Page 52 of Hard Evidence
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?”
