Page 108 of Deadly Misfortunes

"I know it seems mean, but I couldn't stand seeing him constantly sucking up to his mom and dad when they wouldn't give him the time of day. I told him to grow some balls, have a backbone, stand up to them, or dump them. You know how it is. You're stuck with blood, but friends, that's another story. I choose to have positive people around me."

"Who aren't dull," Gregory said.

She laughed. "Yeah, so anyway, we broke up, and I figured that was the end of it. I hadn't dated in weeks after the breakup, and then you and I met at the coffee shop, you asked me out, and I went out with you." She looked at Sascha. "We didn't do anything. And I moved to Austin from Dallas shortly after that."

"No problem."

"So then I realized that Brendan had a tracking device on my car and had followed us to the club. He didn't show his face or make a scene, but he followed me home and made a big deal of me going out after we broke up. But it didn't matter because we were no longer a couple."

"So he didn't take it well."

"No. He smashed my phone, and I was furious. I made him leave, and I haven't heard from him since. So what's the criminal business he might be involved in?"

"Someone has been trying to kill me."

"What?" She glanced at Sascha.

"He, or whoever it was, ran the vehicle off the bridge that I was riding in, and we believe he thought Gregory was in the car."

He was glad she didn't mention it was a limo. Janie would probably wonder all about that, and he didn't want to get into it.

"Ohmigod, that's awful. But you were both okay."

"Yes, but one of these times, it could be so much worse. The police have no leads, and the PI that I hired learned about you and your connection to Brendan and me, and we wondered if there's anything to that."

"I...I wouldn't think he would do anything like that."

"Can you get in touch with him? The PI believes he has dropped off the face of the earth, so he may be using an alias."

"Well, if he's changed his name, phone number, email, etcetera, I might not be able to get hold of him. But I'll try."

"What will you say to him?"

"I'll, well, I'll ask him to come and see me so we can talk things out. I wanted to anyway. But he might be angry to see you here. Still, maybe we can all talk things out. I just can't believe he would try to hurt you." Janie got her phone and called a number. "Hey, if you get this message, Brendan, I want to work things out with you. I'll be here all day if you can drop by."

She shrugged as she set her phone next to her on the armrest. "He's not picking up. He might be unavailable, truly, or maybe he doesn't want to get back together with me."

"Can you call his sister and see if she'll come by to talk to you? I don't think it will help if we see her parents," Gregory said.

"No, they're so set in their ways; no way will they come around and treat Brendan any differently. I just need to show him that I'm good for him and he needs to let go of them." She thought for a moment, tapping her finger on the armrest. “I don't think it will do any good, but I'll call his sister."

She called Brendan's sister and said, "Hi, Belinda, this is Janie." She paused. "Yeah, I'm trying to get hold of Brendan. Do you know where he's at?"

Gregory glanced at Sascha. She was frowning but didn't say anything.

"I'm going to put this on speakerphone because I need to feed the cats. So in answer to your question, I want to try and work things out with him."

"I don't know why," Belinda said.

"Because"—Janie paused—"I love him."

Belinda scoffed. "You know he's the black sheep of the family."

Only because, apparently, his parents and his sister made him that way.

"So do you know where he is?" Gregory asked.

"He was in Dallas, last I heard. He got a job up there, but I don't know what he's doing. Probably some dead-end job."