assured him, and then continued on.
Alex spotted a picture frame, the only one in the room that he could see. It was on her dressing table. So she could see it every day, he wondered. Why not on her nightstand where she would see it each night and each morning? In spite of himself, he picked it up to study it. It was a much younger Lisa, with her bright hair reflecting the sun; her smile was just as bright. She was standing close to a youthful man who looked like he spent a lot of time out of doors. They were standing on a boat dock. Abruptly, he replaced the picture and looked around the room again. There really wasn’t anything else to see.
Nodding that he was finished, Alex waited for Nick to finish his questions, then they headed down the stairs. He wanted to be done here. To go home and see if Lisa was still there. He could hardly say any of it. He didn’t like that Morgan or the police considered her a suspect, but he had no desire to tell them of her whereabouts just yet.
“Did you find anything to explain why she would do such a thing?” Barbara Morgan greeted them when they entered the room. She stood and walked toward her husband, looking as if she would collapse at any moment. Alex wondered how much of it was authentic.
“We don’t think she did anything,” Nick told her in a firm voice. “But we thought it was a good opportunity to check.”
“Of course she did something. She took my Sandy. She had to. Otherwise she would be here, not running away after she posted some note.”
One of the officers came up to the group as Barbara’s voice grew louder. He looked at her, then over to Nick and Alex. “Did you find anything?” he asked them.
“There was nothing to find,” Alex told him. “Mrs. Morgan is overwrought, and rightly so. But I don’t think the young lady has anything to do with the abduction.”
“Perhaps we should bring her in for questioning.”
Alex drew his lips together. That was the last thing he wanted. What he needed to do was be out there looking for Carlos or why the other vampire would want a child; this child. The message could have been directed to him more than Morgan. Did Carlos know he was already involved? Alex was sure he had been counting on it.
“When she comes in, have her go down to the station,” Nick told the Morgans before the detectives took their leave. Now all Alex had to do was find a way to ditch his partner.
When that didn’t look as if it was going to happen any time soon, Alex stopped in the office and caught up on some paperwork.
“Do you think Morgan was lying?” Nick asked after grabbing a cup of coffee and perching on the end of Alex’s desk.
Alex leaned back in his chair. “About what? I’m sure that message was real.” Very real.
“Not the message, although…” Nick cocked his head to one side as if considering the possibility, “although the wife could have planted it.”
“Or he could have.”
“Nah! She seems the type. He seems a pretty straight arrow.”
“Then what could he have lied about?”
Nick blew across the top of his coffee. “How could anyone live with someone for two years and not know anything about them?”
Alex held up his fingers as he ticked off points. “First, they weren’t living together, and two, she probably had a lot more to say to Mrs. Morgan than the father.”
“Still, do you think he was lying?”
Alex rocked back in his chair, then let it pitch him forward so that he was sitting straight again. “There was nothing to lie about.” Was there?
“Not sure I believe it, but I’m willing to let it go for now.” He stood, and looked down at Alex, his expression more serious than it had been moments before. “It really bothers me, Alex, that we haven’t found a lead on this kid.” He shook his head. “That doesn’t bode well for the girl. I’ve seen enough of these to know if we don’t get something soon, and find the kid by tomorrow, we may never get her back. At least not the
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