Page 23 of In Her Mind

“Uh, sure,” came the uncertain reply. “Trussler Hall, room 214.”

“Thank you. We’ll be there shortly.” She ended the call, sliding the phone back into her pocket.

The squad car felt like a sanctuary as Jenna slipped into the driver’s seat. Jake settled beside her, the silence between them a comfortable one born of shared purpose and understanding. She turned the ignition, and the engine purred to life, the dashboard lights casting a soft glow on their faces.

Jake asked as they rolled past the jail’s perimeter fence, “What do you make of Jason as a suspect?”

“His story... it’s got holes,” Jenna remarked, breaking the silence. “His alibi for last night doesn’t sit well with me.”

“Spelling seems convinced we’ve found our man,” Jake said. “What do you think?”

Jenna’s hands tightened slightly on the wheel. She drew in a breath, feeling the connection to her sister tugging at the edges of her consciousness—a reminder that not all answers were easily uncovered.

“I wish I knew,” she murmured, the car’s headlights cutting through the gathering dusk. There were too many questions unanswered, too many doubts lingering. And somewhere out there, possibly still alive, was Amber Stevens. Every detail they could uncover mattered now; it was the difference between finding Amber alive, or... Jenna pushed the thought aside, focusing on the present.

She maneuvered the car onto the main road leading toward Ozark State University. This case was a tangled web, and intuition alone wouldn’t cut through the knots—she needed concrete evidence, something to anchor her suspicions or dispel them entirely. At this point, Amber’s fiancée was simply an unknown factor.

Right now, she needed to see Liam Sweeney face-to-face to evaluate his part in this ugly puzzle.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

When Jenna swung the cruiser into a parking space marked for visitors, the campus looked mostly deserted except for the occasional student hurrying along. She and Jake stepped out of the car and studied a map kiosk near the edge of the lot. Shetraced the paths and buildings before stopping at Trussler Hall. They set off in that direction, passing ivy-clad brick buildings that whispered tales of academia and youthful aspirations.

Jenna tried to envision the earlier chaos when Jason Reeves, fueled by liquor and fury, had stormed these same paths. She was eager to meet the person who was the target of that rage. Surely, one or the other of these young men held some kind of clue to Amber’s disappearance. So far, they’d had no luck with the one who was in jail.

Trussler Hall loomed ahead, its exterior an imposing edifice of stone and mortar. Gothic arches framed the entrance, giving the impression of crossing into a bygone era. Inside the building, overhead lights illuminated polished floors and the academic achievements proudly displayed on the walls. In a visible living room, the furniture was quite modern.

They took the stairs to the second floor and found room 214 tucked away in a quiet section of the hall. Jenna knocked, the sound sharp in the hushed corridor.

“Come on in,” a voice called from inside.

As they stepped through the door, Jenna announced, “Sheriff Graves and Deputy Hawkins. I spoke to you on the phone.”

Liam Sweeney sat behind a desk littered with textbooks and notes, as if today were just another day for learning. When he stood to offer a handshake, his movements were fluid, a biologist’s precision plus a trace of nervous energy. He was tall and lean, the kind of young man who looked more at home in a laboratory than a boxing ring. His hair was tousled, a testament to many hours spent poring over studies rather than personal grooming.

As he looked up, his eyes – bright with intelligence and a touch of naivety – met Jenna’s gaze. A bruise marred the skin above his left eye, a purple blotch that stood out against his faircomplexion. Despite this, his smile was genial, as if physical pain were a mere inconvenience compared to academic pursuit.

Jenna noted the warmth in his handshake, the earnestness in his expression – a young man with dreams not yet dimmed by the world’s harsh realities. Observing the bruised area, she noted the discoloration that indicated a hit taken directly—which could have been a sucker punch. Her training told her that the force behind it was significant, yet here was Liam, brushing off the incident with the same ease one might dismiss a spilled drink.

Liam cleared books off of two chairs and gestured for his visitors to take those seats. Then he sat back down in his desk chair, a gentle sway betraying underlying tension. The bruise was a stark violation on his otherwise unblemished skin, yet his attitude remained buoyant, almost dismissively so.

“Sorry that you had to take that hit,” Jake commented.

“Honestly, I’m fine,” Liam insisted, the light catching the edges of his bruise as he turned towards them. “Jason was awfully drunk; his pent-up frustration got the better of him.”

Jenna scrutinized his expression, searching for signs of bravado or latent anger, but found none. It was clear that Liam truly believed in clemency over retribution. His focus returned to the open textbooks, fingers tapping a rhythm on the paper as if to a tune only he could hear.

“Actually,” Liam continued with a wry smile, “I owe thanks to Trent and Marco, those guys on the wrestling team. If they hadn’t been there, Jason might’ve done more than leave me with a shiner.” He touched the bruise lightly, wincing a bit. “Those wrestlers are built like tanks,” Liam said with a laugh. “I’m not exactly the fighting type, you know? More into nematodes than knockouts.”

“I guess you know your attacker is under arrest right now,” Jenna said.

“Yeah, but like I told Chief Morgan, I don’t want to press charges,” Liam chuckled. “Jason had his reasons to get mad, and I can kind of understand how he felt. Of course, Chief Morgan said it wasn’t up to me whether Jason would face charges, that part’s up to the prosecutor. That’s too bad. I just want to put it all behind me, and I’m sure Jason feels the same way.”

“Did you call to tell Amber about this?” Jake asked.

“No, I haven’t. And I don’t plan to … not if this is the end of it.”

Liam’s voice held an echo of empathy, an unusual but admirable emotion for someone who’d been on the receiving end of Jason’s anger. The revelation prompted a silent communication between Jenna and Jake, their eyes meeting briefly. In that glance, they shared the recognition that Liam apparently knew nothing about the disappearance of Amber, his fiancée.

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