Search for Her Read online

  Praise for the novels of Rick Mofina

  “Their Last Secret is Rick Mofina at his edge-of-your-seat, can’t-stop-turning-the-pages best as he dives deep into questions of truth, justice, and ultimately redemption. A riveting, moving read.”

  —Lisa Unger, New York Times bestelling author of The Stranger Inside

  “Well-developed characters and an intense pace add to this gripping novel. This latest from a gifted storyteller should not be missing from your reading pile.”

  —Library Journal (starred review) on Missing Daughter

  “Rick Mofina’s books are edge-of-your-seat thrilling. Page-turners that don’t let up.”

  —Louise Penny, #1 New York Times bestselling author

  “A pulse-pounding nail-biter.”

  —The Big Thrill on Last Seen

  “Six Seconds should be Rick Mofina’s breakout thriller. It moves like a tornado.”

  —James Patterson, New York Times bestselling author

  “Six Seconds is a great read. Echoing Ludlum and Forsythe, author Mofina has penned a big, solid international thriller that grabs your gut—and your heart—in the opening scenes and never lets go.”

  —Jeffery Deaver, New York Times bestselling author

  “The Panic Zone is a headlong rush toward Armageddon. Its brisk pace and tight focus remind me of early Michael Crichton.”

  —Dean Koontz, #1 New York Times bestselling author

  “Rick Mofina’s tense, taut writing makes every thriller he writes an adrenaline-packed ride.”

  —New York Times bestselling author Tess Gerritsen

  Also by Rick Mofina

  THEIR LAST SECRET

  THE LYING HOUSE

  MISSING DAUGHTER

  LAST SEEN

  FREE FALL

  EVERY SECOND

  FULL TILT

  WHIRLWIND

  INTO THE DARK

  THEY DISAPPEARED

  THE BURNING EDGE

  IN DESPERATION

  THE PANIC ZONE

  VENGEANCE ROAD

  SIX SECONDS

  Other books by Rick Mofina

  A PERFECT GRAVE

  EVERY FEAR

  THE DYING HOUR

  BE MINE

  NO WAY BACK

  BLOOD OF OTHERS

  COLD FEAR

  IF ANGELS FALL

  BEFORE SUNRISE

  THE ONLY HUMAN

  RICK MOFINA

  Search for Her

  This book is for my favorite sister-in-law.

  There, it’s out there, Lynn.

  Contents

  Quote

  Day 1

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Chapter Thirteen

  Chapter Fourteen

  Chapter Fifteen

  Chapter Sixteen

  Chapter Seventeen

  Chapter Eighteen

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chapter Twenty

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Day 2

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Chapter Twenty-Seven

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Chapter Thirty

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Chapter Thirty-Eight

  Chapter Thirty-Nine

  Chapter Forty

  Chapter Forty-One

  Chapter Forty-Two

  Chapter Forty-Three

  Chapter Forty-Four

  Day 3

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Chapter Forty-Seven

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  Chapter Fifty

  Chapter Fifty-One

  Chapter Fifty-Two

  Chapter Fifty-Three

  Chapter Fifty-Four

  Day 4

  Chapter Fifty-Six

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  Chapter Fifty-Nine

  Chapter Sixty

  Chapter Sixty-One

  Chapter Sixty-Two

  Chapter Sixty-Three

  Chapter Sixty-Four

  Chapter Sixty-Five

  Chapter Sixty-Six

  Day 5

  Chapter Sixty-Eight

  Chapter Sixty-Nine

  Chapter Seventy

  Chapter Seventy-One

  Chapter Seventy-Two

  Chapter Seventy-Three

  Chapter Seventy-Four

  Chapter Seventy-Five

  Chapter Seventy-Six

  Chapter Seventy-Seven

  Chapter Seventy-Eight

  Chapter Seventy-Nine

  Chapter Eighty

  Chapter Eighty-One

  Chapter Eighty-Two

  Chapter Eighty-Three

  Chapter Eighty-Four

  Chapter Eighty-Five

  Chapter Eighty-Six

  Chapter Eighty-Seven

  Chapter Eighty-Eight

  Chapter Eighty-Nine

  Chapter Ninety

  Chapter Ninety-One

  Chapter Ninety-Two

  Chapter Ninety-Three

  Chapter Ninety-Four

  Chapter Ninety-Five

  Epilogue

  Acknowledgments & A Personal Note

  I am afraid of all my sorrows, I know that thou wilt not hold me innocent.

  Job 9:27–29

  DAY 1

  One

  California / Nevada

  Watching flat, desert scrub and distant mountains drifting by her window, Grace Jarrett reflected on her life.

  You think you’re in control, but you’re not.

  You never know what’s coming.

