Hotel Ladd Read Online Free PDF Page B

Seven-thirty a.m., but the diner was already serving a
half-packed restaurant. Black and white checkered floors were
spotless, red vinyl booths gleamed. Guilt threaded through her.
Fran and the dinner crew must have stayed late to fill in for the
two missing bodies last night. If she’d thought about it, Annie
would have come and helped clean up after the dinner crowd herself,
but truth be known, she’d been in no condition to go anywhere last
night. Casey’s disappearance was shredding her last
nerve.
    Venturing toward the back, Annie picked
out Fran’s red hair without effort. Tucked within the confines of a
sheer hair net, the bright-colored hair dye echoed the booths, the
stools, practically everything in the restaurant. But red was Fran
and Fran was red—firecracker red, most days—in both style and
temperament.
    Fran sailed out of the kitchen, a tray
loaded with orange juice and coffee in hand. “Well? What did the
child have to say for herself?”
    “ Nothing,” Annie replied. An
uncomfortable feeling lodged tightly in the pit of her
stomach.
    Fran’s penciled brow rose sharply.
“Nothing?” Her gaze shot to the ceiling. “Well, butter my butt and
call me a biscuit, that child has no sense of obligation,” she
said, breezing by Annie en route for her table destination. Annie
smiled grimly and watched her aunt deliver the beverages, jot down
an order and return with a severe look of displeasure etched across
her usually cheerful brown eyes. “What’s a matter with her, Annie?
Doesn’t she know I was relying on her?”
    “ Casey’s gone,
Fran.”
    Her expression fell. “Gone?”
    Annie nodded and tears pushed behind
her eyes, a rush of angst peppering her chest. “I think she ran
away.”
    Concern swamped Fran’s eyes
with a doe-like distress. “Oh, darlin’ no .”
    She nodded again, but this
time there were no words. Standing near the breakfast counter,
Annie slumped to a seat. Casey had run away. It was a smack in the
face to her mother, her aunt, and everything that spelled home.
Casey wanted none of it. She had rejected those who cared about her
most and did so without the first scribble of a note. Annie only
wished she knew where Casey went. Where did
she have to go, anyway ?
    “ Oh, sugar.” Fran eased
heavily to a stool beside her, instantly ejecting the needs of her
restaurant in favor of her family. “Are you sure?”
    More sure than she cared to admit.
Annie took a deep breath and calmed herself as best she could. “I
found a suitcase missing, her drawers were empty, her car gone.”
The last observation hit home in Fran’s gaze. She had purchased the
used car for Casey to encourage her independence—not enable her
escape.
    Fran wiped a hand across her forehead,
a common tension pulling between the women. Underlying the initial
shock of a teenager’s rebellion, both understood the consequences
could have ramifications Casey might not have considered. “Have you
called around? Are you certain?”
    “ I’m certain. But I don’t
know where to go from here. Where do I begin to search for a girl
who’s up and left without a note? I have nothing to go on.” And it
was killing her. Not only had her child left her, Annie didn’t know
of any friends to reach out to. Other than Jimmy, Annie came up
empty. She felt helpless. A heap of failure.
    Hot tears sprang to her eyes and rolled
down her cheeks. Fran kicked into “fix-it” mode, rubbing a hand up
and down Annie’s back. “Don’t you fret, Annie Grace. We’ll find
her. She couldn’t have gone far in that tin can I bought her.” But
the wise crack fell flat. Annie knew Fran was just as worried as
she beneath her façade of bravado. In reality, Fran didn’t know any
more than Annie did about how to find Casey, but she wouldn’t let
it show. She had a restaurant to run, customers waiting. It was the
same determination she showed when her husband Deacon died. One day
he was here, next day he was gone, third day Fran buried