CHAPTER 22 JESSALYN
JESSALYN
Late on Sunday morning, Justin took several calming breaths before he called Saige Carlson, and thirty seconds into the conversation, I understood why.
No, she hadn’t spoken with her sister recently.
No, she didn’t know where Amie was. But “She probably took off on a trip. I mean, she had plenty of money, and it’s not as if she uses any of it to help her family. ”
Justin pinched the bridge of his nose before he answered. “She’s not on vacation, Saige. Amie isn’t irresponsible.”
“Oh, no, she’s a regular goody two-shoes.”
“I’m worried about her.”
“Aw, lovers’ tiff?”
“We have a purely professional relationship.”
“Which is why you’re calling on a weekend?”
“I left a message for your parents yesterday, and they haven’t called back. They’re not answering this morning either.”
“Duh. They’re in church.”
“For two days?”
“Mom keeps her phone in a drawer, and Dad never turns the ringer on.”
“It’s important that I speak with them. Can you go over and ask them to call me?”
“What’s it worth?”
Was she serious? Saige’s sister was missing, and she wanted money to run an errand? Justin’s knuckles turned white where he gripped the phone, and he took a deep breath.
But Ari got in first.
She snatched the phone and practically snarled into it. “How about this? If you go and find your parents right this instant, I won’t tell them you tried to cash in on your sister’s disappearance.”
“Who the heck are you?”
“The private investigator looking for Amie.”
“Well, who do you think my parents will believe?” she asked smugly. “You or me?”
“I don’t know… I guess that depends on whether I play them the recording of this conversation.”
The silence was glorious. Justin smiled for the first time all day, and Violet covered a giggle with her hand.
She’d taken a seat next to me, and I’d pinched my thigh under the table because Violet freaking Miller was eating one of my blueberry sundae waffles.
She’d even thanked me for making breakfast and said it tasted great.
Saylor would lose her mind when I told her.
“You…you can’t do that,” Saige spluttered. “You’re not allowed to record a private conversation without permission.”
“I’m in Virginia. It’s a one-party consent state, and do you really think your parents will care about the technicalities?”
“But…but…”
“Why are you still talking? Get off your transactional ass and tell your parents to call Justin.” Ari hung up and passed the phone back. “Now I understand why Amie moved here. If I had a sister like Saige, I’d be serving time for murder.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Dawson said from the doorway. “You’re way too careful for that.”
That was a joke, right?
“Makes me glad to be an only child, although she does remind me of my mom. All ‘me, me, me’ and screw everyone else.”
“What are the chances she’ll actually go visit her parents?”
“Oh, she’ll go. Con artists generally have a good sense of self-preservation, and she can’t be sure that I don’t have a recording. Hopefully, Amie’s parents will either know where she is or put some additional pressure on the police if they don’t.”
Maybe they’d listen to her family. “You think she went home?”
“How many women do you know who would toss their purse into the undergrowth and then take a trip across the country?”
“What do you think happened?” Violet asked.
“Honestly?” Ari glanced at Justin, then shook her head slowly. “Honestly, I’m not sure we want to find out.”
I was on my way to the car with Shiro’s leash in one hand and a sheaf of posters in the other when Ari beckoned me toward her.
“You visited Sophy with Justin, didn’t you?”
“Uh, yes?”
“Will you come with me to speak with her again? Better for her to see a familiar face.”
“What about Justin?”
“Sometimes, a woman will be more open with other women.”
That did make sense. My time with Ridge had taught me that finding a safe man was like closing your eyes and trying to pick a guava out of a pile of live hand grenades. Saylor was the only person I’d ever felt comfortable sharing my secrets with.
“Then I’ll come. Should I put up the posters first, or…?”
“This is more important. Based on what we’ve found out so far, Sophy was the closest person to Amie in recent weeks, and even if she doesn’t think she knows anything useful, there might be an important clue locked away inside her mind.”
“And you’re the key?”
Ari smiled at me. “I hope so.”
“Sophy might be working this afternoon. She’s a server at the Waffle Factory.”
“I heard from a reliable source that she’s home.”
She had a spy watching Sophy’s movements?
The thought made me shudder. The police might be reluctant to look for a missing woman, but what if one of Ridge’s shady PI friends was here in Virginia right now?
Should I be going out at all? Fear almost sent me running back into the house, but then I thought of Amie, on her own and dealing with challenges every bit as big as mine.
“Ready?” Justin asked from behind me.
My chest tightened, and too late, I realised my mistake. I’d promised to go with Ari. Me. Alone. And I hadn’t checked with Justin first whether that was okay. Saylor said I was a people-pleaser, that I agreed to anything to avoid the consequences of saying “no.”
“Uh…” I started.
“She’s coming with me,” Ari told him. “We’re going to speak with Sophy again.”
I took a step back, waiting for the fireworks, remembering the way Ridge had exploded when Saylor showed up for an unapproved lunch date. Perhaps I should apologise? Explain that I could put up posters right after I got back from visiting with Sophy, and…
“Good luck. You want me to take the dog?”
…and if they allocated each person an area, I could make sure to do my share later. But what about lunch? If I picked up the fixings for sandwiches, then… Wait. Why was everyone looking at me?
“You want Justin to walk Shiro?” Ari asked.
“I…I…”
“I’ll keep him on the leash,” Justin said. “Seems a shame for him to stay at home if we’re all going out.”
He was offering to…help? With Shiro? Was it a trick?
I wanted to tell him I had things under control, but I couldn’t speak around the lump in my throat.
So I just nodded, then swallowed hard as he kissed me on the cheek and took the leash and the posters out of my hands. Shiro began sniffing Justin’s pockets.
