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"Thanks. Do you know if Jack has a girlfriend?"

"Jack told me he was taking a break from dating, but I saw him in here with a blonde a couple of times. Sometimes, she'd hang out at the bar when he was working a shift."

"When's the last time you saw her?"

"I don't know. Maybe a week or less."

"And when's the last time you saw Jack?"

Kyle thought for a moment. "Probably about the same amount of time."

"If Jack shows up, can you tell him Tyler is looking for him? He knows where to find me."

"Will do."

When he turned around, he was surprised to see that Rachel was no longer at the table. He was about to go outside to look for her when she came out of the back hallway. Clearly, she'd just gone to use the restroom.

"How did it go?" she asked.

"Let's talk outside. I was wondering where you went."

"After I paid the bill, I saw our waitress go into the ladies' room, so I decided to go there, too," she said as he escorted her out of the bar.

Once on the sidewalk, they moved down a few feet to chat.

"Why did you follow her?" he asked, not liking that idea. "Melody already told us what she knew."

"There was something in her eyes when she was talking about Jack. I just got a feeling she knew more than she was saying. And I was right."

He frowned at the look of triumph in her blue eyes. "What did she tell you?"

"When I got in the ladies' room, she was wiping her eyes. She was crying, Tyler."

"Over Jack?" he asked in surprise.

"That's what I asked her. She looked like she didn't want to admit it, and then she said yes. That they'd spent a few nights together, but then he'd backed off and said he had things to take care of that were very important, and he wasn't going to be around much. He couldn't tell her what it was, but he thought it might change his life. She said she hasn't seen him in about a week, but she also wasn't here the last few days, so she couldn't say whether he'd been here or not. Now, she's worried that something terrible happened to him."

"Did you tell her you saw him Thursday night? Because we don't know⁠—"

"I didn't tell her," she said, cutting him off. "We don't know who she is to him or whether she's involved in his disappearance."

"Okay, good." He was relieved that Rachel hadn't given out more information than she'd gotten. "Anything else?"

"She said Jack told her he was battling some inner demons and that he had to drink to calm himself down sometimes. That's when he'd get into fights, when everything was a little too much. That makes sense to me, knowing he was suffering from headaches and insomnia. The pain and lack of sleep combined with alcohol would not produce a good result." Rachel paused. "I gave her my number and asked her to call me if he came back or reached out. I also told her to tell him that you wanted to help him."

"Good idea. If they were involved, he might contact her."

"I don't know how close they are. I got the feeling it was a few hookups more than a relationship, at least on his part. She seemed to be more interested than him."

"Jack has never been able to sustain romantic relationships. I talked to his longtime girlfriend earlier today, and she finally decided to move on from him. She said she couldn't keep waiting for him to change. Now, she's engaged to someone else."

Rachel gave him a thoughtful look. "When did she get engaged?"

"Apparently, it was right before Jack moved here, which was sometime at the end of last year."

"I wonder if he came to New York to get away from that piece of news. Maybe he wasn't as ready to move on as she was."

"It's possible."