Wicked by Joanne Fluke

Angela. And now Ryan was with her, instead of with Angela, and that was exactly the way Eve wanted it.
    * * *
    â€œTracie? Open the door!” Angela knocked on Tracie’s bedroom door for the third time.
    â€œIf Tracie’s sick, she might not be able to get out of bed.” Eve turned the doorknob and opened the door. She stepped in and saw Tracie’s empty bed. The quilt wasn’t rumpled, and it was clear that Tracie hadn’t slept in it. “She’s not here.”
    They all stared at the deserted room for a moment, and then Beth spoke up. “But where is she?”
    â€œI don’t know.” Eve was beginning to get worried. She’d been sure that Tracie was in her room. “I think we’d better try to find her.”
    â€œLet’s split up in teams,” Ryan said. “Scott and Jeremy? You check the fourth-floor hallway and the stairwell while Beth and Dean search the rest of this floor. Marc and Angela can check the second floor, and Eve and I’ll go back down to the first floor.”
    â€œHow about the grounds?” Eve asked. “We should search those, too.”
    â€œWe’ll all meet in the library in fifteen minutes. If no one’s found her, we’ll grab a couple of flashlights and check outside. Tracie’s got to be here somewhere. She can’t have just disappeared into thin air.”
    â€œActually . . . she doesn’t have to be here,” Eve said. “She could have left in her car. Did anyone check to make sure it’s still there?”
    They all rushed to the window at the end of the hall. It overlooked the street, and Eve’s heart was pounding hard as she looked out. But Tracie’s yellow Toyota was right where she’d parked it, at the curb.
    â€œThat’s her car.” Eve pointed to the yellow Toyota. “At least Tracie didn’t drive off somewhere.”
    â€œThat’s a relief!” Ryan exclaimed. “She’s got to be somewhere in the mansion. Let’s go find her.”
    As Eve and Ryan hurried down to the ground floor, Eve found herself shivering. She wasn’t sure why, but it was odd that Tracie had disappeared on the night that Angela had killed off her character. She couldn’t help thinking about Cheryl and how she’d died when her character was murdered.
    â€œAre you thinking what I’m thinking?” Ryan asked.
    Eve nodded. “Yes, but maybe it’s just a coincidence. Tracie could have fallen asleep in the living room, watching television.”
    But Tracie wasn’t in the living room and the television wasn’t on. She wasn’t in the formal dining room, although Ryan and Eve checked every nook and cranny, and they already knew that she wasn’t in the library, where they’d held their meeting.
    â€œThe kitchen?” Eve stopped at the kitchen door. Now that it was dark outside, the kitchen seemed much more frightening. She didn’t want to go in, but there was no way she’d let Ryan know that her courage had suddenly left her.
    â€œCome on, Eve.” Ryan took her hand. “I don’t think Tracie’s in the kitchen. She was really afraid to go in there earlier. But let’s take a quick look around, just to make sure.”
    Eve held her breath as Ryan opened the swinging door and turned on the lights. Her eyes went directly to the spot where Cheryl had died, but there was no new body on the floor. “She’s not here, Ryan.”
    â€œI hate to mention this, but . . . do you think we should check in the cooler?”
    â€œAre you kidding? Tracie would never go in there. Remember how freaked she was about even setting foot in the kitchen?”
    â€œYou’re right. How about the laundry room?”
    But Tracie wasn’t in the laundry room, or the little sitting room, or the first-floor guest bathroom. They checked every closet and even pulled open the doors to the linen cabinet, but there was