Finding Tessa by Jaime Hendricks (best ereader for comics .TXT) 📗

planned together. Left him with the apartment too, and a lease that he’d signed. He couldn’t make ends meet and had gotten himself into a bit of a pickle—the rent took up almost his entire take-home pay with little left for bills and zero left for a social life. He ended up giving up the apartment and moving back down to the suburban area where he had grown up—the same county as Valley Lake. He was able to land his job as assistant manager at the bank, due to his experience, and coming from a New York City bank held weight. However, for the time being, he had to get a roommate off Craigslist. It was not where he’d envisioned himself in his early thirties.

Jace should’ve learned from that situation not to move in with anyone so quickly, with someone you barely knew, but Tessa was—different.

First, Jace checked the home office where Tessa worked. Opened all the drawers, went through all her folders. It was mostly printed-out pictures of rooms—offices, bedrooms, living rooms. She’d had some notes in the corners, with her loopy cursive, denoting changes she’d make on certain items. Her computer screen stared at him, mocking him. He shook the mouse until the screen came to life. There was no password since they shared the computer.

She had her own email set up in Outlook, and when he guided the arrow over the program and pressed, her entire email popped up. He looked in her inbox, her sent items—nothing was out of the ordinary. Emails to random builders, trying to get appointments to decorate and stage homes, a few to local offices selling her services. Then one stood out from their neighbor Gwen.

To: Tessa Smyth

From: Gwendolyn Holloway

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 4:25 P.M.

Subject: Are you okay?

Just checking on you. I don’t blame you for not feeling safe. You should go to the police and do it the right way. Call me if you need anything

To: Gwendolyn Holloway

From: Tessa Smyth

Date: Wednesday, September 25, 2019, 5:01 P.M.

Subject: RE: Are you okay?

I can’t. I don’t want Jace to get arrested

That was this week. The day before she went missing. Jace was puzzled, because Gwen had told him that she didn’t see Tessa.

She couldn’t have told Gwen about—

That was their private life. Now what was he supposed to do?

Jace beelined for Tessa’s closet and opened the door in a fury. Her clothes were arranged by color. He thumbed through the hangers, checked inside all her pockets. He felt like he was snooping, and even though he wasn’t, it didn’t feel right. Opened her jewelry box, which she had hidden in the bottom corner of the closet.

Her wedding ring was in the top drawer.

The room spun before him, like he was on a merry-go-round, and he held on to the wall to steady himself as his heart raced. Deep breaths.

Footsteps padded on the stairs, and Candy was soon behind him to investigate.

“Come here, girl,” Jace said, and sat on the edge of the bed. Candy jumped onto the mattress and sat beside him. He pet her head, soft, and looked into her eyes. “Do you know anything?” he asked, like the dog was supposed to answer. Like she was going to turn around, sit like a human, put on her glasses, and say, Ok, Dad, here’s where it gets interesting, like this was a Disney movie. Her eyes were so trusting.

Ding dong. Candy jumped up on all fours and barked toward the door.

“Calm down, girl,” Jace said and leaped up. Candy was around three—she was a stray at the shelter when he and Tessa adopted her, but she was already rabidly protective. He exited the bedroom and closed the door behind him. He didn’t want Candy rushing the door.

Jace stumbled down the stairs and looked out the window. A woman stood on the landing outside the front door. She had her light-brown hair cut into a chic bob and wore a knee-length pink dress with a light-beige overcoat, though it wasn’t buttoned or belted. Tessa always complained about people knocking on the door selling stuff or asking for donations. He was about to back away, but she caught his eye through the window, and waved like she knew him. She looked familiar.

He opened the door a crack, even though there was still a screen door separating them. “Hi. Can I help you?”

“Are you Jace Montgomery?” she asked.

“Yes.”

“Hi. I’m Carina Killhorn with Channel 10 News. Is it true your wife is missing? Tessa Smyth?”

Her voice was raspy, like she was a two-pack-a-day smoker, and it made her sound old, even though she was only about his age. Now he recognized her. The glasses she wore had thrown him off, probably wearing them just to look smart. He’d seen her on the news before, pushy and rude, always trying to break the big story. And a missing woman in a small town fit the bill. This was her chance.

She held a cell phone out toward him, indicating she wanted him to speak into it. He was being recorded.

This was his gotcha moment. He knew it was coming. Someone at the police department had a big fucking mouth.

“I can’t talk about this. There’s an investigation. I don’t want to mess up anything they’re doing. Go to Detective Solomon at the Valley Lake PD.”

“Right. So, are you going on record with no comment?” She smirked at him.

“No comment.”

He shut the door just as another news van pulled up to the cul-de-sac and parked. Carina didn’t leave his stoop as two other men, one with a camera and one with a microphone, made their way toward the door.

Son of a bitch. Jace ran into the office and grabbed the cordless phone that was attached to the landline that Tessa insisted they needed for her business. With shaky fingers, he dialed the police department and asked for Detective Solomon.

The line went quiet without a hold on please as he waited. After the doorbell rang again, and Candy barked