Day of Reckoning

“Well, you know him better than I do,” Emily said distractedly. “I have to admit, I don’t understand his need to go off into the mountains like he does at his age.”

“He loves the Cascades. I’m sure that’s one reason he moved back here with you.” Actually, it was a mystery why her dad had done something that ridiculous, bringing this woman to Timber Falls. Roz figured there was a lot about Liam that a woman like Emily wouldn’t be able to understand. Could her father have picked a woman any more different from him?

“Drew, would you see what is keeping your sister?” Emily said, glancing past Roz. “Our dinner guest will be arriving soon.”

Dinner guest? Roz knew her shock must have shown. Emily wasn’t letting any concern over Liam keep her from entertaining, it seemed.

Drew buzzed his sister on the intercom near the front door. “No answer,” he said to his mother.

“Has anyone looked for my father?” Roz asked.

Emily seemed surprised by the question. “We wouldn’t even know where to look. It would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.” She glanced at her watch, obviously more worried about her dinner than her husband, then up at Roz again. “You said yourself he’s always done this, gone off alone, no matter the weather, taking his camera and camper back into the mountains, out searching for Bigfoot like everyone else in this town right now. I can’t see this time is any different except this time there was an actual sighting.”

“There’s been a sighting?” That explained the large number of people in town this time of year.

“Two weeks ago. I thought you would have heard,” Emily said. “Some fool bread man claimed he saw Bigfoot just outside of town and your father took off like a shot.”

Was it possible her father was on the trail of Bigfoot and that’s why he hadn’t come back? Why he’d sounded the way he had on the phone message? Except he hadn’t sounded excited. He’d sounded…upset, almost scared. And he’d been gone way too long.

“I’m afraid he’s hurt, trapped somewhere, unable to get out for help,” Roz said. “I think we should contact the sheriff.”

Emily touched her temple and winced as if she suddenly had a headache. “He’s your father. Whatever you think is best. I just feel it’s a little premature to be calling in the sheriff.”

“I don’t,” Roz said.

Emily sighed. “Drew, darling, would you get my medicine. It’s in my purse.” She looked past Roz and groaned. “Oh, where is he off to now? He’s never around when I need him.” She rubbed her temples. “I must see to dinner. By the way, a friend of your father’s is joining us. I thought you’d like that.”

Roz felt a stab of guilt for her earlier uncharitable thoughts about Emily. “That was very kind of you. Maybe he’ll have some idea where my father has gone.”

Emily checked her watch again.

“Emily, why do I feel as if there is something you aren’t telling me?”

The older woman blinked blank blue eyes at her.

“Did you and Dad have a fight before he left?”

“Of course not.” Emily brought herself up to her full height. “I really need to see to my dinner.”

Roz sighed. She could hear at least two of her staff in the kitchen doing the actual cooking. It was obvious Emily just wanted to get away. But Roz was sorry she’d brought up the subject now. “So who is this friend of my father’s who’s coming to dinner?”

“It’s a surprise. You really should get into some dry clothing before you catch your death. You can have a drink before dinner with Suzanne.”

Roz would rather catch her death than have a drink with Drew’s sister who was probably half-sloshed by now.

As Emily headed toward the kitchen, Roz heard the front door open behind her and turned to find Drew standing in the foyer. He had her suitcase in one hand, her camera bag in the other. She hadn’t heard him leave.

“It finally stopped raining but I’ve heard there’s another storm on the way. I brought your things in,” he said, studying her openly as if concerned about her conversation with his mother.

“Thank you.” She appreciated his thoughtfulness more than he could know.

“Where’s Mother?” he asked.

“She’s seeing to dinner. She said she invited a friend of my father’s to join us.” Drew seemed surprised. “I’m hoping he might know where my father went. I know your mother isn’t concerned—”

“Mother hides her feelings,” he said as he started for the stairs. “She was just telling me earlier that she wished Liam had shown up before your visit. She’s much more worried than she’s letting on.”

Sure she was.

When Roz didn’t comment, he said in an obvious attempt to change the subject, “Planning to do some shooting while you’re here?”

“I never go anywhere without my camera.”

“You must have gotten that from your dad,” Drew said. “Except he says for him it’s just a hobby and he could never be as good as you. Your photographs really are amazing. I saw your latest book. It’s your best yet.”

“Thank you.” She was surprised he even knew she had a new photography book out but if he was trying to flatter her, he was succeeding quite well.

“Mother had the maid get your old room ready,” he said over his shoulder.

She barely heard him. “Were you here when my father left?” she asked, still convinced Emily wasn’t telling her something. Something important.

“I guess I was.”

Was it just her imagination that his back stiffened at her question? Her dad had told her that Drew had moved in after getting a new job so he could work from Timber Falls via computer and help his mother with the house remodeling.

“Did my father seem…upset? Or act differently?”

“Not that I noticed.” He reached the second floor landing and continued on up to the third floor without turning to look back at her.

Roz stared after him, more convinced than ever that something had happened before her father’s departure. Something Drew and his mother were keeping from her.

As Roz passed the second floor, she heard a voice she recognized. Drew’s sister, Suzanne, had a distinct whine that was easily recognizable even from a distance. She must be on the phone. Roz wondered why Suzanne hadn’t answered the intercom when Drew had buzzed her.

As Roz hurried up the stairs after Drew, she couldn’t help but remember the happy times in this house. She and her best friend, Charity, used to pretend that each room was a separate house in town where they lived happily ever after with their husbands and children and neighbors. She smiled ruefully at the memory of this house ringing with their laughter. She and Charity had both thought that one day their own children would race along these worn wooden floors as they had done.

She pushed the thought away as she and Drew reached the third floor.

“Mother hasn’t gotten this far yet in her remodel,” Drew said.

Roz swallowed hard as she looked down the hallway. This floor looked exactly as it had ten years ago. Her room had always been on the third floor just down from her mother’s sewing room and her father’s studio and darkroom. When she was young, they would put her to bed, then her mother would sew, her father would work in his darkroom. They had wanted her close by.

Her parents’ bedroom had been on the second floor along with several guest rooms. Her mother had installed an intercom so she could always be within earshot of her daughter.

It was crazy, but for a moment, Roz thought she heard her mother’s favorite song playing on the old phonograph in the sewing room. If she listened hard, she thought she would hear her father whistling a little off key in his darkroom down the hall. But hadn’t he told her that Emily was doing away with the darkroom because she’d purchased him a digital camera?

Drew stopped in front of Roz’s former bedroom door and waited for her. “Don’t look so worried. Your room is exactly as you left it. Liam insisted.”

Her feet felt like leaded weights as she walked down the hall to slowly turn the knob.