“Yeah, buddy. I have snacks. Do you want to ride in the truck? Do you?”
Shiro pranced along behind him, which did nothing to calm my emotions and everything to make my heart beat faster.
And as I climbed into the passenger side of Ari’s car, two thoughts hit me.
Firstly, I’d been in Virginia for a week, and even with all the worries over Amie’s disappearance, I already felt more comfortable here than I ever had with Ridge.
Life in Biddeford had been like a video game.
Score the points and earn the prizes without accidentally stepping on a landmine.
Justin reacted in unexpected ways, but that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing.
And secondly, it was just possible that he might be a guava.
“So, you and Justin, huh?” Ari asked as we turned onto the next street.
“Oh, no. Not like that. I’m just staying with him until I get back on my feet.”
Even as my cheek still burned from the touch of his lips.
“Sure, you keep telling yourself that if it makes you feel better. The two of you met on the Wednesday Amie disappeared?”
What did she mean by the first part? “Uh…yes?”
“Can you talk me through everything that happened? I’m trying to build up a picture of the day.”
“The day? I didn’t arrive in Reverence until the evening.”
“Yes. I’d like to understand how you ended up here.”
Bad enough that Justin knew about my mistakes without Ari finding out the details. She seemed nice, but her competence left me feeling even more inadequate than usual.
“The short answer is that I’m a fool.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s the truth.”
“From what I’ve heard, a man took advantage of you while you were grieving, but you managed to build a career despite his efforts to hold you back, and you found the strength to escape when the time was right. That doesn’t sound foolish to me.”
“I lost all my money,” I mumbled. “If it weren’t for Justin, I’d be panhandling with Shiro.”
“Some of those online scammers can be really convincing. Send the emails to Alexa, okay? Amie has to take priority, but after we’ve found her, we can tackle the Tiffany problem.”
“Justin already told you about that?”
“Not in any great detail. You contacted her? It wasn’t the other way around?”
“I was working my way through the rental ads. Most places won’t allow dogs, and she was the only person I spoke with who wasn’t a creep or a weirdo.”
“Who suggested the time to meet?”
“She did. I said I could get there by two thirty, but she said she had to go out in the afternoon and if I sent the money by Western Union, she’d hold the room for me.”
“A delaying tactic.”
“I guess.”
“So what time did you arrive at Justin’s place?”
“A little after seven. It was dark, and I was running a few minutes late.”
“How sure are you about the time?”
“Positive. I literally looked at my watch as I climbed out of the car, and it was nine minutes past seven.” Although Ari framed this as a friendly chat, she was checking Justin’s alibi; I understood that much.
“You think I haven’t run through the timings a hundred times in my head?
I saw the surveillance video at the Norquist office, and there’s no way Justin did anything to Amie. There was no time.”
“He said he drove home from the office and took a shower.”
“That’s right.”
“Was his hair wet?”
“His whole body was wet.”
“Oh?”
Huh. It seemed there were parts Justin hadn’t mentioned. “He came to the door in a towel.”
“Hmm.” She blew air between her teeth. “Okay, let me make something clear—I don’t believe Justin’s guilty.
Several people whose judgment I trust, including my own fiancé, say he’s a good guy.
Grouchy at times, but no serious personality flaws.
But this isn’t the first time Justin’s been in this position, so I have to ask some difficult questions. ”
“He told me one of his roommates was murdered.”
“Right. Ruby Costello. And the same people who are telling me Justin’s innocent were surprised when Levi Sykes was found guilty of her murder, so…”
“So you have to ask.”
“Exactly. Did you see any injuries to Justin? Cuts, bruises, scratches?”
“There was nothing.”
“How good a look did you get?”
“A real good look. Shiro pulled off the towel, and I bent to pick it up, so I saw everything.” My cheeks burned. “Ev-ery-thing.”
Ari snorted and clapped a hand over her mouth. “My question was more about the porch light being turned on, but that’s good to know.”
Oh. Crap.
I closed my eyes and pictured the scene.
The look of mild irritation on Justin’s face.
Fluffy white cotton crumpling onto the stone floor of the porch.
Water droplets rolling down taut abs. Shadows falling on a well-muscled thigh.
Saylor said Ridge had small-dick energy, and when Shiro pulled that towel off Justin, I’d realised she was absolutely right.
“The light was on. If you put me on the stand, I’ll deny I ever said this, but the image of naked Justin is burned into my retinas, okay? Trust me when I say he was in tip-top shape.”
This time, Ari didn’t hold back her laughter. “Damn, I hope you gave the dog a cookie for that.”
“Two cookies.”
“And I’ll deny this if anyone asks me, but I think you’re the best thing that’s happened to Justin in a long time.
I don’t know him well, but people who do have told me he’s made some questionable decisions in the past when it comes to women.
As in, he picks the crazy ones. You seem remarkably normal. ”
“Uh… I’m not really sure what to say to that.”
Could she hear my heart thumping against my ribcage?
“It’s a compliment.”
“So…thanks? Although we’re definitely just…just… Well, I guess he’s my landlord?” Even if I was paying my rent in waffles. “I don’t think many fairy tales start with a towel incident.”
“Do you know how I met Zach?”
I shook my head.
“He saved me from drowning. So there was kind of a towel involved. Then the situation got even more awkward because I was investigating him for fraud at the time, but we worked things out eventually.”
“I’m still married,” I admitted softly. “And I’m scared to push for a divorce. Justin just broke off his engagement. He said that if we were both in a better place, maybe he’d ask me out on a date, but the timing sucks.”
“Does it? Because the way I see it, you need some support, which Justin’s happy to provide. Is that Amie’s building up ahead?”
I nodded, grateful for the change of subject. “The visitor lot is at the front.”