disappeared. Zoey had survived an unspeakable trauma, and then she met Alan on the heels of that.
Rae suspected that Zoey had been the victim of abuse or a stalker before. Zoey never wanted to talk about her childhood home or her family, stating she would never go back. And now, though Rae tried to believe the best about Zoey’s current disappearance, she feared the worst. Zoey was suffering, or she was already gone.
Alan pushed away his plate. “I think you should start by going to Jackson Hole and talking to her mother. Find her. She could have moved, for all I know. Zoey’s father died a long time ago. That’s all she shared about her life before. It’s like she wanted to forget about her past. Hide from it. And after what she’d been through, I never questioned her about why she moved to Colorado. We put all our hopes in the present and future and put the past behind us. We even eloped so there was no pressure to invite the people from her past. And now, looking back, I realize that was a mistake. I should have pressed her for more information. Pressed her to include them.”
“You can’t think that you made a mistake when you married her. You can’t.”
“I love her. Love covers a multitude of sins, right? I didn’t make a mistake. Callie isn’t a mistake. I could have done things differently. So now, I’m going to do something. I think starting with her mother is a good place to begin. It’s all I can think to do.”
Rae’s throat tightened. She should avoid being within a thousand miles of Jackson Hole. That valley was the current residence of the reason for her financial, emotional, and psychological woes. The source of the daily pain in her chest.
Alan watched her as if he sensed her hesitation and waited for confirmation. Was she willing to do this? The police would do everything in their power to find her sister-in-law, but Rae knew from experience that their efforts couldn’t save the day every time. There was simply too much ground to cover. Too many criminals.
Rae closed her eyes and exhaled.
What should I do? What should I do? Am I the right person to take on such an enormous task? What if she let Alan down? Callie?
Zoey.
“Why don’t you call her mom, then?” Rae asked.
“And say what? This is your son-in-law? Your daughter is missing?”
“I see your point.” Zoey’s mom wouldn’t know him from Adam. “Still, I think you should make that call.”
Alan scraped his hands through his hair, then cracked a sob. Finally, he lifted his face, his eyes meeting hers. “I don’t know how to reach her. Even if I did, I can’t talk coherently at the moment. Rae, if you don’t help me, who else will? I mean, besides the police. Besides the media that will eventually blast her face everywhere. I feel so helpless. I want to be out there looking, searching, but the truth is, that never was my thing. I’m not good at that even if I’m desperately looking for my wife. But it’s your thing. You are good. If you don’t do this—”
“All right. All right.”
Rae stood and gathered their dishes to place in the sink.
“Just . . . let me think.”
Alan approached. “It can’t hurt to have one more person digging into things. In fact, if you need me to help you research, I’ll do what I can. But remember, my time will be limited since I’m caring for Callie.”
“You would have made Dad proud, Alan.” She offered a tenuous smile. “You might not be an investigative journalist, but you do think like one.”
“I’m no journalist. You got those genes. I’m a nerd. A computer geek. You know that.”
Rae opened her mouth—
“Save it. I already searched her personal laptop. I know how to look, Rae. There’s nothing there except research about autism and everything she can do to help her little girl grow up and live a happy life. On her work computer, I confirmed nothing more than the part-time work she does for the cyber-security software company. I searched before I even called the police.” He held Rae’s gaze. “Not that I didn’t trust her, but I had to look first.”
Of course Alan had looked. Rae had often suspected one of the big reasons Zoey and Alan had hit it off so well was that they were both computer geeks.
“The police will want to look too. They’ll look at all the calls