At Hidden Falls (Angel's Bay Novel) by Barbara Freethy Read Free Book Online Page A

moved toward her.
    She got to her feet, accepting his concerned embrace. “I’m not sure. We were just talking about what to do.” She stepped back, feeling a little awkward under Joe’s watchful eyes.
    “Apparently, Annie had a secret only Charlotte knew about,” her mother cut in.
    “What was that?” Andrew asked.
    Before she could reply, her mother jumped in. “One of the men asking to adopt the baby is the biological father.”
    Andrew’s eyes widened in shock. “Are you serious? Why didn’t you tell me, Charlie?”
    “It wasn’t my secret to tell,” she said again, seeing the same glint of anger in his expression as she’d seen on her mother’s face. “Annie is an adult. She has a right to privacy, a right to make her own decisions.”
    “Legally, she might be an adult, but emotionally, she’s a child,” Monica said sharply. “She needed you to be a counselor, not a co-conspirator, Charlotte.”
    “I told her that she needed to tell the truth,” Charlotte replied. “But Annie was torn. If she wasn’t going to raise the child, then she thought he might be better off with his biological father. She wasn’t sure she could give the baby to anyone else. But she was also uncomfortable going along with the lie.”
    “If you’d told me, I might have been able to help her make a good decision,” Andrew said quietly. “I am a trained counselor, Charlotte.”
    She saw the disappointment in his eyes, but she couldn’t feel guilty for keeping Annie’s confidence. Annie had been her patient as well as her friend.
    “What we need to do,” Joe said, cutting through the tension, “is retrace Annie’s steps and come up with a timeline of her activities the last few days. Right now, there’s no evidence of foul play. Everything points to her leaving of her own accord. At the moment, we’ll consider her a missing person, and I’ll put out an advisory to that effect. In the meantime, we’ll check with the market, see if she ever made it there, and I’ll have some of my officers speak to the neighbors, the shop owners, anyone who might have seen her on her walk. I’ll also contact the prospective parents. Maybe she’ll come back on her own. As for the baby—”
    “We’ll take good care of him,” Charlotte said quickly.
    “That’s fine for tonight. But if Annie isn’t home by tomorrow, I’ll need to contact Child Protective Services.”
    “I’m a licensed foster parent,” Monica said. “My husband and I took in a couple of children a few years back.”
    “I didn’t know that,” Charlotte said in surprise.
    “If you’d called or come home more often, you would have known,” her mother returned.
    “That should make things easier,” Joe said. “But let’s take this one step at a time.” He rose to his feet. “I’ll be in touch.”
    “I’ll walk you out,” Charlotte offered. She followed him out to the porch, shivering in the cool night air. “Thanks for coming so late, Joe. I know you’d probably rather have one of your officers handle this.”
    “I’m happy to take care of it. I owed you one.”
    “No, you didn’t. How was Isabella feeling when she got home?”
    “Tired and bruised but all right. She was on her way to bed when I left.”
    “That reminds me—I packed up some clothes for her, so she’ll have something to wear. She said she lost her suitcase and everything else she’d brought with her.” Charlotte stepped back into the house to retrieve the canvas bag she’d placed on the hall table. “It’s just a few things. I wasn’t sure if Rachel left any clothes at your house.”
    “No, she didn’t.” He took the bag from her hand. “I really appreciate this. You’re very generous. You never stop thinking of other people, even when you’ve got your own problems.”
    She sighed, wishing she were as unselfish as that. “Not true. Right now, I’m thinking about myself and how much I don’t want to go back into that living room. Andrew and my mother