In the Teeth of the Wind by Charlotte Boyett-Compo

She slumped down, her forehead pressed against the
    oaken back of the pew in front of her. Her shoulders heaving with grief and frustration, she barely felt the
    gentle hand on her shoulder.
    "How can I help?"
    Rhianna shook her head, knowing it was the priest who sat beside her. "There is nothing any of us can
    do, Father," she cried. Lifting her head, she looked at him. "Only God can help and I'm not even sure
    He's listening anymore."
    Fr. Reynolds smiled sadly. "He always listens. He's always there when you need Him." He reached
    down to cover her trembling hands with his own. "Would you like to tell me what's troubling you so?"
    Rhianna lowered her head. "Yes," she whispered, "but…"
    The priest patted her hands. "But?" he prompted.
    She eased one of her hands from under his and wiped at her face. When he produced a clean white
    handkerchief, she looked at him then smiled shakily. "I need to go to Confession first." She glanced back
    at the confessional doors.
    He nodded and eased out of the pew. "I'll wait for you."
    Rhianna drew in a long breath, then let her attention drift once more to the cross. "Please, God," she
    asked. "Please bring him home to me safe and sound. Please?"
    When she entered the confessional booth, Rhianna sank to her knees at the screen. "I am so afraid,
    Father," she admitted.
    "Take your time," was the gentle reply.
    A long moment passed before Rhianna gathered the courage to speak. When she did, there was relief
    in her shaky voice.
    "Bless me, Father," she finally began, "for I have sinned…"
    ****
    Rhianna looked up, her eyes bleak. "What did she say?"
    Triplett shrugged. "Hasn't seen him, Rhee," he replied. "Hasn't spoken to him in a couple of months
    and hasn't heard from him at all." He sat down beside her and ran his hand through his hair. "It's like he
    just walked off the face of the Earth."
    "How can that be?" she demanded. She got to her feet and started pacing. "He wouldn't have just up
    and disappeared."
    "No, he wouldn't have." Triplett tossed the beer can he'd been holding into the trash bin beside him.
    "Something's happened to him."
    Rhianna nodded. "Something or someone."
    "We'll put an APB out on him," Triplett suggested. "Darling will go along with that."
    "This isn't like him." Rhianna shook her head. "Not like him at all. It's been five days since anyone's
    seen him."
    Cortesio sighed. "We aren't gonna settle anything tonight." He stood up and reached for his coat.
    "Might as well get some rest and start looking again tomorrow."
    "Where? We've called everybody he knows." She flung her partner a damning look. "Including that
    bitch of a sister of his."
    "There isn't a snitch within four counties we haven't hit on and nobody knows nothing!"
    "If they do," Donne put in, "they ain't talking." He flinched when Rhianna turned and glared at him. He
    shrugged. "You know how snitches are, Rhee."
    "What about the woman?" she asked.
    "What woman?"
    "The woman he was with the night he was supposed to have come by my place!"
    Cortesio held out his hands. "He didn't say nothin' to me about no woman." He looked at Triplett. "Did
    he tell you anything about a woman?"
    "He wouldn't have told me." Triplett snorted. He glanced at Rhianna. "I'd be the last one he'd be
    talking to about a woman."
    "She set him up," Rhianna said, nodding. "Sure as I'm standing here, she set him up."
    "For what?" Donne asked.
    "Who the hell knows, Dave?"
    Cortesio and Donne exchanged a look. "He could be on a binge," said Cortesio.
    Rhianna shook her head vehemently. "He was trying to quit."
    "Ah, come on, Marek!" snapped Donne. "You saw him the other morning. Did that look like the
    stupid prick was trying to quit? He had one mother of a hangover and wasn't even fit for duty. Why the
    hell do you think Darling sent him home?"
    "She did it," Rhianna said. "Whoever the hell she was, she caused it."
    "Let's go," Cortesio said to Donne. "This ain't gettin' us nowheres." He scowled at Rhianna. "She
    wants to think