Needing Nicole (The Cantrelle Family Trilogy Book 2) by Patricia Kay

she’d never known her father.”
    “She’d never known her father? What do you mean by that?”
    “She said her mother and father weren’t married.”
    “But she said Cantrelle was her father’s name?”
    “According to Jenny.”
    “Did she go by the name Cantrelle before she was married?”
    “No. She used her mother’s name—Sonnier.”
    “Have you tried to locate any of her mother’s family?”
    “I wouldn’t even know where to start. Besides, she told Jenny she
had
no family.”
    “And that was all she ever said about her parents?”
    “Well, one other thing. She thought her father had been a lawyer.”
    “A lawyer!” Nicole wasn’t sure why that piece of information startled her. Why shouldn’t he be a lawyer? She could think of three lawyers in her own family—two cousins and her Uncle Justin. “What did Elise do in Houston?”
    “She had no job at the time, but when Jenny met her she said she’d been a legal secretary in the past.”
    Nicole felt goosebumps break out on her arms. “Like me,” she said softly.
    “Yes. Like you.”
    “Is that how you found me?”
    “Yes, I checked all the law firms in New Orleans.”
    “How did you do that?”
    Jack slanted a glance her way. A half smile hovered around his lips. “I just called the firm, asked to speak to Miss Cantrelle and waited to see if someone answered.” Nicole shivered. She was no longer afraid of Jack, but it scared her to think how easily information could be obtained.
    They were now close to the downtown business district, and Nicole glanced at her oversized watch. Ten minutes past eight. She had plenty of time. Her office didn’t open until eight-thirty.
    “Jack, there’s something I’m still confused about. What makes you think Elise is using the name Cantrelle?”
    “At the theater, she was known as Elise Cantrelle. It was a long time before Jenny knew her real name.”
    “Why would she pretend to have another name?”
    “Well, from what she told Jenny, Derek Arnold was insanely jealous. The reason Elise didn’t work is because he didn’t want her around other men. He didn’t want her to do anything except tend to his needs. The work with the theater group was done behind his back.”
    “So you think, because she used the name Cantrelle once, she’d use it again.”
    “Yes. Both Jenny and I feel the use of her father’s name was symbolic to her. A way of saying she had an identity, that she belonged to someone.”
    “Oh, how sad all this is.” Nicole thought about all the people who loved her. How, if anything bad happened to her, they’d all close ranks and protect her. She couldn’t imagine what it must be like to have no one. “So tell me just how she disappeared.”
    “Derek was out of town on business. He’s a manufacturer’s rep. He’d been gone three days. From what Jenny says, he always called home at the same time every night, and Elise had to be there to accept the call. If not, I guess there’d be hell to pay when he got home. Well, on the last night of his trip, when he called home, there was no answer. When he kept calling and still got no answer, he called the telephone company, and they checked the line. They told him there was something wrong with it.”
    “And was there?”
    “No. The outside phone line was cut, and Derek says Elise must have cut it to make it seem as if there was trouble so he wouldn’t be suspicious.”
    “Do you believe that?”
    Jack shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
    “So when he got home he found her gone?”
    “Yes.”
    Nicole sighed. “This is a very sad story, Jack, and I sympathize with how your sister feels, but honestly, I can’t help you.”
    “Won’t you at least ask around? Talk to some of your family? See if maybe someone knows something?”
    “I already did,” Nicole admitted. “I talked to my father over the weekend. He didn’t know anything.”
    They had now entered the French Quarter, and Jack turned his attention to his driving. It