Chapter Ten

Sylvia motioned Brent toward the kitchen. "What do you want to drink?"

Brent followed her through the swinging doors into the starkly clean room, bright and buzzing with fluorescent lights. He took a perfunctory look around, noting with a grim smile of bemusement the D.A.R.E. poster on the refrigerator advertising it as a drug-free zone. A selection of bottles was displayed on the counter by the sink, and after perusing them for a minute, he reached for a bottle of Glenmorangie. "This is high quality stuff. Business must be good."

"Beats the hell out of that rot-gut we used to drink. I feel almost establishment some days." Sylvia took a glass out of the cabinet, put a few ice cubes in it and handed it to Brent. "So what made you think Elise would be here, of all places?"

"She's disappeared. We did a little research and your place seemed like a likely place to find her."

"What on earth would make you think that?"

Brent poured himself a drink and took a solid hit off it before answering. "We read some emails that suggested you were offering her a place to stay, and we found your address and phone number at her office."

"Pretty scanty evidence," Sylvia observed as she poured a glass of merlot.

"It's all we had."

"What do you mean, it's all you had?"

Brent scanned her face. "You know, in spite of the fact Elise obviously isn't here, I think you do know where she is. I wish you'd quit playing games with me."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sylvia said placidly. "But I'm curious why you and her husband are going to so much trouble, running around in the storm, climbing fences and ripping up your clothes just to find her since you seem to think she left of her own free will."

"Because she's gone. Isn't that enough?" Brent found a metal stool and pulled it up to the counter.

"What's it to you? I know you were sort of taken with her back in the day, but we're grownups now. We're supposed to be over all that."

Brent examined his drink and jiggled the ice cubes. "I guess only some of us are."

"Don't tell me you're still clinging to some adolescent fantasy that you love her. You haven't been sleeping with her, have you?" Sylvia's eyes lit up with amusement. "After all these years, did she finally give in? And here I thought you couldn't fuck a woman you actually respected."

Brent set down his half-empty glass. "I can sleep with a woman and respect her, too. Geez, was I really that bad?"

"Yes."

"Well, things change. Maybe I love her. I know I'd do anything in the world for her."

"Sounds like it." Sylvia topped off Brent's drink, then took a quick taste of it before returning to her wine. "You must really be whipped if you're helping her husband. What's all that about? If you love her so much, what are you doing hanging around him?"

Brent looked at his glass. "I feel guilty," he murmured. "I don't know what I did, but I'm pretty sure I have something to do with why she's gone. Finding her is the only way I can make up for that."

"You always were an egotistical little fuck. Everything has something to do with you, doesn't it?" Sylvia considered. "So you're willing to give her back to her husband for the sake of her own happiness, just like in 'Casablanca.'" She reached for the merlot bottle. "Since when were you a romantic? Didn't you use to brag that one woman was as good as another?"

"Please don't remind me. I was young and stupid then."

"And stupid, still, from the sound of it."

"You'll never understand, Sylvia."

"You're probably right. You never made the least bit of sense to me. If Elise hadn't been so fond of you, I'd have kicked your ass, rather than let you hang around me and my friends. At least you were always good for a buck or two."

"Nice to know you thought I was good for something."

She shook out her hair. "What makes you think Elise wants to be found by either one of you?"

"Nothing."

"I see." She squinted hard at her glass, dipped a finger into her wine and picked out a bit of cork. Satisfied, she wiped her hand on her jeans. "The fact that she took off ought to make it pretty clear she doesn't want anything to do with either one of you guys. Why don't you just let her be?"

"Because what Elise pretends to want and what she really wants are often two different things. I think deep down she might be hoping we find her. As long as there's that chance, I'm going to keep looking."

Sylvia gave him an indulgent pat on the knee. "You've obviously seen too many movies. Since when did you cast yourself in the role of the self-sacrificing hero? It isn't like you, and it sure isn't becoming."

She set her empty glass on the counter and took a few steps toward the kitchen door. "I need to get back to my guests. I've got a business to run, you know. Don't stay all night in here." She put a hand, heavy with silver rings, on the door frame. "Come out into the living room and be sociable, okay?" She pushed through the swinging door, leaving Brent alone in the kitchen.