Her Missing Daughter by D. S. Butler

Author:D. S. Butler [Butler, D. S.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-06-02T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Three

Steve arrived home later than I’d expected. The weather had turned and rain hammered down all afternoon and into early evening.

Sienna had drawn the curtains in the sitting room. I wasn’t sure if that was to block out the miserable afternoon or to block prying eyes.

After we’d finished the film, we’d moved on to binge watch the first series of Scandal. We were on the third episode when Steve got home.

Beside me on the sofa, Sienna tensed at the sound of Steve’s key in the lock.

I put a hand on her arm and smiled reassuringly, but her body didn’t relax until Steve called out, “Hello.”

We heard his footsteps in the hall before he appeared in the doorway.

He blinked in surprise at seeing me and then smiled. “Hi, Abbie. Are you staying for dinner?”

He put his laptop bag on one of the empty chairs and ran a hand through his hair. He looked worn out and I wondered why he’d felt the need to go back to work so soon. He was the boss, surely he could take some extra time off. But maybe it was helping him to keep busy.

“We should get a pizza,” Sienna suggested, sounding more like her old self.

Steve yanked off his tie. “Sounds good to me. It’s Angie’s day off, and I don’t feel like cooking. What do you say to pizza, Abbie?”

“Sounds great.” I shuffled forward on the sofa. “Steve, something happened to Sienna today, and I think you should know.”

The smile slipped from Steve’s face and he frowned. “What happened?”

Sienna’s mobile phone began to ring. She fished it out from under the sofa cushions. “It’s Zach.”

She kept her head bent low so her hair hid most of her face as she stood up. As she passed Steve and walked out of the room, she slid a finger over the front of her mobile to answer the call.

Steve crossed the room and sat down on the sofa beside me. “What happened?”

He looked concerned, fatherly even, and I was pleased and relieved to see he was worried. When I’d first come back I’d been shocked by his lack of panic over Sienna’s disappearance.

But perhaps that was because things had overwhelmed him. He did seem to care about his stepdaughter, and Sienna had chosen to move back to Yew Tree House to live with him so that had to count for something.

“Sienna thinks she was followed today,” I said and paused to wait for Steve’s reaction.

His expression was guarded and he looked away. “I see.”

I leaned forward, trying to see his face. “Has she mentioned being followed before?”

He exhaled a long breath and leaned back against the sofa cushions. “She keeps checking the doors and windows are locked and never wants to be alone, but she didn’t tell me anyone was following her. What exactly happened? Did you see anything?”

I shook my head. “No, she phoned me and came to the hotel. She’d been out with friends, and they’d separated. Sienna decided to walk home that’s when she saw a man following her.

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