Chapter Sixteen

As she was walking down the hall, she heard her name mentioned. She stopped, straining to hear the conversation.

"Are you sure?" came Sarah's voice from the family room.

"I had my suspicions the day she fell from the cliff. If she had asked about the building when we passed it, I might have figured she had never seen it, but she pretended she didn't notice. Then today when I couldn't find her . . ." He must have been moving, because his voice faded and then became clear again. " . . . found the window unlocked."

"Do you think she'll say anything?" Sarah asked.

There was a brief pause. "I don't know. Her friend called today. I thought . . ." His voice faded again. He must be pacing.

"What about this boy Allen who called yesterday?"

"I think that possibility has been eliminated. He . . ." mumbling, then something about Len and a cell phone.

"She'll be going to college next month. She'll be leaving then."

There was a long pause. "I don't intend to let her leave," Yancey answered gruffly.

Lisa put shaking fingers to her mouth to silence an involuntary cry. No wonder he didn't ask her to leave. What was it he said that day in the mountains . . . a body could be lost in those hills forever? Apparently her instincts had been correct when she suspected that he was trying to warn her. She should have listened then. And Sarah was involved? It was hard to believe sweet little Sarah would be involved with anything so sinister.