AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I am terrified.
And angry as hell.
“She texted me around eight-fifty to say she was home,” I start.
“Home here?” the detective clarifies.
“Um, yeah, here,” I say. “Then she messaged again about ten minutes later to say she was on her way to my place,” I continue, scrubbing a hand across my jaw. “I messaged her to say I was running a little bit late, but that I would meet her there. She has keys to get in, so it wasn’t an issue that I wouldn’t be there.”
I can feel the weight of five sets of eyes on me as they listen to me explain all of this to the detective. The eyes and judgment of Zoey’s parents, her brother and her two friends. None of them knew we were even together, let alone that Zoey has keys to my house and was coming over almost every night. None of them know she was planning to move in with me as soon as we told them about us.
“And where were you when you got these messages?”
“At work,” I say with a sigh, because this all feels like a huge waste of time. “I got caught up.”
“Doing?”
“Phone calls,” I say, narrowing my brow at the tone in this guy’s voice.
“Can anyone verify you were there?” he now asks and something about his tone feels off as a heavy weight sinks in the pit of my stomach.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “I was alone in my office. Cameron, my PA had left for the evening.”
The guy writes something in his notepad, not acknowledging my last statement. “Okay, so no one can corroborate that at the time Ms. Holden went missing you were in your office?”
I feel all the air leave my lungs as the implication of this guy’s question hits me. “Well, the people I was speaking to on the phone can,” I spit out.
“Office or cell phone?” he asks.
“Office phone,” I snap, beyond irritated now. “Why the fuck are you asking me this? Do you seriously think I have something to do with this?”
He writes something else down, before looking at me. “I’m just making sure I cover all lines of enquiry,” he says. “I want to—”
“I had nothing to do with this,” I growl, shaking my head. “I love her. Why the hell would I have anything to fucking do with this?”
The guy holds up a hand, the five sets of eyes now feeling like daggers in my back as my frustration gets the better of me. “I’m not saying you did,” he says, his voice calm and measured. “But you have to understand that we need to make sure we have a complete picture of what’s happened.”
“What you need to do is to get out there and find her!” I shout, my patience officially gone. “Why the hell are we all standing around here doing nothing? She’s been missing for hours!”
This guy watches me, his face expressionless as I rant at him to do his job. I have no idea what he thinks of me or whether he seriously thinks I’m a suspect here, but I’m done with trying to play nice.
The woman I love, the woman who iseverythingto me, is missing and it feels like no one is doing a damn thing about it.
Finally, he offers me a smile as he glances at Zoey’s parents standing behind me, before turning back to me. “We have uniforms out canvassing the area,” he says. “Two of them are doing this street, while another two are out the back. I’m going to want to go over to your place at some point and see what we can find, but please know, Mr. Morrison, Mr. and Mrs. Holden, we are doing everything we can to find Zoey.”
It feels like the whole room is tense, a weird silence settling over all of us. Eventually Zoey’s dad steps forward, putting a hand on my shoulder for a brief squeeze that I have no idea how to interpret as he says, “Thank you, Detective, we appreciate everything you are doing, really.”
My eyes close, because of course he’s the calm rational one while I’m here losing my shit about it all. I can’t imagine this is a great first impression I’m creating for them. In the space of a couple of hours these people have discovered their daughter is missing and she’s in a secret relationship with her boss, who apparently doesn’t mind yelling at law enforcement, who may or may not suspect I have something to do with all of this, even as I accuse them of not doing their jobs.
Fuck me, what a clusterfuck.
The detective nods, offering Jeff a small smile before he turns back to me. “I’m going to go and speak to the uniforms outside and then if it’s okay with you, we will head over to your place. Give me twenty minutes?”
“Sure,” I say, exhaling hard.
The guy nods, not saying anything more as he turns and walks outside to speak with the two uniformed guys, mine and Zoey’s cell phones still in his hand. And if I thought the tension in the room was bad before, it’s got nothing on how it is now.
I can only guess at the questions these people have for me right now and I wish to fuck our relationship could have been explained under better circumstances. God knows Max is pissed enough for everyone, the anger literally radiating from him, but I’m sure her parents aren’t happy either.
