Free After She's Gone by Lisa Jackson Page A

Mom.”
    “You’re sure?” the woman asked, biting the edge of her lip. “I’m going to Seattle to see my great-grandson. Just born two weeks ago. I don’t want to miss my flight.” Her expression changed. “You look familiar, oh, I know, like that actress . . . oh, what’s her name?”
    “Jenna Hughes,” Cassie said automatically. She’d heard the same remark time and time again. No one remembered her endeavors, but her mother was a different story.
    “That’s who it is!” She stared at Cassie long and hard. “A shame about her. So much tragedy in her life.” She clucked her tongue as they passed a kiosk filled with University of Oregon Ducks clothing and paraphernalia. “Now I see it. Concourse A and B. Thank you!”
    With a wave of the hand clutching the boarding pass, she hurried off, joining the flow of other travelers pulling roller bags and hauling large totes toward the A Concourse.
    “Cassie? Where are you?” Jenna demanded, an edge of panic in her voice. “The airport.”
    She’d hoped to keep that tidbit of information under wraps. For now. “Look, Mom, I gotta go. I’m fine.”
    “What’re you doing at the airport?”
    “I’m going home.”
    “But your home’s here . . . no, wait a minute. You’re heading to LA?”
    “I need my car and personal things,” Cassie said as she threaded through the throng milling around security on her way to her gate.
    “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”
    No, I’m not positive of anything. “Pretty sure.”
    A beat. “I would’ve come with you.”
    That’s just what you need. Jenna wringing her hands, coming up with different ideas, her worry infecting you. “Aren’t you in the middle of production of a play or something?” Ever since moving to Oregon, Jenna had helped out at the local theater, which Cassie thought was about as boring as it could get. Putting on plays in Falls Crossing, Oregon?
    “Cassie,” her mother reproached.
    “And you’d have to leave Shane—”
    “Cassie!” More sharply this time. “Nothing’s more important than you and Allie, you know that.”
    She did know it, but right now, it wasn’t enough. “Look Mom, I’m about out of battery for the phone. I’ll call you once I touch down and power up.”
    “Cassie—”
    “Later.” She clicked off. She didn’t have time to deal with Jenna or anyone else, for that matter. She was going to LA. Alone. And damn it, she was going to get some answers about her missing sister.

CHAPTER 6
     
    S omeone was following her! All the way to Southern California.
    Cassie had experienced the eerie feeling in the baggage claim area of LAX and then again, while waiting for a cab. Unseen eyes had followed her every movement.
    Someone watching.
    Someone waiting.
    Her paranoia kicking into overdrive.
    Don’t buy trouble, she told herself, as she was dropped at her apartment without anyone accosting her. Remember: It’s all in your head.
    She watched the taxi pull from the curb, then walked around the huge stucco mansion to a private walkway. Still unnerved, she passed a manicured hedge then she hurried up the tiled steps to her apartment. After unlocking the door she stepped inside the space she’d rented for the past two years. Only then did she breathe a sigh of relief.
    A quick look inside told her everything was as she’d left it except that now a fine layer of dust covered the coffee tables and counters. The potted ficus tree near the slider had given up the ghost, judging from the dry leaves littering the floor. Spiders had nested near the shower and the interior was sweltering, the air stale.
    She’d thought she would feel some tug on her heartstrings upon returning, but found she couldn’t grab her things and get out fast enough. The charm of this little one-bedroom unit, once a nanny’s quarters tucked into an Old California–style home with arched hallways, red tile roof, and wrought-iron accents, was now lost on her. What had once been her haven, a place