Page 50 of Hard Evidence
I didn’t want him to be disappointed in me.
“Is there a plan for the morning?For Amie, I mean?Is there anything I can do to help?”
“I’ll try calling Sophy again.Ari wants to look at Amie’s belongings, just in case there’s a clue there.”
“Did you hear from her parents yet?”
He shook his head.“If they don’t get back to me in the morning, I’ll see if Alexa can find a number for Amie’s sister.But they don’t get along, and from what Amie’s told me, Saige is a real drama queen.Calling her is a last resort.Do you have any siblings?”
“Technically, I have a half-brother, but I’ve never met him.And he’s also my first cousin once removed, so the less we say about that, the better.”
Justin stared at me for a moment, and then his face screwed up involuntarily in the same “eeuw” reaction that I’d had when I found out.
“So that means…”
“My dad had an affair with my cousin.She was twelve, and I was eleven at the time.After the divorce, Mom and I moved to Maine, and I haven’t seen anyone from that side of the family since.”
“Well, damn.”
“Yes, exactly.So, how about you?Do you have siblings?”
“Also an only child.”Justin hesitated for a moment.“I was supposed to have a brother, but my mom miscarried.My dad’s fault.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“Maybe I’ll have a glass of that wine.”
He filled the glass almost to the brim and drank half of it in one go.I couldn’t lie—that made me nervous.Ridge had always been a mean drunk.
“Mom was never the same afterward.That was when she started drinking.”Justin glanced ruefully at his glass.“I’ll stop after this, I swear.Alexa brought the bottle.”
“It’s good wine,” I admitted.“I wouldn’t use it for cooking.”
“Nolan made it.Not sure I’d pay five hundred bucks, but he gives it to us cheap.”
I nearly spat out my mouthful.“Five hundred bucks?”
“For the cheap stuff.”
Gosh darn, even Ridge refused to pay more than a hundred bucks for a nice red.With my money, Saylor would remind me.When I spoke to her before dinner, she confessed that she’d been stalking Ridge’s BuzzHub page, and he hadn’t mentioned my leaving at all.Not once.But he’d posted pictures of himself at a tennis tournament, at an industry dinner, and standing beside his new Mercedes.Oops.Guess the Lexus didn’t make it.I should have felt bad about that, but the guilt and the numbness were gradually being replaced by anger.Ridge had hurt me in so many ways.
Saylor had also been spitting mad on my behalf.“You’re sleeping in a clunker with Shiro, and he’s showing off his heated steering wheel?Who do you think paid for that, huh?Because I’m telling you, Ridge isn’t that good of a lawyer.”
“I doubt my blog made that much money.”
“Well, I found an article where your publicist said you got a six-figure advance for that cookbook you’re writing.”
“What?I didn’t get a six-figure advance.”Did I?“I don’t even have a publicist.”
“Apparently, you do.What’s happening with the cookbook, anyway?”
“How should I freaking know?I mean, obviously I was working on the recipes, but most of them are still in the notes app on my phone.”
“And you have the phone with you?”
“Yes, but I don’t dare to turn it on in case Ridge can use it to find me.”
“Good.If you have the recipes, he doesn’t.Either you can get in touch with the publisher and deal directly, or he can have fun explaining why there’s no cookbook.”
