Page 42 of Guarded from Corruption

“Ah, sweetheart. You don’t need to?—”

I’m interrupted by the knock of doom.

Not really; I can see from the video feed on my phone that it’s just Dante and Matt standing outside my apartment. But the heavy rap on my door bears a sense of foreboding. No matter how I spin this, no matter how it could ultimately help, Jade’s going to be upset, and there’s nothing I can do about it.

“Hang on,” I tell her. “It’s Dante and Matt. I’m just going to let them in.” Once I stand up, I lean down to press a kiss to her forehead. “Are you going to be okay?”

A faint smile tugs at the corners of her mouth. “Well. Since I can see the front door from here… probably.”

Right. The protectiveness I feel toward Jade has clearly stolen some of my rationality.

“Right,” I reply, smiling back at her. “Of course you are. I don’t know what I was thinking.”

I’m nearly to the door when she says, “I like it. That you worry about me.”

Oh. It’s more than a punch to the chest. It’s a sledgehammer crashing into it.

As I open the door to Dante, he inspects my face before giving me a quick chin lift. In a low tone, he asks, “How’s she doing?”

“Not great.” I nod at Dante and Matt in greeting. “Can you blame her?”

“Not at all.” Matt’s expression is somber. “I just hope we can get some information that helps. I’ve been running into dead ends all over the place.”

Once everyone is seated, Jade sets her shoulders and cuts right to the chase. She looks at Dante and asks with only a hint of a quiver, “Who is it?”

“Olivia Richmond.” At her shocked inhale, he continues in a gentle tone, “She was reported missing by her roommate yesterday. The last time she saw Olivia was three days ago.”

Jade leans forward. “What about work?”

“Nothing. No notice, no sick days, she just didn’t show up. So that’s different from what happened to you. Still…”

Matt jumps in. “It could be unrelated.” He glances at his tablet for a second before looking back up. “But there are a lot of similarities. You’re both around the same age. From the same area. Olivia is an attractive woman. Intelligent. And you worked together…”

Jade looks stricken. She clutches my hand. “Olivia? Missing? Could it be a mistake?” Then she shakes her head. “Of course not. Olivia is just like all the women I saw. But I just can’t believe…”

“Do you think there’s a connection at the doctor’s office?” I direct this to Matt, who I’m sure started looking into it the second he heard about Olivia.

“There could be, although nothing has turned up yet. We looked into all the doctors in the practice, and while they’re all well-off, they all look clean. No connections to shady business dealings, no charges against them. Investments seem solid. I’m still investigating, though.”

“What else do you know about Olivia?” Dante asks Jade. “Can you think of anything else that might connect you two?”

There’s a pause as she thinks. “We go to the same gym. She convinced me to take some classes with her. And we’ve gone to some conferences together. Sometimes we go out to Finley’s Diner after work. Maybe once a week or so? We went to a party together a couple of months ago. It was her roommate’s birthday. I didn’t want to go, but Shea was giving me a hard time about never going out—” Jade stops, and her eyes fill with tears. “I can’t believe it. Olivia is… She can’t…”

Her chin wobbles, and one tear escapes. “She wouldn’t just leave. I know it.” Jade turns to me, desperation in her gaze, and I can tell she’s close to breaking down.

“Sweetheart, it’s okay.” Hugging her to me, I stroke my hand down the length of her hair. “That’s really good information. We can use it.”

“Absolutely,” agrees Matt. “The party and the diner; those are new. I can start looking into them right away.”

Jade lifts her head from my chest. “What if I’d thought of those earlier? What if it’s my fault?—”

“No.” I’m firm. Definitive. “You’re only human, Jade. You can’t think of everything. Every store you visited? Gas station? Park? The only reason we know to look into that diner is because of the connection between you and Olivia.”

“But…”

“We’ll figure this out.” Matt looks at his tablet again, his gaze quickly scanning the screen. “We have this information, and I’ve found some possible clients to look into. A judge in Austin who was accused of sexual harassment, but the charges were suddenly dropped. A politician in San Antonio with an old charge of solicitation and a string of very young girlfriends.”

“I wish this could move faster,” Dante adds apologetically. He leans forward in his chair, resting his forearms on his legs. “Unfortunately, the people behind this are very careful. It doesn’t mean we won’t solve it. We will. It’s just going to take some more time.”

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