Page 27 of The Last Session

“But—”

“Thanks, Thea.” Diane nodded at the door.

My stomach growled; after the intensity and strangeness of the meeting, and of seeing Catherine’s famous parents, I was suddenly ravenous. As I grabbed my coat and wallet from my locker, Rachel’s words circled in my head.Whathad Catherine wanted to tell me?

Outside, the icy wind snatched at my hair, and I squinted into pale, lemony sunlight. It took me a second to register the dark-haired man sitting on a bench outside the building.

“Jonah?” I stopped short. For a brief moment, wild, tentative hope blossomed in my chest. Was he here to surprise me? I had told him where I worked.

But when he looked up from his phone, his smile was too casual, verging on patronizing. “Oh, hey. How’s it going, Thea?”

“What are you doing here?” If he wasn’t here for me, why was he looking at me like that? Like I was an elderly aunt he had to make nice with so she’d go away?

He stood and ran a hand through his curls. “I thought I might run into you.”

“Yeah. Iworkhere.” This still wasn’t computing.

Jonah slipped his phone into his back pocket. “I can explain.”

“Okay…”

“I’m a private investigator. Catherine’s parents hired me.”

“What?”Staggered, I took a step back.

“They contacted me yesterday.” He crossed his arms. “I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but Catherine disappeared four years ago. Her parents hired me—they hired a couple of us, actually, in different cities she had connections in—but we weren’t able to track her. So when she resurfaced here, they wanted me to check on her before they arrived. Of course, I couldn’t get inside. So I looked up employees on LinkedIn.”

“But how did you…” My stomach abruptly heaved, and I placed a hand on my belly.Do not throw up. Do not.“You knew I’d be at that bar last night?”

“You posted about it on Instagram.”

“So you don’t live in that neighborhood.”

His gaze was steady. “No.”

I sputtered. “But that’s illegal, isn’t it? To pretend to be someone else? To pretend to be…” I didn’t finish the thought, because it was too pitiful:Interested in me?

“It’s not, actually.” There was that gleam of amusement in his eyes that I remembered, but now it looked hard, cruel. “People lie about themselves all the time.”

“But you camehomewith me. You were in my apartment. When I was drunk.”

“Well, maybe don’t invite strange men over when you’re wasted.”

The words shocked me enough that I was, for a moment, speechless. Then rage began swirling up through my chest. “Are you fucking serious? Did you actually just say that out loud to me?”

“Look.” He raised his hands, conciliatory. “I’m sorry. I’m honestly just trying to help her parents. They wanted her to be safe. Which… clearly, we failed in that.”

I shoved my shaking hands in my pockets.

“What happened to her?” Even in the midst of my shock and outrage, I wanted answers. “Why did she disappear?”

“We don’t know.” He stepped closer, his voice low and urgent. “If you have any information, it might help us find her.”

I laughed. “Oh! Now you’re expecting the drunken slut to help you? Is that what’s happening?”

“Thea, please. This is about Catherine, okay? Not you. And not me.”

“You don’t know shit about Catherine,” I spit out. The words surprised us both.

---