Well, that was never a good sign.

"I swear I'm going to replace the fish, Dad." How did everyone find out about Jeffrey's demise so quickly?

"What? Jeffrey is dead?" he asked, his words laced with horror.

I turned on to Main Street and headed toward the station. "Um. Nothing."

"Your sister is missing," he said. "We can't tell your mother."

I stopped in front of the bakery and considered going in for an iced coffee. Coffee would help. "What do you mean she's missing?"

Hadn't my mother just said she sent her to school? Vivi wasn't really the troublemaking kind of daughter. That was my job.

"The school called me and she never checked in to her first class." A dog barked in the background, and it sounded a lot like NB.

"Did you guys get a dog?"

He sighed. "Vonnie, focus. This is important. Your sister has run off with that boy."

Ugh. "Are you sure? She broke up with Allen."

I really didn't have time to handle Vivi on the first time she flew off the deep end. Didn't my parents remember how to handle situations like these after raising me?

"You have to find her and bring her home before she does something even worse."

I turned into the police station parking lot. "What is something even worse?"

"Your mother finds out."

"Oh, right." I parked toward the building in a five-minute spot. Those spots were stupid anyway. What were they going to do to people? Arrest them? Nobody came to the police station for five minutes.

"I just need you to get her home before your mother realizes she's run off," he said, now pleading.

Sure, I'd add that to my to-do list. It wasn't like I had anything else going on. "I'll do my best."

"You can't let my baby be with that murderer, Vonnie," he whispered as a door closed somewhere on his end of the phone. "But don't tell your mother."

Right. I understood the entire "don't tell Mom" part of the plan.

"Okay, Dad. I've got to go, but I'll keep you posted."

I hung up as soon as he said, "Okay."

My sister might be anywhere. If she really took off with Allen, they had an entire country to hide out in.

The phone rang again before I had time to open the car door. I dropped my head to the steering wheel. I swear. Not today.

"Yeah, Mick," I said after checking the ID and not finding one of my parents' names. "I really don't have time right now."

His pen clicked over the line. He had to be holding the pen right next to the microphone for it to be so loud. "I heard you've got a man hunt happening, and I want you in on it."

I hit my head against the steering wheel again. If the head rubbing didn't work, I had to try something else. "Everyone wants me on something. I'm only one woman!" I yelled.

Look, it wasn't my fault I lost my cool. Okay, fine. It was, but seriously, people had to figure out how to handle their own shit. I didn't have time to solve everyone's problems for them.

I had enough of my own issues.

My dad wanted Allen arrested. My mother was probably planning their wedding. Someone had to find a new Jeffrey and make Conner a newlywed.

"I'm a one-woman show, and I have enough on my plate that I don't need you calling and telling me what the hell is going on in my town. Yes, there's a manhunt, and a dead body, and a soon-to-be fiancée. I'm doing the best that I can."

I almost hit the phone against the wheel for emphasis, but cell phones were expensive.

"Calm down, Vines. You sound stressed. Do I need to come for a visit to your office and check on things?"

That's the last thing I needed Mick to do. Especially right now.

"You'll only get in the way, Mick," I said and instantly regretted it.

He clicked his pen faster-a clear sign of agitation. Now he'd come just to bother me. One of his pop-in surprise inspections. "Remember who you're talking to. I'm in charge of you for another five hundred hours."

"I have less than four hundred left and you know it," I argued.

If I didn't watch it, Mick would bill me for more hours to get the money from me. He had conman written all over him.

"And don't you forget it. Your life is in my hands, Vines. Keep mouthing off and you won't ever make a PI in Maine."

I laid my head on the wheel and kept it there. The new leather smell was mostly gone, and it bothered me more than I expected. "You're right. I'm sorry. Things are stressful here, but I have it under control."

I hated having to eat crow with Mick, but I'd hate having him around more. Sacrifices had to be made.

Anderson and his big billowy trench coat walked out of the police station. He didn't walk out like a normal man but walked through both doors, using his hands to open them at the same time. It looked mildly cool. But I'd never tell him.

"Mick, I've got to go," I said, tracking Anderson with my gaze. "I'll update you on the manhunt later."

Anderson's vehicle sat parked in the space next to mine-another reason for the placement-and I met him at his hood before he got there.

"Stay out of this, Vonnie," he said with barely a glance in my direction.

What a rude way to act, considering I set him up with the love of his life in February. Lainey still got the googly eyes every time she talked about him at the bakery. If that wasn't love, he didn't deserve it.

I followed him to the driver's side door. "It's my sister, Anderson."

That made him pause as he opened the door. "If she's harboring a fugitive, she'll be dealt with accordingly."

"Don't be a dick."

Anderson leaned against his open car door and stared at me before deciding about whatever he'd been considering with his steely eyes gaze.

"Do you really believe Allen did it? He's seventeen and scared of spiders," I said.

I didn't know for sure he feared spiders, but having a vulnerability made him seem less like a killer. Plus, spiders were just icky. It was okay to despise them.

"I believe in evidence," he said, getting into his vehicle.

I ran over and stood in his doorway before he closed it. "You're looking for the wrong guy." A seventeen-year-old kid did not do this. Anderson had to be smart enough to see that.

"Right now I've got no guy, Miss Vines."

Ugh. I hated when he called me that.

The rain picked up again from the earlier morning drizzle that let NB splash around in the left-over puddles. I had to find my sister rather than argue with Anderson, so I stepped back and let him close the door.

He obviously would not talk to me about anything regarding the case. I'd have to solve it on my own and then prove it to him. Just like I always did.

Shit got old, though. Eventually, he had to trust me. Right?

"Whatever," I said as he drove out of the parking lot.

My time was ticking away. I had to find my sister and either help her hide better or get Allen to turn himself in to Anderson. Then get to Clearwater for my meeting with Lizzy. All in less than an hour and a half.

Wonderful.

Totally doable before lunch.

Right.

I wandered back to my car before the rain soaked my hair and called Vivi's phone. The odds were one in a million that she answered, but I had to try.

The phone rang once.

Twice.

Three times.

"Vonnie?" my sister whispered with a twinge of panic wrapped around the words. "I need help."