Free Beautiful Triad by Kate Watterson

looking for a missing woman?”
    “Yes, sir.” Short and freckled, his face ingenuous but his eyes holding a shrewd intelligence, the officer nodded. “Regina Heaton hasn’t been seen for two days, but her car has been found.”
    “We heard what could have been a scream night before last.”
    Drew straightened away from where he leaned against the wall by the front row of windows. “We thought it might be a bird and didn’t hear it again, so we didn’t think much about it.”
    “What time?”
    “Just after nine.” Rob remembered clearly enough because Lauren had abandoned her dinner and gone up to bed. He’d known then it was going to be a very long week, but that was before everything had changed.
    Before they’d made love the night before, which was indisputably the best sex of his life. He didn’t know if it was because it felt forbidden with Drew right there, because he knew she wanted it—like he did—even though they shouldn’t, or because he might be in love for the first time in his life.
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    Kate Watterson
    This was not going to be as simple as Drew thought it would be, and Rob knew Lauren felt that way, too. Maybe Drew was right, they thought differently, but then again, their lives were not a series of take-offs and landings in exotic places.
    “…if we need more information, we’ll be in touch.” The deputy stood, flipped the notebook shut, and nodded. “We appreciate the help. If you think of anything else, let us know, please.” He inched a card out of his pocket and handed it to Lauren.
    She accepted it. “Okay.”
    The sound of the patrol car starting as he left seemed to stir them all into activity. Lauren got up and said something about them cooking and how she should clean up. Drew watched her, his expression thoughtful as she walked to the kitchen. He glanced at Rob. “You go help her. I’m going to get our fishing gear together and put it all in the boat. I’ll just wait down there. If you two need a chance to talk, this might be a good time.”
    They probably did need to talk one on one about the new slant to their relationship; the one that had drastically changed for all three of them. “She seems pretty quiet.”
    “She liked it. It’s a problem for her.” Drew’s succinct assessment was made with a hint of humor. “Just like she couldn’t figure out why she was attracted to you in the first place, this isn’t easy to rationalize in her overly analytical brain. Which is why I am going to let you talk to her about it. For my part, I wasn’t jealous. I thought it was fun to see her enjoying herself with you. It was a turn on, in fact. I’ve come to terms with this. It’s you two who need to work on it.”
    Rob gave his friend a rueful smile. “Yeah, well, you like to oversimplify things, Fletcher.” The truth was, it had been arousing for him, too, to watch.
    Go figure.
    “Nope, I just don’t sit around thinking about details all the time.
    At any rate, I’m heading down to the boat. Come along once you’ve talked to Lauren. Take your time.”
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    Beautiful Triad
    59
    For someone who didn’t do a lot of analyzing, Drew had a pretty good grasp on things usually. Rob walked back to the kitchen and saw Lauren running water into the sink, the soapy egg pan in her hands.
    He said, “I can do that.”
    “No trouble. Breakfast was great.” She didn’t look up but rinsed it and set it aside. “That’s pretty frightening about the missing woman. I hope they find her soon. It’s so peaceful here.”
    “Maybe she’ll turn up safe and sound. That happens more often than the other way around.”
    “What about the scream?”
    “I’m not convinced it was one. If Drew and I really thought that, we’d have gone out there and checked it out, you know that. It was