Page 369 of A Matter of Time

“Jory, is Sam still in the hospital?”

“Yeah.”

“Why aren’t you at the hospital with him?”

“Because I need to figure this out.”

“Aren’t you still kind of bruised up yourself? You had a concussion, you know.”

“That was a while ago. I’m fine now.”

“It wasn’t a while, it was⁠—”

“Let it go.”

“Jory, what are you doing?”

“Sam got hurt.”

“I know he did. He’s in the hospital. That’s why I asked you why you weren’t there.”

“But how did you⁠—”

“Dane called me and told me this whole thing wasn’t over and that I should be careful.”

“You should.”

“So, Jory, you⁠—”

“I’m at the strip mall where the car was stolen, and I’m gonna wait until they open, and then I’m gonna walk around and ask people if they saw you.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Well, I was in the trunk of the car, but you were in the front seat with the kidnappers, so you they might remember.”

“Jory, there was only one guy that I ever saw, and I’ve looked at pictures until my eyes bled and never found him.”

“Sure, but this is⁠—”

“And the sketch they made from what I said the guy looked like didn’t come up with anything either. Don’t you think if someone saw the sketch on the news or in the paper, they would have called the police and⁠—”

“I think they’ll remember you, and that might jog someone’s memory.”

“What picture do you even have of me?”

“The ones from Dane’s wedding,” I explained to him. “I have them all in my email because I sent them to your mother ahead of the ones she ordered.”

“How’re you getting into your email?”

“There’s a printing place here, so I’ll rent some time and download and print. Easy peasy. No worries.”

“You’re insane. It’s not gonna work.”

“It’ll work. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

“Jor—”

But I hung up on him, powered off the burner, and got comfortable in the car, waiting for everything to open. No matter what he thought, it was worth it to walk from door to door and ask if anyone remembered seeing Caleb Reid.