CHAPTER 21 JUSTIN
JUSTIN
At eight thirty on Sunday morning, Justin stared at his phone, willing it to ring.
Alexa had promised to dig out a number for Saige Carlson, but he’d rather have his teeth removed without anaesthetic than call her.
Not only had Amie spent years telling him what a pain in the ass her sister was, but the one time Justin had met Saige, she’d slipped her hotel room key into his pocket and then called him a douche when he returned it.
The phone buzzed.
But it wasn’t Amie’s parents. No, it was Sophy.
Justin answered and switched to speaker so Ari could listen in.
She was sitting opposite him at the kitchen island, working her way through a stack of waffles Jessie had cooked, waffles that tasted a hell of a lot better than the ones Sophy served up at work.
“The police are here,” she whispered as an opener.
“At the apartment?”
“They showed up an hour ago and asked if they could take a look around, and of course I said ‘yes’ because I just need Amie to come home safely, and wouldn’t anyone want to help?”
“Are they still there?”
“Yup. I told them I needed a vape break, so I’m out in the parking lot.”
“Better to stay inside and keep an eye on them,” Ari muttered.
“Huh?”
Justin repeated the message. “Ari’s a friend of a friend. A private investigator. She’s helping us to look for Amie.”
“Well, the detectives found a clue.” She sounded…excited? “I overheard them talking.”
“What was the clue?” Ari asked, the waffles forgotten.
“A pregnancy test in the trash can. Like, a positive one.”
Justin stiffened, and Jessie froze halfway to the stove, her eyes wide.
Amie was pregnant? She hadn’t said a word about that, and she hadn’t looked pregnant either, but didn’t women like to keep quiet for the first trimester?
When Lois had twins the year before last, she’d said she didn’t want to jinx things by breaking the news too soon.
Wait, who was the father? Brett? Yikes on a fuckin’ bike.
“And it was hers?” Ari asked.
“I mean, it wasn’t mine,” Sophy said.
“Could it have belonged to a friend?”
“I don’t think so? She didn’t really bring people back to the apartment, only Brett, but she knew I didn’t much like him, not after the first breakup anyway.
So they mostly used to go over to his place.
” Sophy paused. “I don’t understand why she didn’t tell me.
I could have helped. Made space for a crib, organised the baby shower, gone shopping for all those cute little clothes…
I love kids. She knows I love kids. She didn’t have to run off to deal with this alone. ”
“You think that’s what she did?”
“Unless she’s with Brett?”
So she left without her purse? Judging by Ari’s eye-roll, her thoughts were going along the same lines.
“How likely do you think that is?” Justin asked.
“Uh… The last time we spoke about him, she called him an overgrown cockroach, then changed her mind and said that was an insult to cockroaches. So unless he grovelled, like, on his knees, I doubt she would’ve gotten back together with him.
Maybe she just needed space to think things over for a few days? ”
Wasn’t that pretty much what Jessie had said last night?
That she needed space to breathe? To process the split from her husband?
She’d declined Justin’s offer of a lawyer, which disappointed him, he couldn’t lie, but she’d also knocked on his door with coffee first thing this morning, then turned beet red when he answered wearing nothing but a towel.
At least the dog wasn’t around to “help” this time.
“So that’s a ‘no’ on the Brett thing?” Ari asked.
“I guess.”
“Didn’t you tell Justin that Amie had a medical appointment on Thursday?”
“Right, she did. Maybe she was getting a scan or something? You know, for the baby?”
“Who’s her primary care physician?”
“Uh… I’m not sure? She used to see Dr. Michaels at First Care, but after he retired, she said the new guy was kind of dismissive and she was going to switch, but I’m not sure if she ever did.”
“We’ll look into it. You go back inside and keep eavesdropping, and if you hear any other interesting tidbits, call Justin, okay?”
“Sure, okay, I can do that,” Sophy said.
“Pregnant?” Justin said the moment she hung up. “This changes everything. What if Amie found out about the baby and decided she couldn’t cope? What if she tossed her purse because she decided to take the most drastic option?”
Jessie gasped. “You mean suicide?”
“Does Amie have a history of mental health problems?” Ari asked.
“No, not that I’m aware of, anyway.” But Justin was beginning to think he didn’t know her well at all.
The story of his life, really.
His adulthood had been signposted by one mistake after another with women, starting with Ruby. If he’d realised they were living with a monster, if she’d confided any concerns she might have had…
Eliza said he had too much baggage and needed therapy. The therapist said he should open up more. Rebecca said he was too sensitive and she needed space. So he’d tried giving Melanie space, and he wasn’t supportive enough.
And then Jessie had walked into his life.
A fallen angel.
A fragile temptress.
He’d give her anything her heart desired, if he could only work out what that was.
Fuck, he was in trouble, in so many ways.
