Free Beautiful Storm (Lightning Strikes Book 1) by Barbara Freethy Page A

on Friday night. Isabel has postponed her wedding plans until her sister comes home."
    "That's rough."
    "It is. I don't think her fiancé is too happy about it, but at this point it wouldn't be much of a celebration."
    "I suppose not. I would like to see where Liliana disappeared, Michael."
    The glint of steel in her eyes told him that she was not going to be dissuaded. "Fine, we'll go to Paladar."
    "Good." She paused. "There's something else I've wanted to ask you. Do you have a copy of the texts that you and Liliana exchanged?"
    "They were on the phone that the police confiscated, and I haven't gotten it back. I had to get a new phone."
    "Do you remember what they said?"
    "Pretty much. There were ten texts in total. The first two came in on Thursday asking me to meet her that night, but I didn't get back to her. I was tied up in meetings that day. The rest came in between eight AM Friday morning and one o'clock when I finally started answering texts. Liliana told me it was important that we get together. I asked why. She said she didn't want to get into it on the phone, but that it was urgent."
    "What did you think it was about?" Alicia asked.
    "I had no idea. She suggested we meet at Paladar. I resisted, because it's my father's restaurant, and I hadn't been there yet. Then she said, 'You've been back in Miami for a few weeks, and you still haven't eaten at your dad's restaurant? What is wrong with you? You need to break the ice, put the past behind you.' So I agreed. We set the time. She said great. Then she sent one more text asking me not to mention our meeting to anyone until I saw her. I thought that was odd, but I was busy, so I just said fine. That was it."
    "So she picked the location."
    "Yes. That didn't surprise me. She was always after me to call a truce with my dad. I used to tell her that I wasn't fighting with him, but she said a cold silent war didn't make it any less of a battle."
    "So you did talk to each other? I had the impression you hadn't spoken in years before you returned to Miami and she came home for the wedding."
    "We hadn't seen each other in person in eight years, but we'd exchanged texts and emails occasionally, maybe three to four times a year, but not much in the last twelve months. I knew she was an attorney, but I didn't know much else about her life in Texas, and she didn't know much about my life in New York. We'd drifted apart as childhood friends often do."
    Alicia nodded. "Which is why it was unusual that she was suddenly so intent on seeing you."
    "I really thought she just wanted to connect. We were both in the same place at the same time and that hadn't happened in forever."
    "But she did say that she had something important to talk to you about that she didn't want to get into over the phone."
    "True. I've never figured out what that was. No one in the Valdez family has a clue, either."
    "It is pretty cryptic," she admitted. "I need to think about it."
    "Think all you want. Believe me, I'm open to new ideas. You've already given me one new possible lead in Brad Harte. Who knows what you'll come up with next?"
    "I'm just asking questions—questions you've probably already answered a million times."
    "Not all the same questions," he said, thinking it was good Alicia was now in the mix. She was shaking things up, making him look at everything in a different way. She was like the strong wind that had come with yesterday's storm. She was blowing cobwebs off dusty old facts, and he was feeling more hopeful than he had in a very long time.
     
    * * *
     
    They arrived at Paladar just before two. There were only a half dozen cars in the lot, which wasn't unexpected since they were past the lunch rush.
    "Where was Liliana's car parked?" Alicia asked as they got out of the car.
    "Over there." He pointed across the lot to the third spot in from the entrance. It was about thirty yards from the front door of the restaurant. "Unfortunately, that spot is not in view of the security camera by the