Chapter 29
KJ slammed the door hard and jumped backward, the color drained from his usually ruddy face.
Garrett, motionless, stared at KJ. “Is it… her?”
“Christ, no! It was a rat! The biggest freakin’ rat I’ve ever seen. Like, the size of a cat. And it ran right across my foot.” He shuddered and moved away from the Shack. “Let’s go. We need to call Mrs. E and get the fuck outta here.”
Garrett glanced around the area, picking up a beer bottle and a discarded vape pen, which he dumped into a trash bag and slung into the back of the golf cart. “Okay, I guess. You go grab the rest of the bags and look around the back and make sure we didn’t miss anything.”
“Oh hell no. There’s probably a whole nest of rats back in there.” KJ tossed the remaining bags onto the back of the cart and Garrett got behind the wheel and they drove off.
Traci paced back and forth outside the hotel lobby, getting increasingly frantic.
She picked up on the first ring when Garrett called.
“No sign of her here, Mrs. E. Was she at the hotel?”
“No.” Traci’s voice cracked. “Nobody’s seen her here since last night.” She twisted her engagement ring around and around, the phone cradled in the crook of her neck. “I guess I’d better call her dad.”
“Sorry, ma’am,” Garrett said. “You want us to bring the cart back to you there?”
“Yes, please,” she said. “I really appreciate the two of you looking. And if you could just spread the word around, if anyone has seen Parrish, or heard from her today, have them call me, please.”
“Will do.”
After he disconnected, Garrett steered the cart past the hotel entrance and onto a service road that looped around the rear of the hotel, toward the restaurant’s service entrance. Garrett pulled alongside the dumpster and turned to his friend. “Chuck those bags in there, okay?”
“Better not be no rats,” KJ muttered as he clambered out.
Traci’s heart was racing as she tapped Ric’s name on the contact list in her phone.
Her brother-in-law finally picked up on the fourth ring.
“Hey,” he said. “I’m about to tee off on the fourth hole. Can this wait?”
“No. It can’t. Ric, have you seen Parrish today?”
“No. Why?”
“She was supposed to meet me for breakfast this morning and she didn’t show. I’m really worried.”
“So? She probably overslept. Or maybe she’s blowing you off like she does me all the time.”
Traci bit her lip. “She wouldn’t blow me off without calling. She didn’t oversleep. I’ve called, and her phone goes right to voice mail. I’ve been over to the staff dorm. Her car’s there, but she’s not, and none of the others have seen her since last night.”
“Get a grip, Traci. She’s a grown-up. Parrish doesn’t have to report in to you every day.”
“I never said she did. I’m telling you, Ric, something is wrong. She texted me yesterday and said she had something she wanted to talk to me about. In private.”
“Probably just a boyfriend problem, but then, you’d know more about that than me, since you’ve managed to completely alienate my daughter from me.”
Traci wanted to scream, but somehow managed to tamp down her rage.
“She’s not dating anyone, Ric. And unlike you, Parrish’s not a hookup kind of girl.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it means. But this isn’t about you. It’s about your kid, and I am worried sick about her. Can you just tear yourself away from your precious golf game for a few minutes to help me figure out what’s going on? Can you call Madelyn and ask her if she’s seen Parrish?”
“Call her yourself,” Ric snapped.
“I did. Several times. She didn’t pick up.”
“Okay,” he said finally. “I’ll call Madelyn, and then I’ll head over to the house to see if she’s there.”
“I did that already,” Traci said, fighting back tears. “Nobody answered the doorbell.”
“Maybe she’s out back by the pool, listening to music on her earbuds. I’m sure you’re getting worked up over nothing.”
“This one time, I pray you’re right,” Traci said.
Her next call was to Ray Bierbower, the Saint’s head of security. She filled him in on Parrish’s disappearance.
“I’m on it,” Ray assured her. “I’ll go out there to the Shack myself and take a look around, and I’ll send a couple of my guys to do a thorough search of the grounds. Don’t you worry, Mrs. E. If that girl is here, we’ll find her.”
Traci paced around the hotel lobby, absent-mindedly greeting guests until she retreated to her office for more pacing. Finally, she called Charlie Burroughs at home. He answered on the fourth ring.
“Hey, Traci. Congratulations. Despite the rain, it was—”
She cut him off quickly. “Charlie? Parrish is missing.”
“You’re sure?”
“Absolutely. Nobody has seen her. Not Ric, not the kids in the dorm. I’ve got Ray Bierbower and his men combing the property. I know it’s your day off, but—”
“I’m on my way,” he said.
She’d just disconnected the call when Ric burst through her office door. “Nobody’s seen her,” he said breathlessly. “I’ve talked to Madelyn, her friends, everyone I can think of.”
Her phone rang again.
She grabbed it up and glanced at the caller ID. Ray Bierbower.
“Ray?”
“Mrs. E?” His voice was low and mournful. She sensed what was coming.
“I’m afraid I’ve got some bad news.”