Vanish in Plain Sight by Marta Perry

you work there. As for the woods, nothing could be easier. There are acres of woods behind our place. I’ll have Link show you around and help you find just the right spot.”
    Link, and that inexplicable flash of attraction between them that she’d been trying to deny since it happened.
    “That’s very generous of you, but you don’t need to bother Link with it. I’m sure I can find something suitable without his help.”
    “You could. But it would be a blessing if you’d do this for me.”
    Marisa was so startled she couldn’t speak, but Geneva plunged on.
    “He’s been so preoccupied ever since he got out of the army hospital. He doesn’t think about anything but finishing that house and going away.” Geneva blinked rapidly, as if to hold back tears. “He used to be so outgoing, charming and laughing and never serious for more than a minute at a time. Now he doesn’t talk, doesn’t laugh, doesn’t seem interested in anything.”
    “I’m sorry.” Her throat tightened. She’d guessedthere had been something wrong with him. Now she knew. “Was he injured?”
    Geneva nodded. A tear spilled over, and she dashed it away. “In Afghanistan. Link was with an engineering unit. They were rebuilding a school that had been destroyed, and there was a terrible accident. Well, not an accident. It was blown up.” Geneva blotted tears again and gave a shaky laugh. “If he could hear me now, he’d be furious with me. But you know, as sad as it is, finding that suitcase seems to have brought him back to life. I don’t want him to slip away again. You understand, don’t you?”
    Marisa nodded. “I do. I’m sorry. But I don’t see how—”
    “How a walk in the woods will help?” Geneva finished for her, smile flashing through her tears. “Believe me, I’m thankful for every little thing that pulls my son out of his shell. Even a walk in the woods.”
    Marisa couldn’t imagine that her presence and her problems were any antidote for Link’s ills, which sounded very serious indeed. But she could hardly refuse.
    “Of course I’ll do it, but Link may not agree.”
    “Don’t worry about that,” Geneva said. “I’ll handle him.”
    Somehow she didn’t doubt that she would. She was beginning to feel that Geneva Morgan, in spite of her charming, insubstantial manner, was a force to be reckoned with.
     
    B Y THE TIME L INK HAD dropped Marisa off, it had been time for lunch, so he’d stopped at home, mainly because it seemed to please his mother to feed him. Then he took off on his deferred errands at the hardware store and the lumber yard.
    He glanced at his watch when he got back to what had been Uncle Allen’s house and was now his. Late afternoon, and most of the workday gone, thanks to his getting involved in Marisa Angelo’s troubles. Too late to start anything time-consuming now, but he could unload and organize his work for the next day.
    He pulled around to the back and began lugging supplies onto the back porch. He’d barely made a dent in the job when Trey’s truck pulled up behind him and Trey slid out.
    “Looks like you could use a hand.” Trey grabbed the end of a two-by-four as Link swung it out. “Is all this for the family room?”
    “Most of it. Thanks.” He hated admitting weakness, but the truth was, by this time of the day it was all he could do not to resort to the pain pills the doctor insisted on giving him. “I need to fix a couple of the upstairs windows. The sills are nearly rotted through.”
    “I figured as much.” Trey helped him carry a sheet of paneling. “Toward the end, Uncle Allen didn’t seem to care much about anything, including the house. Just shut himself up in his study with his books.”
    Link nodded, leaning against the porch rail for a moment’s respite. “He always was kind of that way, wasn’t he? Liked his own company better than anyone else’s.”
    “Yeah, but this was even more so.” Trey took off his ball cap, wiped his forehead and put it