AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Ms. Hadden?” Miller said as he crossed to her.
Chloe lifted her head so slowly it was like she had been put in slow motion. Her eyes were red and puffy, and full of shock and fear. Nick hoped they would be able to get her to focus enough to get something useful out of her because it looked like she was completely dissociating.
Sliding confidently onto the couch beside her, Miller reached for the woman’s hand. “Ms. Hadden, Chloe. May I call you Chloe?” Continuing when she gave a distracted half nod, “We’re going to do everything that we can to find your sister, but to find her we need your help, so I need you to focus for me, okay?”
“Okay,” Chloe whispered, the word escaping like a breath of air through her quivering lips.
Nick hung back as Miller began questioning the young woman. He could be charming when he had to be, shoot out the smile that made his dimple show that seemed to be able to sucker in any woman who caught sight of it, but most of the time he was quiet, distant, and borderline cold. His talents were better used observing whomever they were interviewing, be it victim or suspect.
“When was the last time you spoke to Emily?” Miller asked.
“The afternoon of the eighteenth.”
“And how did she seem?”
Chloe just shrugged. “The same as always.”
“She didn’t seem distracted, or sad, or angry, or secretive?” Miller pressed.
“No. Just the same as normal, we spoke pretty much every day.”
“So, you two are close?” Miller smiled.
“Uh-huh.” Chloe nodded.
“That’s nice. I have a sister, we’re pretty close too. We talk about everything, even stuff that we wouldn’t with anyone else. Has Emily said anything to you recently that gave you cause to be concerned?”
“No.”
“Have you noticed any changes in her behavior that might indicate she had gotten mixed up in anything? That she might be in trouble? Or that she was depressed? Or she was trying to hide anything from you?”
“No. Emily wouldn’t get messed up in anything bad, and she wouldn’t hurt herself.” The words were said without an ounce of heat and did little to convince him, Miller, or even Chloe herself that what she was speaking was the truth.
“Can you tell me a little about your sister?”
Chloe hesitated, like what she was going to say was a betrayal of her sister. They both sat and waited. Finally, the silence prodded her into speaking. “Emily is a little immature for her age. She’s twenty-seven but she’s never had a job, she lives off whatever wealthy boyfriend she’s dating at the time.”
“Has she been married?” Miller asked even though they knew that Emily had indeed been married.
“Yes. She was married for three years, but she got divorced almost a year ago.”
“Was the divorce amicable?”
Another shrug. “As amicable as divorce can be, I guess.”
“Did he ever threaten Emily?”
“No.”
“Did he ever hurt her while they were married, either physically or emotionally?”
“No. At least not that I saw. And Emily never said anything. As far as I know things just didn’t work out. He was a lot older than her, and he’d been married several times already. I don’t know. I have my own life, a fiancé, a baby, a job. I don’t have time to pay attention to every little detail of my sister’s life,” Chloe finished on a shrill note.
“It’s okay, Chloe,” Miller soothed. “No one expects you to. We just need to know as much as we can so that we can find her. Has she mentioned anything unusual happening lately? Someone following her, threatening her, harassing her?”
“No.” Chloe sniffed, calmer now but also more withdrawn.
“Anything unusual in her social media accounts? Maybe someone paying undue attention to her that made her feel uncomfortable?”
