Page 83 of Forever and Other Lies

Jamie giggled. “I will not tell him that!”

She set the phone in the center of the table and hit the speaker icon. “Behave, you’re on speaker.”

“Hey, Derek,” Jayna’s voice vibrated through the speaker and up his spine. “I think I owe you an apology. I was wrong to get so angry with you the other day when you stopped by.”

“Whoa, slow down. I need to savor this. Jayna Sutton is apologizing.” He sat forward, leaning his elbows on the table. “Did you hear that, Jamie? I need to confirm I’m not hearing things.”

Jayna huffed out an annoyed sigh. “I wasn’t wrong about you being an ass! However, I was wrong to be so nasty with you. You just stopped by out of concern, and that was sweet.”

The smug smile left his lips. “Take that back. I am not sweet!”

Jayna chuckled, and the sound of a doorbell ringing came through the speakers.

Jamie let out a loud breath and picked up her phone. Her pale blue eyes sparked. It must have been a trick of the light from the cell phone. Eyes did not spark.

“Jayna don’t answer the door,” Jamie’s voice was panicked.

“It’s okay, Mom. I know him,” Jayna said. “Hey, what are you doing here?”

A crash came through the phone, followed by a scream. The call ended.

What the hell?

“Derek,” Jamie’s voice trembled. “She is in trouble.”

His chair fell backward as he stood. “Call 911,” he yelled over his shoulder as he raced for the door.

He knew it. Just knew it! Jayna was in danger. Why hadn’t she listened to him?

Derek broke speed limits getting to Jayna’s house. Why the hell had she bought so far out? Not only was her house 15 minutes outside of town, but it was the last house on the street. Secluded and not well-lit. It was a dangerous location for a single woman living alone.

Jayna had boatloads of money. She could afford to have better lighting installed, and a state-of-the-art security system. There was a brand-new subdivision beside the hospital. Why hadn’t she purchased a house there?

He pulled into her driveway. Both her vehicles were still in there. He’d barely shifted into park before he was jumping out. Burke’s cruiser pulled in behind him. The cop yelled for him to stop.

Burke walked toward him and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Derek, let us do our job.”

He stood there, heart thumping, fear racing up his spine. This wasn’t right. He should be doing something. Where was Jayna? Who had been at her door?

The front door was propped wide open. He inched closer once Burke and two other officers disappeared inside. The console table in the foyer was knocked over. That was the crash he’d heard over Jamie’s phone.

Burke reappeared, stepping onto the front stoop holding a damaged cell phone. “She’s not here.”

“What do you mean? Both her vehicles are. She was supposed to meet Jamie at the pub.”

Burke shrugged. “Looks like there was a struggle. What exactly happened? Jamie told the dispatcher that you were talking on the phone with her?”

Derek inhaled deeply before letting the anxious breath hiss out between his teeth. “She said someone was at the door. Then we heard a crash followed by Jayna screaming.”

“Do you know who came to the door?”

“No, she just said she knew him, never said a name.”

Jamie. Jamie would know. She knew impossible things.

“Sergeant Burke, there are footprints around her bedroom window.” A young officer appeared from the side of the house. “Looks like someone has been watching her for quite some time.”

The fear racing up Derek’s spine turned into full-out terror.

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