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happened to her. But she hasn’t come up with any new information, either.”
    â€œHow do you know she hasn’t come up with any new information? Maybe she didn’t bother telling you because she thought you wouldn’t pay attention.”
    â€œOh, she knows we’d pay attention. She’s engaged to the captain. If she found out anything important, she wouldn’t give him any peace until he followed up on it.” He glanced at her. “So you see, we’re on the same side here. And maybe we’ll find out something useful today—provided your sister wasn’t staying with a friend, or camping out.”
    â€œLauren definitely isn’t the camping type, and I couldn’t find that she knew anyone here in town— except Mr. Prentice.”
    â€œWe’ve been watching his place pretty closely and we haven’t seen any sign of your sister there.”
    She tensed, and leaned toward him. “Why are you watching Mr. Prentice? Is it because he’s...what was the word the other officer used—an agitator?”
    Prentice liked to agitate all right, but Rand didn’t care so much about that. Part of wearing a uniform was knowing some people didn’t like you on principle. “Mr. Prentice’s estate is an inholding, completely surrounded by public land. It makes sense for us to keep an eye on his place.” He hoped that was enough to satisfy Sophie’s curiosity. He couldn’t tell her they suspected the billionaire was using his wealth for more than investing in real estate and businesses. Their investigations had linked him, albeit tenuously, to everything from drug runners to foreign terrorists. Sooner or later, the Rangers were going to find the evidence they needed to make him pay for his crimes.
    â€œHow many motels and hotels are there in the area?” Sophie’s question pulled Rand’s attention back to her, and today’s search for her missing sister.
    â€œA bunch,” he said. “But we can narrow the field by focusing on the most likely places for your sister to stay. She strikes me as a classy woman, so we can move the obvious roach motels to the bottom of the list. Where do you think she’d be?”
    She considered the question for a moment, brow furrowed and lips pursed. “She’d probably pick the first nice-looking place she came to when she drove into town. She wasn’t the type to spend a lot of time driving around, looking.”
    â€œThat would be either the Country Inn or the Mountain View.”
    â€œNo chains?” she asked.
    â€œWould your sister prefer a chain? There’s a Holiday Inn and a Ramada closer to the center of town.”
    â€œNo, she wouldn’t care about that, as long as the place looked clean.”
    He drove to the Country Inn first. Red geraniums bloomed in window boxes against rows of white-framed windows trimmed in white shutters. A water wheel turned in a flower-lined pond near the entrance, splashing water that sparkled in the sun. “Lauren would have liked this,” Sophie said.
    Rand parked, but left the car running, with the air-conditioning on, to avoid overheating the dog. “Lotte, wait here,” he said. “We’ll be back in a minute.”
    â€œYou talk to her as if she understands you,” Sophie said as they crossed the parking lot.
    â€œOf course she understands me. Do you have a picture of your sister with you?”
    â€œYes.” She took her phone from her purse and flipped to a shot of Lauren Starling seated in a restaurant booth, smiling at the camera and holding up a colorful cocktail. “I took this when she visited Wisconsin for my birthday last year.”
    He didn’t miss the sadness in her voice. “It’s a great picture,” he said. “We’ll need it to show to the clerk.”
    The lobby of the motel was busy, with a couple flipping through brochures at one end of the counter, a