“Yesterday, you described Amie as organised and level-headed,” Ari said.
“From what you’ve told me, I think she would have explored other options before she hit the nuclear button.
” She paused for a moment, then added more quietly, “Eleven years ago, I was facing almost the same scenario—pregnant with a surprise baby, casually dating a ratbag of a man, unsure which way to turn. At least she has a supportive employer. You wouldn’t fire her for becoming a mom, would you? ”
“Absolutely not. Norquist Construction offers six months of paid maternity leave, and she could do half her job from home if she wanted to.”
“And it seems her roommate would be supportive if she decides to keep the baby.” Ari grimaced faintly. “Possibly not so much if she doesn’t. Did you notice Sophy went from zero to baby shower, do not pass go, do not consider a termination?”
Justin hadn’t picked up on that. “You think Amie didn’t tell Sophy she was pregnant because they have different views on abortion?”
“Right now, I’m just throwing out ideas.
But we believe Amie had a medical appointment scheduled on Thursday, and for whatever reason, she chose not to tell Sophy the details.
I’m wondering if she had a procedure and experienced complications.
Has anyone tried calling around the hospitals?
” She frowned. “Of course, that doesn’t explain the purse. ”
“Nobody’s tried the hospitals.”
“The police really should be doing that, but we’ll add it to the list. Violet and Dawson can help—it’s more important than social media.”
At the moment, they were sharing “Have you seen this woman?” posts in local groups and holding what Ari described as the last resort—Violet posting on her own accounts—in reserve.
Yes, she’d be able to garner attention, thanks to the millions of followers she’d amassed since she shot to fame, but probably too much attention.
Ari feared Violet would bring all the kooks out of the woodwork.
And knowing what they knew now, that Amie was most likely pregnant and might have had her own reasons for disappearing, Justin was glad they hadn’t splashed her face across the world yet.
“I’ll make some calls too,” he said.
“Alexa found Saige Carlson’s number.”
A hollow groan escaped Justin’s lips. “Great.”
“You want me to speak with her?”
“No, I’ll do it.”
Assuming she didn’t hang up on him, anyway.
“Good, because I need to call the Utah team and update them on the pregnancy angle. Maybe they can ask Brett about it?”
“If he knows, I doubt he’ll admit it.”
Ari just smiled. “We’ll see.”
“Oh yeah, yeah, we know about that,” the woman named Barbie said. Ari had put her on speaker, and her voice had a melodic twang. Not Southern, more West Coast beach babe. “Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
Ari groaned. “Get the bad news over with.”
“Okay, so the bad news is that Amie didn’t run off to Salt Lake City with Brett. He skipped town because he didn’t want to be a baby daddy.”
“It was always a long shot. What’s the good news?”
“The good news is that we can rule him out as a suspect in her disappearance.”
Was that good news? Justin had been hoping for a concrete answer, but if Barbie was right, then one of their best leads had just evaporated, and all they were left with was a bunch of unknowns.
“He has an alibi?”
“Yup. He was with his other girlfriend at the time.”
“He moved on already?”
“It wasn’t a ‘moving on’ situation. More concurrent. Apparently, Amie found out about Missy, and that’s why she broke up with Brett the last time. And then Missy found out about Amie when she eavesdropped on our conversation today, and we had to pry her fingernails out of his face.”
“Man, was she pissed,” another female voice said. She didn’t introduce herself. “Brett forgot to mention he’d dropped out of college as well. They were supposed to be getting married in the fall, but obviously, that’s not happening now.”
“She went home to burn their engagement photos,” Barbie said.
“Anyhow, they were together Monday through Wednesday. She confirmed that right before she kicked him in the nuts. And then his mom overheard the shouting, and it seems she likes Missy better than she likes her own son because she smacked him upside the head and promised to march him down to the police station to make a formal statement.”
“I kind of liked her,” the second woman said.
“Yeah, she has scruples. Anyhow, the upshot is that Amie told Brett about the baby and she said it was his, although he claimed she was probably balling every man in town, including her boss.”
“No, no, no, no, no,” Justin said. “No way. We rarely socialise outside of work events, and never just the two of us.”
“We figured he was bullshitting.”
“Projecting,” Barbie’s friend said.
“That too. So, he offered to pay for the abortion, and when she hesitated, he left her in Virginia and ran home to his other girlfriend.”
Oh, man. Justin raked a hand through his hair and began pacing. If Amie had only confided in him about this stuff, he could have helped her. Given her time off work to deal with it, loaned her money, made sure she had access to a therapist if she needed to talk to somebody…
“So she decided against a termination?”
“Brett doesn’t know, but she didn’t ask for the money.”
Which meant they still needed to check the hospitals, but it was less likely that Amie would be in one of them.
They were back where they started—no idea where Amie was, no real leads, and little hope of changing that.