Page 36 of The Eleventh Hour

“He might,” Dane says with this voice of reason that I’m sure could convert a nun.

“He won’t,” I growl.

“On the day the detectives came for you, Louis Falcon disappeared off the face of the Earth. People have been searching for him for six years. But the last person to see him was you.”

I glare at him. “I am aware of that.”

“What happened is that he got caught. The missing person came to light, and the spotlight turned on, and he took off. Now he’s back, hunting for you, Jax.”

I feel sick. How do I explain that it isn’t him? That Louis wouldn’t come for me. He only loves himself. “No, it’s not him.”

“We go back as we planned,” Rafael says. “But I think maybe there might be more clues that you don’t realise. If we work together, we might be able to find out what happened. She knows him, and he would have told her things, hidden in layers. Trust me, Dane. She’s the answer to finding Terrance.”

Dane scowls at the both of us, but I just look between them both and shake my head. “What do you mean, told me things?” I can’t help the incredulous tone.

Rafael stops and turns to me. “You were his chosen, his lover, his confidante. He would have told you things that don’t even seem like they make sense, they seem irrelevant, but they would have been pieces of the puzzle.”

“Come on, Rafe, that’s a stretch.” Dane opens a bottle of water and skulls half. “Even if it was true, pulling it out of her would be impossible.”

I really don’t like the way he says ‘her’, there are so many nasty connotations in the way he says it.

“Don’t think you can do it?” I taunt.

Dane snaps his head to me. “I’ll break you, little girl.”

“You can try.” I lean back on the couch and lift my chin. “Go ahead.”

Dane paces around and sits on the coffee table right in front of me. Rafe gets up and moves away.

“Tell me about the night you saw Terrance.”

Pain slashes through me. I hadn’t expected him to ask that, and I really should have.

I’m immediately back in my gallery, the smell of coffee and wine, the slinky silver dress and tight shoes pinching my toes. That night is one of my clearest memories. “The gallery opened at eight pm. I had twenty pieces on show, a mix of sculpture and painting. The theme was dreams. He came in half an hour after the show started. I saw him immediately. He had an air, a presence, quiet, commanding.” I glance up, and Rafael looks pained. When he sees me watching, he clears his face. “He came towards me slowly. I showed him the art, and he ended up purchasing my favourite.”

“What else do you see around you?”

“There are people in suits, women in dresses. Mostly people I don’t know, but some I recognise from the art world. Louis isn’t there.”

“But someone is, someone who doesn’t belong. Who is it?”

I frown and shake my head and pause. “No, there’s no one that shouldn’t be there.”

“Yes, there is. Who is it?” Dane growls. “There’s a someone who shouldn’t be there because when you said who was there, you frowned as you spoke. So, who doesn’t belong?”

I go over the image again and again, looking at everyone. “There’s a waitress from the coffee shop I go to every morning. But that doesn’t mean anything.”

Dane leans back and exchanges a long look with Rafael.

“He had women watching her.”

Dane nods. “It’s how he knew about Terrance.”

My stomach lurches, and bile races up my throat. Please, no.

“Where did you go after the show finished?”

“I packed up the piece and carried it to the back door and passed it to Terrance.”

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