The Sapphire Brooch by Katherine Logan (reading eggs books .TXT) 📗

Check the kitchen.

She rushed to the kitchen, calling him. Still no answer. There were no dirty dishes in the sink. No crumbs on the counter. The newspaper was neatly folded, as if it had never been opened. The den was empty and so was the library. He wasn’t napping on either of the sofas. She searched Jack’s office for a note. Nothing. She stood at the desk rubbing her forehead, thinking. Where could he have gone? If he’d taken the car, he could have crashed it and be back in the hospital. But why would he have taken the car out onto the road?

She opened the middle desk drawer. The pizza money was gone. Her heart sank to her stomach, then to her knees, and then puddled on the floor.

Scenarios fueled her imagination. None of them good. Did he drive to get pizza? Surely not. Then where was her car? She hadn’t checked the garage. She darted into the mud room and flung open the door, and for a moment was afraid to look. Her hand hovered over the light switch. Finally, she flipped it on and her heart sank.

Empty. No car. No Braham. Nothing. She slammed the door. A chill seeped into her bones. Where could he have gone? Her cell phone rang. She ran back through the house to get it. Jack’s name flashed on the caller ID.

“Hey, have you heard from Braham?” she asked.

“No, which is why I was calling. To see how he’s doing.”

“I’ve searched the house, he’s not here, and neither is the car. The pizza money is also gone.” She tried to keep her rising anxiety under control. It wasn’t working. “He could be in a ditch dying.”

“Don’t get your panties in a wad,” Jack said. “It’s easy enough to find him. Hold on and let me turn on my Mac. Both of our cars have tracking devices.”

“What? Why?”

“Call me paranoid, but the thought of a stalker harassing either one of us was not a pleasant one. I decided to take precautions.”

“Where could he have gone? If he went out driving, he would have left the lights on in the house. But it was dark when I came in.” She closed the front door and paced. “What’s taking you so long?”

“Relax. Go pour a drink. Just another minute or two.”

Charlotte went back to the library, poured a whisky, and sipped. She pulled the rubber band out of her hair and gave her scalp a brisk finger massage. “I don’t even see the cat.”

“The cat’s probably in the barn, and Braham’s in Lexington.”

“He’s where?”

Nothing but her own strong will was holding her together at the moment. “He’s lost his frigging mind. He drove a hundred and thirty-something miles. Are you kidding?”

“Lexington, Kentucky, sis. Not Virginia. He drove five hundred miles.”

“He’s never driven a car before and he drove to Kentucky? Who is this guy? Superman?”

Jack let out a rumble of a laugh. “He’s got balls. I’ll give him that.”

She wasn’t much of a judge when it came to male genitalia, but yep, the guy definitely had balls. “Why’d he go to Lexington?”

“Well…he’s at MacKlenna Farm. I’ll let you hazard a guess.”

She shook her head, shoving her annoyingly curly, now-disheveled hair off her face. “If he wanted to go to the farm, why didn’t he ask one of us to take him? We would have been happy to go ourselves. Are you going to call the Fraser guy?”

“No. I don’t want to show our hand. Braham doesn’t know we know where he is. I’d like to keep him in the dark until I show up at the farm tomorrow.”

“Until we show up. I’m going, too. Do you think this is about returning to his time? If so, running away won’t get him home.”

“Only one way to find out. I’m going to book a flight out of Atlanta to Lexington, leaving first thing in the morning. Can you get away?”

“I’ll have to make some phone calls, but I can probably work it out. I don’t know how soon I can get a flight leaving Richmond, though.”

“Call Richmond Private Jet Charter and schedule a flight. We’ll need return transportation anyway. I’ll text you the number.”

“What about my car?”

“We’ll pay someone to drive it back. See how quickly the charter company can get you out in the morning and then call me back.”

She dialed the number in Jack’s text and was told it would cost a premium for an early-morning flight. She decided to let Jack negotiate a reduced rate later and booked the flight.

He called her before she could call him back. “What’d you find out?”

She drew circles and squares around the notes she’d made on a yellow legal pad. “They can get me to Lexington by seven in the morning. What about you?”

“Seven thirty. I’ll reserve a rental car. Get some sleep and try not to worry. We know he’s safe.”

“You’re kidding, right?”

“Yep. Night, sis, and remember—”

She drew a huge circle around Braham’s name, which she’d written in big bubble letters. “I know. Worrying doesn’t take away tomorrow’s sorrows, it only steals today’s strength. And at this point, I don’t have much to spare. Good night.”

24

MacKlenna Farm, Lexington, Kentucky, Present Day

Charlotte arrived at Lexington Bluegrass Airport at seven sharp. She’d only had a couple of hours of sleep, and one of those hours had been on the flight. A whole range of emotions had plagued her during those sleepless hours.

Although she was angry and hurt, guilt topped the list. She never should have left Braham alone. She had time available to take off work, yet she had left him to his own devices because of her obsessive-compulsive need to be at the hospital. If Braham had tried to explain to the Frasers who he was, they probably had him arrested. She and Jack might be spending the day trying to get him out of either jail or a mental hospital.

At baggage claim, near the terminal’s exit, she sat ramrod-straight in an uncomfortable molded