to pick her up. I brought Marco back with me, and she was still gone.”
She began to gnaw on her bottom lip.
“Given her history, he said no deputy will look into it. At least not this soon, and likely not at all. But the two of us looked at her property together. There were tracks in the snow, plus tire prints from a big dually truck. Someone was out there.”
“Well, that makes sense,” she said, shifting to the side as she tucked a leg under the other on the seat. “If her car was still there.”
“So you think she left willingly?” I asked. “Even though she knew if she didn’t show up for her shift at noon today she would likely be fired?”
“Lula is impulsive,” she said, staring at a spot of dried ketchup on the Formica-topped table, but her statement lacked conviction.
“Do you know who might have picked her up?”
“It could have been anyone,” she said, still keeping her gaze on the table.
“Does she have a boyfriend right now? Could he have picked her up?”
She snorted. “Lula doesn’t do boyfriends. Her mother’s convinced her that all men are jerks, that she should get what she needs and move on.”
“So she’s made her way through a lot of men,” I said thoughtfully.
Her face jerked up, her eyes blazing. “Lula is not a slut.”
Horrified, I shook my head. “No. I don’t think that. I’m sorry if I unintentionally gave that impression.”
Her shoulders relaxed, but only slightly.
“I’m just trying to figure out if she left her home willingly, because I have this gut instinct that she’s in trouble.”
Greta narrowed her eyes. “Why would you care? You hardly know her, and on top of that, your hours are gonna get cut now that she’s back. Sounds like if anyone had motive to take her, it was you.”
My heart jumped. Crap. I hadn’t even considered that I might be a suspect, but as far as I knew, I was the last one to have seen her alive.
It occurred to me belatedly that my reaction to her comment had probably made me look guilty. Leaning forward, I lowered my voice and said, “Look, you’re right—I barely know Lula. I only met her yesterday afternoon, but she’s probably one of the sweetest people I’ve ever met. Todd Bingham came in with his motley crew and made her anxious. It didn’t help that he kept staring at her. I could tell he worried her, and since I’m older than her, I guess my big sister instincts kicked in. So I put him in my section so she didn’t have to deal with him.” To prove to her that Lula, at least, trusted me, I added, “Then I drove her home in the snow because she didn’t have a car.”
“She said she was going to have Max drive her home,” Greta said, her tone softening, but her guard was still up.
I understood. It wasn’t smart to blindly trust the citizens of Drum. There were many lines in the sand, and the wind was always blowing. Someone loyal to Bart Drummond one week might fall in line with Bingham the next, especially since Bart’s right-hand man had killed so many people. I wasn’t sure where Greta’s loyalty lay, but I was hoping it was with her friend.
“With our new shared hours, Max was upstairs,” I said. “She asked Ruth for a ride home, but I offered.”
Frown lines creased her forehead. “She must have been desperate if she asked Ruth. That woman has it in for her.”
Marco had said something similar, although not quite in those terms. I understood why Ruth struggled with Lula—her behavior was frustrating, and sometimes it required the people around her to work twice as hard. Still, there was something about Lula that made me want to save her from that one-room shack. To protect her from her mother. To show her that she had more worth than the men she slept with. To help her make sure her baby was healthy and had a safe delivery.
But I had to find her first. And hope to God she was still alive.
I shuddered and Greta’s eyes narrowed even more.
“You have no reason to trust me,” I said. “I’m new to town, and now I’m asking about your friend after I told you she’s missing. It’s suspicious. I have no idea how to prove myself to you, but I hope you can see my sincerity. I think she’s in trouble and I’m trying to find her. I’ll do