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The Contessa is Missing

By Linda Siebold

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The Contessa Is Missing
Prologue
Tina Rice gathered her two boys in a weak hug. “I know you don’t want to be here with Grandpa and Grandma. It’s only for a little while. If your daddy hadn’t run out on us, we’d be fine. I’ll be back for you.”
“He don’t like us. And she don’t want us around. Why can’t we go with you?” Six-year-old Joshua Rice burst into tears.
“Quit being a baby.” Kevin, his older brother by two years, wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Like I told you we don’t need nobody. I’ll take care of him, Mama.”
Tina’s fingers slid the bedroom curtain in the old farmhouse to the side and gazed out into the dark and quiet night. She pulled the suitcase next to the baseboard and pushed up the wooden window. It arose a couple of inches, enough for her to put her hands underneath, and she forced it over the stop so she could to slide through. She sat on the sill and smiled back at them. Then, she grabbed the suitcase and dropped to the ground.
Kevin watched as she dug into her jean pocket. The glitter of Grandma’s car keys in her hands shined in the lamp light from the window.
She didn’t look back.
Loud voices woke the boys around dawn.
“The car is gone and so is the money from the can in the kitchen. I told you she was no good. As soon as I saw her show up I knew something like this would happen. She didn’t care for the farm even when she ran off the first time. I suppose she left her snotty nosed brats here too.”
Heavy footsteps pounded down the hall, and the bedroom door slammed open. Their grandpa burst inside the room with eyes blazing. Grandma followed behind him. “I told you!” He swung his arm back and knocked her against the wall.
She cried out. “No. Don’t hurt those boys. It’s not their fault.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” His voice shook. He turned back to her and raised his fist and slammed it into her cheek.
“Run, boys!” She yelled.
Kevin grabbed his little brother’s hand, and pushed him out the window. As he dropped to the ground beside him, his eyes searched for a place to hide. Grandpa was mad and would come after them because of Mama. The only place he come think of was the old barn.
They ran across the frozen ground in their bare feet. The rungs of the ladder into the hayloft were slippery and hard to see. Kevin boosted Joshua up and climbed right behind him. His body pushed against him.
“Go back into the corner. We need to get under the hay.” Kevin dug a hole in the loose hay and forced Joshua down against the floor boards. He flung hay on top. Then, he burrowed in beside him.
“I’m cold.”
“Don’t be such a baby. I’m cold too. We need to hide until Grandpa stops being mad. You don’t want him to beat you too, like he hit Grandma? Remember how it hurt when Daddy hit Mommy and then us.”
Joshua shivered and stayed quiet.
Loud voices pierced the early morning stillness. Then footsteps came closer. The screen door slammed.
“No, John. Leave them alone!”
The footsteps stopped. A scream followed. Then another.
“It’s bad, isn’t it?” Joshua covered his ears and huddled close to Kevin. “Is he going to kill her?”
Before Kevin could answer a gunshot rang out. Then all was still. Joshua shivered in the cold. “Stay here.” He moved the hay on top of him away and crept down the ladder. When he found his grandparents laying on the ground he yelled for Joshua to come.
“We’ve got to get out of here.”
As sirens sounded in the distance the boys returned to the house and dressed. A hunter found them in the woods a short time later. They grew up in foster care. Kevin understood there was no family left to take care of them.
Tina Rice never came back.