  It was strange, she thought, you meet the perfect man, get married and have a daughter. You’re living your dream, believing it will last forever then you blink and you’re a widowed, single parent and your world goes dark.

  Then you meet an understanding man, who, with his teenage son, has also experienced a painful loss. You fall in love, get married, come together as a blended family and you see light again.

  Grace turned to her husband, John Marshall, behind the wheel of their RV as they traveled north on Interstate 15, a few hours south of Las Vegas.

  He’s a good guy.

  We may not be a perfect family, if such a thing exists, but we’re doing our best.

  Now, after two years of marriage, Grace and John, along with her daughter and his son, were facing a new challenge together: moving across the country to Pennsylvania.

  It wasn’t easy, especially for Riley, her fourteen-year-old daughter, who had just broken up with her boyfriend at Grace’s insistence.

  Ever since they left San Diego that morning at dawn, Riley had sobbed softly, her face welded to her phone as she exchanged messages nonstop with her friends
. With each mile Grace still grappled with whether their move from California, where she and Riley had always lived, was the right one.

  But that decision was behind them.

  After discussing it with Grace, John had accepted a new job as communications director with a Fortune 500 retail company in Pittsburgh. It meant more money than what he was earning as public relations manager at the clothing chain in San Diego, where things had not been going well for him. Grace would leave her job at the University of California, San Diego Medical Center, transfer her RN license and, because of her qualifications, stood a good chance at getting a position at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

  “This will be a new start for us,” John had said.

  The idea excited Grace and despite her uncertainties, she agreed, reasoning that it was best to take control of their future.

  At the outset the move meant a new, fully furnished house in Pittsburgh that John’s company would lease to them for a year, giving them time to find a home, or renew. For John and his son, Blake, it meant the Steelers, the Pirates and the Penguins. Grace had only been to Pittsburgh once, years ago for a conference, and she’d liked the Carnegie and Warhol museums.

  For the kids the move meant new schools, which was why they were making the trek now, to get them enrolled.

  It also meant leaving mild Southern California winters for snow and cold.

  It meant severing ties with San Diego, leaving good friends, selling their beautiful home in Mission Hills where Grace had lived with Tim, her first husband, the home in which Riley grew up.

  For Riley, the move was an emotional amputation of everything she’d known in her life, and in a sense, for her, it was a betrayal of her father’s memory.

  Grace got that. John got that.

  This move was hard for all of them.

  For Blake, it meant leaving the life he’d known in California where his mother and sister had died tragically together. But if Blake had concerns about moving he never voiced them. At seventeen, after all the adversity he’d endured, Blake was patient and uncomplaining. At times he could be quiet, withdrawn, as if he had something on his mind.

  Like now, Blake, like Riley, was also lost to his phone.

  Grace and John exchanged glances.

  So far this trip was not what they’d envisioned.

  “Come on guys,” John said, “you haven’t looked away from your phones since we left.”

  No one responded.

  “We’re all sad to leave San Diego,” John said. “We got this RV to see America as a family, not to watch your screens. Come on, guys, get with the program.”

  No answer.

  John continued. “So like we planned, we’ll stop in Vegas for a bit then we’ll see the Grand Canyon. What do you think?”

  Silence.

  John let out a long breath, glanced in the mirror. Blake was at the dinette, Riley at the sofa. Both were indifferent.

  “Guys—” Grace turned to the kids “—this is our chance to make some memories. You’re missing the mountains and the valleys. It’s majestic.”

  “It’s pretty boring,” Riley said to her phone.

  “Look—” John pointed to the pencil-like tower ahead of them “—we’re coming up to Baker with the World’s Tallest Thermometer. We can stop, take pictures. It’ll be fun. What do you say?”

  “Whatever,” Blake said.

  “Don’t care,” Riley said.

  Grace got out of her seat, went to Riley and Blake and snatched their phones.

  “Hey!” Blake said.

  “What the hell, Mom?” Riley said.

  The air tensed.

  “Your dad and I are trying hard to make something of this trip with you, but you’ve shut us out. You’re being rude.” Grace dropped back into her seat, turned off each phone. She thrust them into the glove compartment, fished keys from her bag and locked it. “Now, we’ll spend the rest of the drive to Las Vegas enjoying the views.”

  “This sucks!” Riley said.

  Minutes later, they passed Baker without stopping or speaking.

  Riley folded her arms across her chest, pondered her new moon and stars bracelet, then said, “You’ve lost your freaking mind, Mom. Give me my phone!”

  “No, we’re going to enjoy this trip.”

  “Enjoy? Seriously?” Riley’s voice quavered. “You made me break up with Caleb. You made me leave Sherry and all my friends, all the people I love! I’ll never see them again! How am I supposed to ‘enjoy’ that?”

  “I’m sorry, honey,” Grace said. “You’ll make new friends, I promise.”

