A Wishing Moon Read Free

Rachel?”
    “ Kathy and Lea are gone—they’re just gone.”
    Rachel Townsend, her daughter Kathy, and granddaughter Lea lived about a half mile down the road, south toward Wimberley. Although Arabella had known Rachel for years, they were not close.
    “ Tell me everything,” she urged the distraught woman.
    “ May I come over, please?”
    “ Certainly, I will be waiting for you.” What is going on ? In times like this, she wished she possessed her mother’s gift of second sight. Elizabeth could pull information from out of the ether—especially things pertaining to her daughter. Her mother’s ability had plagued Arabella during her teenage years, for hiding anything from her parent was nearly impossible. The older she got, the more she realized being connected to someone else in that manner wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
    Rachel Townsend knew firsthand Arabella had gifts of her own. At one time, Arabella and Kathy had been friends, until Rachel forced Kathy to abandon their friendship because she felt Arabella’s beliefs were evil and dangerous. So based on their history, Arabella knew Rachel Townsend considered her situation to be desperate—or she would never have resorted to contacting the likes of Arabella Landry.
    Before her guest arrived, Arabella straightened a few things and set out another mug and some Morning Glory muffins she had made the day before. Southern hospitality had been ingrained in her very soul. Rachel didn’t have far to come, so she arrived a few moments later.
    Arabella met her at the front door and escorted the shaking woman to a comfortable seat in the living room. Rachel was a tall, lanky woman with perfectly coiffed brown hair. She grasped Arabella’s hands and looked her straight in the eye. “Something has happened to my child and my granddaughter, I just know it.”
    “ When did you last see them?” Arabella searched Rachel’s face for an ulterior motive, but saw only grief. She hated to be suspicious of Rachel, but the woman had dealt her a great deal of misery in years past.
    “ I saw them before I went to work yesterday morning.” Rachel Townsend worked as a real estate agent in Wimberley. Although the nation’s housing market was suffering, the area around Austin seemed somewhat immune, college towns usually were. Nevertheless, Rachel had always been a very successful businesswoman.
    “ Did you talk to her during the day?” Arabella knew Kathy had made the hard decision to live with her mother after a rather messy divorce and had been staying at home with her five-year-old daughter.
    “ She phoned me about ten o’ clock yesterday morning to tell me she and Lea were going out to look for Pumpkin, Lea’s little white poodle. I let the dog out for a bathroom run yesterday morning, and before I left I called and called…but the dog didn’t show up. You haven‘t seen him, have you?”
    “ No, I haven’t seen the dog, but I’ll keep an eye out for him. Have you notified the police yet?” Arabella thought she knew the answer to this question, but she asked anyway. She poured the pale woman a cup of coffee and motioned toward the sugar and cream.
    “ I called them, but not enough time has passed. Officer Myers said I would have to wait at least twenty-four hours before filing a missing persons report. Also, since Kathy is an adult, they have to consider she might’ve just picked up Lea and left. Arabella, I know something is wrong. I can feel it.”
    Sympathy welled up in her and the former reticence she felt melted away. She put her arm around the woman and hugged her, as Rachel Townsend broke down and cried.
    Not wanting to assume anything, especially considering their volatile history, Arabella carefully asked. “How can I help, Rachel?”
    Rachel straightened herself and wiped her eyes with a crisp cotton handkerchief she drew from her Dooney and Bourke bag. “I want you to do what you do—I want you to find Kathy and Lea.”
    “ Did you bring