Re: Audrey's house: Hugh & Rafe
Admittedly, the waiting sort of drove Hugh nuts, but he took a breath in and focused instead on any noises that might be coming from the interior. There wasn't anything that Hugh could hear, no sound of movement in the house as if someone were walking around in it. He supposed it was possible she was asleep, but he dismissed it almost as quickly by realizing that he was reaching. The alternative felt impossible to consider though because if she wasn't here, then Hugh was out of ideas for places to look. The one small chance left was her family, and he knew her relationship with them wasn't the strongest.
When Rafe finally did enter Hugh was behind him, and although he maybe lacked Rafe's confidence (or maybe he just wanted it to not be true), Hugh's instinct agreed with Rafe's assessment. Despite the homey furnishings, there was nothing that was pointing to him as a sign that someone was there. No smells of coffee or breakfast, no lights. She probably had been here because Hugh was pretty certain Hannah hadn't been back and Audrey had definitely locked the door; But she didn't seem to be here now.
His gaze flickered towards Rafe at the idea of splitting up and he frowned, not loving the notion. But he also trusted the other man. If he didn't, he wouldn't have asked him along - even with Rafe's skillset. And he trusted he wouldn't suggest it if he didn't feel that it was safe. Hugh took a breath, and nodded briefly. "I'll look around the kitchen and dining, and then come join you," he suggested. And after a moment added, although he suspected Rafe already would have known this. "If she's not here, I'm going to need to file a missing person report."
Which was its own twist of anxiety, because it meant he couldn't find his friend, a friend he'd invited into his house so that she'd be safe and one that he admittedly had felt a little protective towards since he'd met her. But it also meant police involvement, and a missing person's case, and the thought of both was dredging up memories of when Marilyn Glass had gone missing, and the twenty-four hours he'd spent trying to help Silas find her, and her body eventually being found in the river, and then Silas being charged. "I'll check the kitchen, maybe there's something that'll give us some idea of where she might have gone," he repeated.