Chapter One
The tap of boots on the hardwood floor outside her door at R & S Retrievals shocked Selena Simmons-Carmichael Russell away from her list of things to accomplish before supper that night. The meat was ready for the grill; salads were made. All she had left to do was bake the chocolate sheet cake, Sam’s favorite.
R & S Retrievals staff were finally meeting for their late fall get-together. The other two partners, Matt and Michael, their families, and she and Sam made ten on the guest list. They were more than an agency; they were a family.
She set aside the Dormand file after making sure she’d emailed the results to the client. Background checks were routine, and whomever Mr. Dormand chose from the top three candidates for his new plant manager was well qualified. Knuckles tapped on her door, and she looked up to see Michael standing there.
“Can I bother you a minute?” Michael’s tall frame filled the doorway and his smoothly shaved head shone in the light. He strode across the oak floor, his eyes glistening.
“You never bother me. What’s up? A new case?” Selena felt her lips curl into a smile. Michael was the newest partner, and he was finally comfortable with her.
“No. I wanted to show you something.” He laid a small wooden box on the top of her desk.
“This looks like a treasure box, though it’s a smaller version of the one Pops made for Laura. Is that what it is?”
“I hope Angel considers it a treasure. Pops helped me build it.” Michael rubbed his hand over the box and the lid popped open to show an engagement ring glittering with a single diamond flanked by two sapphires. His eyes met hers. “I plan to ask her tonight at our party, if that’s alright.”
Selena bounced out of her chair and flew around the desk to launch herself into his arms. She’d watched their relationship sprout when Angel became his first client with R & S and grew when he helped find Angel’s daughter who’d been kidnapped by her non-custodial father and forced to soften the clients he was hired to kill. “Of course, you silly man. That’s awesome. You two are so good together. Does anybody else know?”
“Just you, Pops, and Laura. Pops was thrilled when I told him at the basketball game. Laura’s response was ‘Yeah. That’s alright, I guess. Do I really have to wear a dress?’”
“Don’t worry about the dress. Angel, Hailey, and I will find her one she’ll like. She’s fifteen.” Selena laughed. “She’ll be as excited as the rest of us.”
Michael palmed the box and closed the lid. “I’m going to cut out early to buy some roses before I pick up Angel. We’ll pick up Aunt Essie and Pops from the senior complex on the way. One of Laura’s teammate’s moms will drop her off.”
“Sam and I are headed home as soon as he finishes his call to the museum in Canton.”
~
The bell on the front door chimed when Selena picked up her purse and walked out of her office to meet Sam. An older lady, perfectly coiffed and bedecked with pearls, strutted into R & S and headed toward Sam’s office.
“May I help you?” Selena trotted toward her.
The woman peered over her stylish glasses at Selena. “No. I don’t think so. I’m here to see Sam Russell.”
“I’m Selena Russell, his wife. We’re about to leave for the day. Sam has no appointments scheduled for this afternoon.” Selena fought back the urge to show the rude woman the door. I wonder if she’d be so arrogant if she knew she was speaking to a contessa?
Sam stepped out of his office with his jacket over his arm, oblivious to what was going on. “You ready, honey?”
The woman bulldozed past Selena and greeted Sam with a wide smile.
A slow steam slid up Selena’s back.
“Mr. Russell, my name is Geraldine Montry of the Chicago Montrys. Perhaps you’ve heard of my husband, Paul? He is owner of the Montry Corporation. I want to engage your services to find my daughter, Patricia.”
“Sam—” Selena pointed at her watch.
“Could we find somewhere private to talk? I don’t believe your girl needs to hear our conversation.”
Selena’s face burned and the steam hiked up a notch. Girl?
The woman stepped around Sam, went into his office, and made herself comfortable in one of the chairs facing his desk. She set her designer bag on the floor by her feet.
Sam’s eyes widened, and he shrugged. He leaned against the door frame and winked before he strode to his desk.
Selena followed and listened with her arms tight against her.
“My daughter has been missing since she left my house two weeks ago. She was angry with me and hasn’t been back. I told her the young man she’d been seeing was unacceptable.”
I’d leave too if someone tried to run my life. The daughter must have had enough and declared her independence. Good for her. Gran loved and encouraged me all my life until the day she was murdered. I miss her so.
Selena bit her lip and rolled her eyes at Sam. “I need to make the sheet cake.” She mouthed.
Chocolate? He mouthed back.
She pointed at her watch again.
Sam licked his lips before sitting in his chair. He pulled a pad from the drawer and a pen from his pocket. “How old is your daughter, Mrs. Montry?”
“She just had her twenty-fourth birthday.”
“So, she’s an adult.” Sam stood, walked around his desk, and gestured toward the door. “I’m sorry but our agency doesn’t take cases like your daughter’s. We retrieve items like jewelry, family heirlooms, and art to their rightful owners. Your daughter doesn’t seem to be a missing person.”
The woman’s mouth opened, then clamped shut. She remained in the chair, crossing one nylon-covered leg over the other. “Someone told me you were the best agent around and your agency was first rate.”
“Thank you. We try to be.” Sam pointed toward the door again.
Selena glanced at her watch and huffed to the outer office desk where she’d laid her coat and purse. What were they going to have to do to get rid of the rude woman? Come on, Sam.
“I’ll pay you twice your going rate.”
Sam strode toward Selena. “We can’t help you. You’ll have to excuse my wife and me. We’re late for an appointment.”
The woman turned and smirked at Selena. “Three times your rate.”
“We’re not interested in your case. Please leave.” Selena emphasized each word.
Mrs. Montry uncrossed her legs, rose, and ambled to the outer office. She narrowed her eyes at Sam, ignored Selena, and disappeared out the door.

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