  “Riley, it’ll be better once we get settled in Pittsburgh,” John said.

  “No, it won’t. You’re tearing me away from my life. You’re both so cold and heartless!”

  “Riley, stop,” Grace said. “We’ve been over all of this.”

  Brushing at her tears, Riley caught Blake looking at her, narrowed her eyes and flipped him her middle finger.

  “Screw this!” Riley stood. “Why’d we leave so freaking early, like farmers? I’m going to sleep.”

  She stomped into the bedroom at the rear, slamming the privacy door behind.

  “Riley!” John called.

  “Let her go.” Grace turned to her window, massaged her temple while looking at nothing.

  John looked at the road ahead.

  Blake stared into the desert.

  The tires hummed.

  * * *

  An hour later, they crossed into Nevada at Primm, a cluster of casinos, restaurants and hotels.

  Depending on your direction on the I-15, it offered your first chance, or last, to test your gambling luck in Nevada.

  “Want to stop here?” Grace asked.

  “Let’s keep going. There’s a new place I read about a couple miles ahead,” John said.

  A few miles north of Primm they pulled into the Silver Sagebrush, a truck stop busy with rigs wheeling in and out from the interstate, gears grinding, air brakes hissing. Dozens more filled the lot while other vehicles parked in different sections.

  “This is massive,” Grace said.

  “Wow, it’s wild,” Blake said.

  John found a spot in a far corner, partially shaded by palms. He parked and turned off the engine.

  “Blake, wake up Riley,” John said.

  “No. Let her sleep.” Grace reached for her bag. “I’ll leave a note. We’ll get her something and bring it back.”

  John rubbed his chin as if ready to challenge his wife’s decision, but yielded. Grace jotted down a note, stuck it to the inside door handle, then she left with Blake and John, who locked the RV’s door. They walked across the immense lot to the main building, a colossal glass and glazed brick structure in an art deco motif. The Stars and Stripes, county, state and corporate flags flapped from poles that reached high above the entrance, which was landscaped with cacti, violets and pink roses.

  About a half hour later, they returned.

  “I can’t get over how big the place is,” Grace said.

  “It’s epic,” Blake said.

  “It’s something all right,” John said before he entered the four-digit PIN on the RV’s keypad. They got in and prepared to leave.

  “Blake,” Grace said, buckling her seat belt, “would you go back and check on Riley, please?”

  Blake went to the back then returned, just as John started the engine.

  “She’s fine.” Blake flopped back into his place at the dinette.

  John shifted the transmission and they resumed heading north on the interstate.

  “We’re not far from Vegas.” John bit into an apple.

  Grace nodded, resumed watching the sweeping views. Sipping her diet soda, anticipating how trying life was going to be for Riley in Pittsburgh. Grace then thought of he
r friend Sherry, Tim’s former colleague at work, and how good she had been to Grace and Riley in the time after Tim’s death. Already missing her, Grace thought how she could use Sherry’s help now.

  I’ve got to be more patient with Riley. She’s got a lot to deal with.

  They’d gone less than ten miles past Jean, Nevada, when Blake, sitting alone at the window of the dinette, had finished his bag of chips and Coke.

  “Grace, do you think I could have my phone back?”

  “Just hang tough, son,” John said. “We’ll be in Vegas soon.”

  “Would you go get Riley?” Grace asked, pulling Riley’s favorite drink and snack, pecan tarts, out of the bag from the truck stop.

  Blake hesitated but then got up from the dinette, went to the back and knocked softly on the privacy door to the bedroom.

  “Riley?”

  He knocked again, louder.

  There was no response.

  He tried the door, expecting it to be locked but to his surprise he slid it open to reveal an empty room.

  Cursing to himself, he knocked on the adjoining bathroom door and it swung open.

  Empty.

  “She’s not here!”

  Two

  Nevada

  “What do you mean she’s not there? You just saw her!”

  Grace hurried to the back, looked at the empty bedroom and bathroom then checked the bunk over the cab.

  Empty.

  Grace glared at Blake, his face reddening as she raised her voice to him: “You said she was fine!”

  “I’m sorry, Grace—I lied.”

  “Why?”

  “I figured she was sleeping. I didn’t want to wake her and piss her off more!” Tears stood in his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  “Oh my God! She must’ve gotten out at the truck stop. John! Didn’t you lock the door?”

  “You can get out from the inside—she’s not there?”

  “Go back to the truck stop. Turn around!”

  “Okay, okay!”

  He searched the interstate’s three lanes of northbound traffic, scanning the concrete barrier dividing three lanes of southbound traffic, failing to find a safe place to reverse their direction.

  “I’m so sorry,” Blake said.

  Grace flashed her palm at Blake. “Why didn’t we see her in the truck stop?” she shouted to John.