Page 84 of Forever and Other Lies

“It’s Lance,” Derek spit out. “He dated Greta. She breaks up with him and turns up dead! Then Jayna. She broke up with him, and now she’s missing.”

“Derek, we cleared him in the Greta Cochrane case. He had a strong alibi.”

“Duncan! The busboy at Patty’s. He was making Jayna nervous.” Derek raised his hands to his hair, grabbing handfuls. But would she have opened the door to him? It had to be the paramedic.

Jamie. He pulled out his cell phone and searched through his contacts. “Who was at Jayna’s door?” he demanded when she answered.

“Is Jayna okay?” Jamie’s voice was breathless through the speaker of his phone.

“She’s not here, Jamie.” His jaw clenched. “Who was at her door? You told her not to answer it.”

“I don’t know.”

“Can’t you just see who it was? Do some magic or whatever it is you do?”

“It doesn’t work that way, Derek. I just had a feeling that something was off.”

“Jamie, it’s more than just something being off. Something bad has happened to her.”

“I know, Derek.”

He wanted reassurance from her that he was wrong. He didn’t want to hear that he was right.

He didn’t want to be right.

“Can you check if Duncan is working?” He met Burke’s concerned stare as he waited for Jamie to check on the busboy’s status.

“Derek, he never showed up for work tonight. He’s not answering his cell phone.”

“Damn it.” He swiped to end the call and stared directly at Burke. “Why are you just standing there? You have two suspects to be checking out.”

“It’s not a crime to miss a shift, Derek. And other than the fact that you said he made Jayna feel nervous, I have no reason to believe he is involved.”

“You have my gut instinct and Jamie’s. She’s psychic. She knows things. Go talk to her.”

Burke shook his head. “I don’t believe in psychics.”

Derek turned in a slow circle and screamed Jayna’s name. He knew that she was in danger. Why hadn’t she listened to him?

Jayna was missing.

Chapter 41

Jayna was still missing. Over 24 hours had passed without a word.

Derek sat at the bar, his eyes scanning every man in the pub. Burke had asked him to compile a list of anyone he’d noticed watching Jayna. Every man in this bar with a pulse and a functioning libido would have watched her. Jayna was stunningly beautiful. She was funny and full of life. He winced at the phrase. She was going to be alright. She had to be.

His stomach churned, and he stared at the untouched whiskey in front of him. He needed to keep his mind clear. What he needed to do was stop drinking before it became a problem. The past few years, since everything with his brother, he’d been drinking a lot. It was time to quit. His liver would thank him, and Jayna needed him.

His gaze shifted to the small notebook on the bar top. He’d written only two names on the page—the same two he had already given to Burke; Lance and Duncan. He couldn’t shake the feeling that she’d never open the door to Duncan. That brought him straight back to Lance.

Burke said Lance had an airtight alibi. Duncan, on the other hand, had missed another shift. The man had disappeared.

This was a complete waste of time. Derek slapped a ten-dollar bill beside his untouched drink, grabbed the notebook and his keys, heading out.

Five minutes later, he pushed open the glass door of the Blythe Landing Police Station. He strolled in, ignoring the officer at the front desk. Derek walked down the corridor toward Burke Winston’s office, and he raised his hand to knock on the closed door. Hell with that! He turned the knob and entered.

Burke glanced up from the pile of papers strewn across his desk. “Derek?”

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