A.L. Jambor - Where's Audrey? Read Online Free PDF Page B

should stick her head in the door and say goodnight. She decided if Vera wanted to say goodnight, she would, and went to the sofa.
    Before turning off the lights, she pulled out her phone. She had a text message from Deputy O’Keefe saying he’d gotten her message. He asked her to meet him in the parking lot at the sheriff’s office in the morning around ten. He signed it “Conner.”
    Mel called Laura to tell her she’d arrived safely, but Laura didn’t pick up her phone. Mel left a message on her voicemail and hung up.
    She looked at the time on her phone. It was eight o’clock. She couldn’t believe she was going to bed so early. Maybe it had something to do with spending the night in an over fifty-five park. Maybe something in the air made everyone go to bed early.
     

     
    When she woke the next morning, the gray tabby was asleep on her chest. She pushed it off and it protested, then she got up and brushed cat hair off her sleep shirt. She glanced at the clock on Vera’s cable box. It read seven. She had slept for eleven hours.
    Vera was at the kitchen table and saluted her with her coffee cup.
    “Good morning,” she said.
    “Hi,” Mel said.
    “You slept well. I slept well when I was your age. That’s the curse of old age. Now that you have the time to sleep in, you can’t.”
    “I was wiped out. Is there more coffee?”
    “I made a whole pot. I usually don’t, but I thought you might like some.”
    Mel went to the counter where the ancient Mr. Coffee sat. Vera had put a mug next to it for her and she filled it.
    “Milk and sugar are on the table,” Vera said.
    Mel sat and put sugar in her coffee. Vera seemed to have something on her mind.
    “I’m sorry for the things I said last night,” she said.
    “Oh, don’t worry about it.”
    “I do worry about it. I tend to live in the past and I promised myself this new year I would stop.”
    “Well, you have a few more days yet to make that resolution.”
    “True, but I still should have been more considerate. She is your aunt after all. And she has some good points.”
    “What are they?”
    “She is very intelligent. She is one of the most interesting people I’ve ever met. She had traveled all over the country.”
    “Really? I don’t think Nana Grace ever left New Jersey.”
    “No, she didn’t. Grace was happy to stay put. I always asked her to come and visit, but she always declined.”
    “I appreciate you letting me stay here. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t. The hotels are all booked.”
    “Christmas vacation is upon us. People are here getting a head start on the season.”
    “I know. A friend of mine is staying at a condo in Clearwater Beach. She asked me to join her, but until I find out what happened to Audrey, I can’t.”
    “What do you think happened to her?”
    “I don’t want to talk about what I think happened.”
    “Have you been to her home?”
    “Yesterday. And some guy is living there. He’s way too young for her.”
    Vera narrowed her eyes. “Vera preferred men her own age. She was never one to chase after gigolos.”
    “I don’t think he’s a gigolo, but I’m not sure what he is.”
    “What did he say when you asked where she was?”
    “He said she went on a cruise to Europe.”
    “Alone?”
    “No. With a friend from another park.”
    “It’s possible. Don’t you need a passport to travel to Europe?” Vera asked.
    “I don’t know. I guess you would, though, since you’re going over water that isn’t part of the United States.”
    “I may be wrong, but I don’t think Audrey had a passport.”
    “You said she traveled a lot.”
    “Yes, in the United States. There was something about her birth certificate. Oh, I wish I could remember.”
    “Nana mentioned something about that, too.”
    “Yes. Grace would have had the same problem. Maybe that’s why she never traveled.”
    “That’s what she said. They were both born in Cuba.”
    “They were twins.”
    “They were!”