She's Not There by P. J. Parrish

you.”
    “Where’s the car now?”
    “My insurance agent said it was towed back here last night. It’s in the police impound.”
    Since the police did not consider Amelia Tobias to be a missing person, Buchanan knew their initial search of the wrecked car had probably been cursory. He knew, too, that even the smallest clue could lead to something big. With no GPS, Amelia Tobias could have scribbled directions on a piece of paper. And if he could figure out where she had been going, maybe he could find out where she went. He would need to check out the car.
    “You said the police looked for your wife?” Buchanan asked.
    “Yeah, they searched the hospital and the neighborhood, but there was no sign of her,” Tobias said. “She has a brain injury, but they aren’t even looking for her now. My wife is missing and the fucking police won’t do a thing. Does that make any fucking sense to you?”
    The two women at the next table turned to stare. Tobias glanced at them and then picked up his glass and drained it.
    “Actually it makes perfect sense,” Buchanan said. “The way the police see it, if your wife was healthy enough to walk out of the hospital then she must be in good enough shape to make her own decisions, concussion or no concussion. And since she’s an adult, if she’s decided she wants to disappear, she has a right to do that.”
    Tobias’s blue-green eyes were fixed on him.
    “Does your wife have good reason to want to disappear, Mr. Tobias?”
    Tobias rose. “I don’t have to put up with this shit. We’re finished here.”
    “Sit down, Mr. Tobias.”
    Tobias glared at him.
    “Sit down. Please.”
    Tobias hesitated and then dropped back into the chair. He ran a hand over his sweating brow.
    “You want another drink?” Buchanan asked.
    Tobias shook his head slowly as he stared vacantly out over the patio. There was a faint roll of thunder, and Buchanan looked up to see storm clouds. The temperature was dropping, and the patio was emptying fast. In the small parking plaza fronting the bar, there was a fifty-foot fake Christmas tree. Its white lights blinked on, the reflection falling like glitter on the Bimmers, Audis, and Bentleys arranged like presents under the tree.
    “Let me tell you something about how I work,” Buchanan said.
    Tobias looked up.
    “I track down people who will do almost anything not to be found. I am very good at this because I am willing to do whatever it takes and go as far as necessary. I am a liar for hire. But I don’t bring back women who have a good reason to want to get away from their husbands.”
    “I would never hurt my wife,” Tobias said.
    Buchanan waited. It was always better to say nothing and let the silence slice away at the other person’s comfort level. Human nature abhorred a vacuum.
    “I need you to find her,” Tobias said.
    Again, Buchanan waited.
    “Mel wants to be found.”
    It came out almost in a whisper with a small break in the voice. Alex Tobias was a man with a hole somewhere deep inside him, that much was as easy to discern as the grassy perfume of the women at the next table. But there was something else there, something Buchanan’s senses were not quite picking up.
    “Okay,” Buchanan said. “I’ll take your case. I’ll find your wife.”
    Tobias met his eyes.
    “But this is how it works. All I do is find her and tell you where she is. The rest is up to you—and her.”
    Tobias nodded. “Thank you. That’s all I want.” He collapsed back in the chair, as if he had no air left in his lungs. “What’s the next step?” he asked.
    “You tell me everything you know about your wife,” Buchanan said.
    “Then what?”
    “Then we wait for her to make a mistake.”

CHAPTER NINE
    The headlights swept across the chain link fence, illuminating the big green sign— F ORT L AUDERDALE P OLICE V EHICLE I MPOUND .
    Buchanan leaned forward in the taxi’s seat and pushed a wad of bills through the plastic. “This is good,” he