Free Vanished (The Saved Series, A Military Romance) by Lorhainne Eckhart

he said just as Terri and Frank approached.
    “Could I see that picture again?” the homeless woman asked. The entire time, her pale brown eyes watched Eric.
    She held out a chapped , dirty hand, and Eric held out his wife’s photo. She took it and glanced from it to Eric before saying, “Frank, isn’t this the woman you said you found in here who had no coat and only slippers on her feet?” she asked. The man studied Eric, and the homeless woman said, “Frank, he’s not one of those.”
    “You ’d best to talk to Sister Carmen,” Frank said as he glanced at the photo the old woman held. “It could have been her, and she’d have been taken to the women’s shelter. No matter who you are, that shelter is to protect women. Doubt very much Sister Carmen will tell you where it is.”
    Eric wanted to reach out and shake the man. Maybe that was what showed as he stepped toward him, as Terri set her hand quickly on his chest and raised her eyebrows.
    “Eric , enough. We need to talk to Sister Carmen,” she said. When Eric didn’t move, she put herself between him and Frank and touched his arm, leading him down the hall. “Eric, look. Come on.”
    He walked with Terri , taken by the force and strength she had, considering she was such a tiny woman.
    “Look , don’t let him get to you. He’s trying to push your buttons,” she said.
    “He thinks I beat my wife ,” Eric snapped. He was walking down a narrow, dingy hall.
    Terri hesitated outside the only door that was slightly ajar. “He was trying to get you to react. He sees enough women fleeing from a bad place, husbands who only know how to use their fists.”
    Eric was furious , as that wasn’t him. He’d never laid a hand on Abby.
    Terri tapped on the door.
    “Come in ,” an older woman’s voice called out.
    Terri pushed open the door, greeted by the rear end of a large woman in tan slacks . She was bent over, rifling through papers or something in a box.
    “Excuse me ,” Terri said as she stepped in. Eric set his hand on the door, opening it wide.
    The woman didn’t give them her attention but pulled out some papers from the pile and started around the desk. “If you need a hand with anything, Frank is out in the kitchen.” She gestured absently with a pen and then slid on an older pair of glasses, something Eric hadn’t seen in twenty years. They were large and rimmed in plastic.
    Terri held up her badge. “Sister Carmen, I’m Terri Marks. I’m with NCIS. This is Captain Eric Hamilton.”
    The woman glanced up . Her short hair was a mix of gray and light brown, and she had hazel eyes. Her round face was free of any makeup. She was older, as her skin was translucent, with wrinkles here and there. “Can I help you?”
    “I’m looking for my wife.” Eric stepped forward and held up the photo. “Her name is Abby. We just had a baby, Charlie . That’s him in the picture.”
    Sister Carmen was watching him, and he realized she was sizing him up. Eric knew he needed her on his side, and he was going to make sure she understood the situation.
    “I found her two years ago in a war zone in a dinghy, ” he began, going on to explain the circumstances of Abby’s rescue. “We have a little girl, Rachel,” he added. “That’s her in the picture, too.”
    The nun was still watching him and saying nothing.
    “I thought she was going to be okay,” Eric said. He explained Abby’s odd behavior after Charlie was born, as well as his shock at hearing that she had left. “I think something happened,” he said. “Please… please, if you’ve seen her…” His throat started to close up as he continued to hold Abby’s photo in front of Sister Carmen’s face.
    S he stared at the photo and back at Eric before reaching for the picture. This time, she really looked. “You love this woman, your wife?” She held on to the photo and seemed to relax a bit, looking at Terri and back to Eric.
    “Yes ,” he said.
    “I saw her, ” Sister Carmen