“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.
CHAPTER22
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.”
