Page 65 of Married at Midnight

Mike frowned. “I suspect the burglar knew he’d never get close to either of those things and needed a distraction to grab something else that might induce you to hand it all over.”

Connor went still. Ellie or his grandmother.

The two women were his greatest weaknesses. Connor grabbed his cell phone and dialed Ellie.

No answer.

Next he tried Grayson House.

No answer.

His heart pulsing in his ears, he tried his grandmother. He breathed a sigh of relief when she picked up on the second ring and assured him she was fine. He promised to call later and share more of the details when he knew what they were. Hanging up, he turned back to Mike. “Can you handle things here?”

“Of course. Are you headed home?”

He nodded. “I need to find Ellie. Call me with any updates on Alex.”

“Will do. Good luck.”

Connor placed one more call on his way back to the parking garage. “Trevor?”

“What’s up? Are you calling to make sure I’m not going to back out of your invite to Thanksgiving dinner? I promised I’d be there.”

“I need your help.”

“With what?” Trevor asked.

“I’m not entirely sure yet, but I have a bad feeling something terrible has happened. Can you meet me at Grayson House?”

“Is this official police business?” Trevor asked.

“It might be.”

“Be there in ten minutes.”

Connor jumped into his fuel-efficient car. He drove faster than he normally would, leaving curses in his wake when lights slowed him down, until finally he pulled up in front of the house.

Trevor was already there, waiting outside. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I hope,” he said as he strode up the front stairs. The door was ajar.

A sliver of apprehension moved through Connor.

“Behind me,” Trevor said, pulling his gun. With his foot he moved the door open and entered the house, with Connor in his wake.

Instantly voices came at them from the hallway, the parlor, and the stairs. At the sight of Viola, Lenny, George, Ernie, and Aaron, as well as his father and Julie and James Hawthorne, Trevor holstered his gun. The din of their voices assailed Connor and Trevor all at once, the sound increasing until Connor released a shrill whistle, as though calling the troops to order.

A sudden silence fell over the grim-faced crowd.

“Why is everyone here?” Connor asked in frustration.

Viola leveled him with a frosty glare. “I called everyone after you called me and asked them all to meet here. If Ellie’s in trouble, then it’s up to her family to help get her out of it. Is Ellie in trouble? We searched the house and couldn’t find her.”

Connor looked at the people crowding the doorway, and despite his desperation to find Ellie, a sense of rightness came over him. Both he and Ellie had felt so alone all their lives, yet now that they’d found each other, they’d also found themselves surrounded by people who cared about them. “Yes, I believe Ellie is in trouble.”

A collective gasp filled the room.

“We’re going to find her. We’ll bring her home, where she belongs,” Connor said with determination.