Proof of Murder (Beyond the Page Bookstore Mystery #4) - Lauren Elliott Page 0,38
something.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He took an . . . How should I say this? An unnatural liking to her yesterday, and now she’s disappeared, and there’s no sign of him, either. You put two and two together. To be honest, I’m getting worried that he—”
“Relax, we found him.”
“Where?”
“He was upstairs sleeping in one of the bedrooms.”
“And Kalea wasn’t with him?”
Marc shook his head. “Millie gave me her license plate number from the registration form, and I’ve issued an APB on her and her car.”
“Kalea did mention to me she had a boyfriend. Maybe that’s a lead, too?”
“What’s his name?”
“Nolan.”
“Nolan what?”
“She didn’t say, but she did tell me he was the senior partner in his law firm.”
“Thanks, I’ll get somebody to check it out.”
“What about Charlotte’s laptop?” Addie cleared her throat in the hope it would distract from her change of subject. “Did Robert have it?”
“Nope.” Marc eyed her warily. “He said last time he saw it, Charlotte was using it in the library. Apparently, she told him to go get some sleep because she wanted him to do the morning setup, but she stayed in the library to finish up some paperwork.”
“Then she must have bolted the door after he left?”
“It looks that way.” Marc’s jaw tightened. “Look, Addie, I can’t talk to you any more than I have about the case, but I do need to talk to you about this morning.” He glanced at Millie, who was on the phone, and motioned with his head toward the window, his voice dropping. “I think I owe you an apology.”
“You think? You were downright rude and mean. You always did have a tendency to overreact when it came to you and me, but your behavior this morning was unbelievable.”
“Yes, it was,” he said, clutching the brim of his cap. “I admit it. But I wasn’t prepared to walk into a crime scene and find you there, and I didn’t know how to handle it. It definitely isn’t the way I had planned on seeing you for the first time since . . .”
“I know. It didn’t turn out to be exactly the greeting or conversation I thought we’d have either when you got back.”
He raked his hand through his hair. “I really don’t know what to say except I’m sorry for the way I behaved, and I’m sorry you had to find out about Ryley the way you did.”
“As far as Ryley is concerned . . .” Addie bit the inside of her cheek to keep her tongue from unleashing what she was really feeling toward the agent.
“What about her?”
“Nothing.” She dropped her gaze, entwining her fingers. “I think we both have to admit it all turned out the way it was supposed to, for both of us.”
“I guess yes, in the end it did. But it took a while for me to see it, I have to admit.”
“I’m sorry, Marc. I never meant to hurt you that night.”
“I know you didn’t.” His expression softened. “It’s just that after Christmas I thought we finally were both on the same page. For the first time since we’d met. You had changed and seemed ready to move forward. We had two wonderful months together, and I saw a future I didn’t want to end. But when I pulled that ring out of my pocket and saw the look on your face, it told me nothing had changed. I realized that in all the time we’d known each other, we’ve never been on the same page at the same time. Heck, when I look back now, I don’t even think we were ever even reading the same book.”
“But I didn’t reject you. I just told you I needed more time.”
“Yeah, because Simon was still hanging around.”
“He and I were—are friends, Marc.”
“Pretty close now, too, from what I heard. As soon as I told you we both needed time to figure out what we really wanted and I left, the only reports I got back were about Addie and Simon. Addie and Simon went here. Addie and Simon did this, Addie and Simon over and over. I guess it didn’t take you long to figure out what you really wanted, and that didn’t include a future with me. I went from being hurt and numb to finally accepting it and moved on . . . at least until I saw you again this morning. And then the anger I had fought against all those months bubbled to the surface.”