probably need the safety-deposit box key. She told me that someone would be by to get it; she must have meant you.”

“That’s right. It was me.”

“I don’t know why she didn’t just say Jory, but she’s just been so scattered lately—I’m worried about her.”

“Probably has to do with Daniel’s business.”

She looked over her shoulder at me before turning back around. “Oh, you know about that?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

She put a hand on my arm. “It’s a shame, isn’t it? Them having to take out a second mortgage on the house just to get by.”

“Her son will help.”

“Darling, Caleb’s been out of work for months, and Jeremy⁠—”

“Yeah, but Caleb⁠—”

“Will probably end up moving back in with his parents. I told Susan that if he doesn’t get a job and pay some rent, she shouldn’t let him.”

Caleb had been out of work before he was kidnapped. He hadn’t told me that. “You were going to say something about Jeremy before I interrupted you.”

“Well, yes—Jeremy’s the oldest, right? He should be the one stepping up to the plate.”

“And he’s not?”