Page 17 of In Her Mind

Jenna exchanged a glance with Jake, acknowledging the pattern they’d begun to see. This narrative was familiar, echoed in the stories told by Marcus, Lila, and Theo. They all felt a distance from Robyn that seemed to have widened since she entered college—a change in her that had made her seem more introspective, even isolated.

“Some experiences change people,” Jenna said, thinking of her own transformations, the paths she had wandered since her sister’s disappearance. “Robyn, do you know if there were any issues between Amber and Jason Reeves?”

When there was no quick answer, she scrutinized Robyn’s face for any hint of insight into Amber’s personal life.

Robyn’s eyes darted to a spot on the polished tabletop before meeting Jenna’s gaze again. “I can’t say for sure,” she admitted. “They kept things private, but there were rumors they weren’t together anymore. I never pried.”

“Did you notice anything unusual about Jason lately?” Jake asked.

“Well, I never see much of him. But he’s not the same guy we grew up with,” Robyn confessed, her expression troubled.

Jenna saw the undercurrent of relief beneath Robyn’s concern. “So, Amber going to college... that was a good thing for her?” she probed, watching Robyn closely.

“Definitely,” Robyn affirmed with a firm nod. “Getting away from Trentville meant getting away from Jason too. Everyone knew they were high school sweethearts, but he changed over the years.” She hesitated, her words slowing as she spoke of Jason. “He started drinking, got this temper... We all hoped Amber had moved on for good.”

“Can you tell me anything more about Amber’s disappearance?” Robyn inquired, her voice tinged with hope. “Is there a chance she’s still out there?”

Jenna felt the weight of responsibility settle over her at Robyn’s question. It would be easy to speculate, to offer false comfort, but she owed it to Robyn to be honest, even if it meant revealing nothing at all. “We’re doing everything we can to find her,” Jenna said, careful not to make any promises.

“I hope you do,” Robyn’s gratitude was evident despite the uncertainty clouding her features.

“Let’s head out,” Jenna said to Jake, her mind already racing ahead. They needed to regroup, to sift through their information and find their next lead. As they stood to leave, Jenna exchanged a look with Jake, both feeling the frustration of unansweredquestions. They had gathered pieces of Amber’s life, yet the puzzle remained incomplete.

“We appreciate your cooperation,” she told Robyn. “If there’s anything you remember, anything at all that might help us find Amber, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Robyn nodded, the lines around her eyes deepening with concern. “I’ll do anything I can to help bring her home safely,” she promised, her hand trembling slightly as she reached for Jenna’s business card.

“Thank you,” Jake added, his gaze sweeping over the rustic interior of the Centaur’s Den one last time before following Jenna toward the door. They stepped outside, greeted by the relentless June sun that seemed indifferent to the somber mood of the day.

As they walked in silence to the car parked under the shade of an old oak, Jenna could feel a familiar frustration gnawing at her. The four interviews they’d done today had yielded little more than echoes of the same narrative—a young woman yearning for change, a volatile relationship possibly left behind, and friends grappling with her transformation.

She glanced at Jake. “Let’s hope Colonel Spelling has found something concrete,” she murmured, disappointment clear in her voice.

Jake nodded, unlocking the car with a beep that cut through the still afternoon air. “We’re doing all we can, Jenna. We’ll find her,” he said.

They settled into the car and pulled away from the curb. They agreed to get lunch next, and headed toward the Sunflower Café. Before they got far, Jenna’s phone rang abruptly, and she groaned when she saw who was calling. When she answered and put the call on speakerphone, Mayor Claire Simmons’s voice was sharp with irritation that bordered on anger.

“Graves and Hawkins, what on earth is going on?”

“Mayor Simmons, we—”

“Get to my office now,” the mayor snapped, brooking no argument. “We have much to discuss.” The line went dead, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.

“She doesn’t sound pleased,” Jenna observed, her understatement expressing her irritation.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Jake replied. “But we did our due diligence, left her a message before we started our interviews.”

“Protocol never seems to appease her,” Jenna mused, her thoughts already shifting to the impending confrontation. “And she never seems to understand that she’s not actually in charge of us. I was elected to my job just like she was to hers.”

“But we all need to work together sometimes,” Jake reminded her, “and the mayor can make things harder for us if she wants to.”

Jenna nodded. “So let’s just go get this over with.”

The drive shifted gears, urgency replacing the calm of lunch plans. They navigated the streets of Trentville to City Hall and the inevitable barrage of questions from a mayor more concerned with optics than outcomes.

The air felt heavier as Jenna and Jake approached the stern facade of the building, an unadorned relic from a bygone era. It was an emblem of small-town bureaucracy, with its brickwork faded from decades of sun and rain. They pushed through the heavy oak doors into the lobby, where the scent of old leather and wood polish lingered, a nostalgic reminder of the town’s slow-paced life.

“Let’s make this quick,” Jenna muttered as they walked down the narrow corridor lined with framed photos of parades and groundbreakings, the memories of Trentville’s modest triumphs.

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