Blow - Kim Karr Page 0,37
the air. “Go on.”
Did she just give me an order?
And had I just said vulnerable?
Composing myself, I told her what I knew. “He came here to scare you in some way. That’s about the only thing I’m one hundred percent certain about.”
“Buy why?”
“More than likely to send Michael a warning through you.”
Her inscrutable countenance gave little away.
Frustrated, I cast her a wary look. “Now it’s your turn. Tell me why you think it might have been your sister.”
Elle’s bravado seemed to deflate as soon as I put the conversation in her court. With a hand on the table, she stood up and went over to the couch, still wrapped in the blanket and carrying her cup with her. Once she settled herself, she looked over at me and I could see the gloom on her face. “My sister’s missing. We don’t know where she is. I lied to you earlier. She’s not in rehab.”
I nodded. I already knew that, but I was glad she’d come clean. “Why the lie?”
She drew in a breath. “Michael is worried that if he reports her missing and the police find her, they’ll figure out she’s been involved with illegal activities and arrest her.”
“So, he claims to be protecting her, but what if she’s in trouble? What if that was her?”
“I don’t know. I have to trust Michael on this. I haven’t seen my sister in fifteen years. There’s a chance I might not even know her if I saw her. But talking to you earlier tonight opened up some old wounds, and she has been on my mind more than usual. Like I said, now that I’ve had time to think about it, I really don’t believe it was her.”
Feeling like an asshole for pushing, I stood and walked over to the sofa, sitting on the opposite end. “Do you have any idea where your sister is now?”
She pulled the blanket from her shoulders. “No. My only guess is that things got too tough for her to handle and she ran off.”
I tried not to look at her sexier-than-fuck body, but my own body had a mind of its own and I could feel my blood coursing hot through my veins. “Tell me what you know.”
Elle turned sideways to face me and pulled her legs up, covering herself with the blanket again. “Not much. Almost four months ago I got a call out of the blue from my sister. I have no idea how she got my number, though we do have a mutual acquaintance in California. Like I said, we hadn’t seen each other or spoken in fifteen years. When she called, she told me that she thought she was in trouble.” Elle took a deep breath.
“Go on,” I prompted.
With a slightly hesitant nod, she did. “She asked me to look after her baby if anything happened to her.”
A tear rolled down her cheek. I wanted to wipe it away but I didn’t. “Did she say what she thought might happen to her?” I asked.
Elle folded her hands together. “No. I was in shock that she was even calling me and even more shocked by what she was telling me. I would never have guessed she’d be married, let alone that she’d have a child. Before I knew it, she was telling me she’d be in touch and then hung up before I could get any further information out of her. When I tried to reverse the number, I couldn’t. I had no idea what part of the world she was in. Our friend in California couldn’t give me any info. So I did nothing.”
“What else could you do?” I asked.
“Something. Anything. Look for her. I don’t know,” she said tightly.
My mouth opened, then shut. I wasn’t sure what else I could say.
“You probably think I’m heartless.”
Again, I resisted the urge to reach for her hand. “I don’t think that at all.”
Her face went a little blank, like it had in the car. Silence filled the space between us and I let her have a moment. If she was anything like me, memories had surfaced that she didn’t want to remember. Finally, she took a breath and spoke. “It’s just . . .” She waved her hand in the air. “Lizzy disappeared from my life and never looked back. When things got tough, she left.”
“Were you close?”
She looked a little lost. “Yes and no. For so long she’d been the big sister, the protector I needed, but then as we grew older, she