The Vanishing. Jana DeLeon

to the hospital, unable to believe it may all be over. That Anna could be inside the morgue on a cold slab of metal.

      Somewhere in the back of her mind, she’d known that if things went horribly wrong, she’d have to be the one to identify her friend, but she was completely unprepared for it to happen in a matter of minutes.

      She felt as if she was almost out of her body as she walked into the morgue, Max close behind. Feeling numb, she waited while Max spoke with the clerk, who gave her a sad glance, then buzzed them through a secure door. A medical technician met them on the other side. He spoke to them, but Colette didn’t hear his words or Max’s reply.

      Anna’s gone. Anna’s gone. The cry repeated in her head.

      Finally, they stopped in front of a window with closed blinds, and the tech looked at Colette. “Let me know when you’re ready.”

      A chill washed over her and she crossed her arms over her chest. She felt Max’s arm encircle her shoulders. The warmth should have been comforting, but she was too numb to feel it. She took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then nodded to the tech.

      Every muscle in her body tightened as the tech opened the blinds. She took one look at the girl on the table and almost collapsed.

       Chapter Three

      “That’s not her,” Colette gasped. “Oh, thank God.”

      Everything hit her at once, and she began to cry. Max pulled her close to him and stroked her back. She buried her head in the crook of his shoulder and struggled to get herself together.

      “I’m sorry,” she said, as she broke free of the hug and took a step away from him, embarrassed that she’d fallen apart.

      “It’s okay,” he said.

      “I’m so relieved, and at the same time, it feels wrong to be relieved, because there’s another family that won’t be.”

      Max nodded. “Every time I had to bring bad news to a family, there was a tiny voice in the back of my mind giving thanks that it wasn’t my own. That’s not wrong. That’s human.”

      “Thank you. I thought I’d prepared myself that things may end this way, but I guess I was fooling myself.”

      “There is no preparation for someone close to you dying. If they’re younger than life expectancy and it’s not from natural causes, then that makes it a hundred times harder.”

      Colette studied him for a minute, struggling to hide her surprise. The empathy and understanding he shared with her was the last thing she’d expected from the hard-nosed, closed-off cop who had entered her apartment that morning. But then, Brandy’s story about Max had already alerted her to the fact that Max ran a lot deeper than what showed on the surface.

      Unfortunately for her, every layer she uncovered made him even more attractive than before, and falling for emotionally unavailable men was her Achilles’ heel. She needed to shut down her overly active imagination and focus on finding Anna. She couldn’t afford to be personally invested in the situation any more than she already was.

      “So what’s next?”

      “A visit to the bank where Anna made the withdrawal. I’m hoping I can charm them into letting us review the tape of the ATM, maybe see if she was with anyone when she withdrew the money.”

      “You don’t have a Brandy tucked away at every branch?”

      He grinned. “Unfortunately, no. I’ll have to wing this one.”

      “Then we better get going.”

      She started to move toward the exit, but he placed one hand on her shoulder. “Hey,” he said, “are you sure you want to continue this? Working with me, I mean? This isn’t really what you’re trained to do, and as much as I’m hoping for a good outcome, things could get more unpleasant.”

      “I know, but I have to see it through. I’d understand if you don’t want me along, though, especially after this. If that’s the case, then just say the word and I’ll get out of your way.”

      He studied her for a minute, and she knew he was weighing the pros of having the only person who knew Anna on a personal level against being saddled with a rank amateur. Using every advantage available must have finally won out because he shook his head.

      “If you’re willing, I can probably use your help,” he said grudgingly. “If she’s on the run from something, she may run even faster with only me pursuing her. With you there, she’ll believe I’m an ally.”

      “Good,” she said, despite his lack of enthusiasm.

      “But if things get too intense, I reserve the right to sideline you.”

      “Okay.” And I reserve the right to ignore you if you do.

      He gave her a nod and walked out of the building. She watched him for a minute, unable to stop herself from admiring the way his muscular back rippled beneath his T-shirt. He was one hundred percent alpha male—strong, direct and physically capable of handling his adversaries.

      And Colette couldn’t help but think that the biggest risk for intensity was in her attraction to Max.

      THE BRANCH MANAGER AT the location where Anna made the withdrawal turned out to be a man, so Max couldn’t try the charm route to get an inroad. But Max figured with his stiffly starched shirt, perfect hair and neat-as-a-pin office, the man would probably bend the rules to avoid anything remotely messy or unattractive for him or the bank.

      As soon as he explained that the woman was missing and a crime may have been committed, the manager was more than willing to pull the tapes for them. They waited impatiently as the manager sifted through a box of tapes and finally pulled the right one out and placed it in the ancient VCR.

      “We really should upgrade to digital,” the manager said, clearly nervous about the entire situation. “I keep asking, but corporate claims there’s no funding. I hope this thing was working properly that day. It has its moments.”

      Max frowned. A “moment” from a VCR was the last thing he needed when he already had almost nothing to go on.

      “Thank goodness,” the manager said when the tape fired up a fuzzy display of the ATM on the outside of the bank. “What was the time of the withdrawal?”

      “Three thirty-two p.m.”

      The manager forwarded the tape to just before three-thirty, and they all leaned in to watch. An older gentleman was using the ATM, but in the background, at the edge of the parking lot, stood a young woman.

      “That’s Anna!” Colette said.

      The gentleman finished his transaction and left the ATM. Anna glanced around then hurried across the parking lot to the ATM. She fumbled with her wallet, dropping it, but finally retrieved her card and withdrew the money. Her expression told Max everything he needed to know.

      This wasn’t a woman out for a weekend fling. This woman was terrified.

      They watched as she withdrew the cash and shoved it into her wallet. She looked nervously up and down the parking lot before hurrying back across to her car and driving away. Max leaned in toward the monitor to get a closer look at her car. A second later, she was gone.

      “I didn’t see anyone coercing her,” the manager said, although his voice lacked conviction, probably based on Anna’s clearly nervous disposition.

      “Don’t worry,” Max assured the man. “There’s nothing here that the bank can be faulted for. Do you mind if I take this tape?”

      “No, of course not,” the manager said, his relief apparent. “Don’t worry about returning it. I need to change out the old tapes, anyway.”

      “I really appreciate the help,” Max said and took the tape and motioned to Colette to leave.

      After