Dark Legacy by Jen Talty (reading books for 4 year olds .txt) 📗

head, knowing he hated tossing a line over.

“Tell us, Ben, when was the last time you saw your girlfriend?” Jackson went for the bang.

“I don’t have a girlfriend.” Ben turned and gazed out the window. “Not anymore, anyway.”

“When did that happen?” Katie leaned back in her chair.

Jackson cringed, waiting for her to toss her feet up onto the desk and start twirling her gum.

If she had gum.

“We broke up about a month ago,” Ben said. “I haven’t talked to or seen her in weeks. She won’t take my calls anymore. Did something happen to her? Is that why you called me?”

“We don’t know if anything happened,” Katie said, leaning forward and folding her arms on her desk. “Do you?”

He shook his head. His eyes teared.

Katie never believed anyone who cried.

Jackson only believed the ones who tried to act as though crying were the tell all by itself. This kid didn’t even try to hide his tears, but he sure as hell didn’t bring attention to them.

“Why did you break up?” Jackson asked.

Ben snapped his gaze to Jackson. “She started dating someone else. I don’t know who, but she made it clear that she was done with me.” He looked from Katie to Jackson then back to Katie. “Did something happen to her?” he asked again. “Please, tell me.”

“We really don’t know anything,” Jackson repeated. “All we know is that she took some time off work. Any idea where she might have gone?”

“She’s always wanted to go to the Sagamore Hotel. Spend a few days there. She talked about it all the time, but I couldn’t afford to take her.”

“Anywhere else?” Katie asked.

Ben rubbed his red cheek with a shaky hand. “If anything happened to her, I’ll never forgive myself. I got so mad at her when she dumped me that I told her I hoped she rotted in hell.”

“I think we’ve all done things in the heat of the moment we regret,” Katie said with a soft, soothing tone. It didn’t happen often, but when she tried, she could really be a caring woman.

“Can I asked who hired you?” Ben asked.

Katie and Jackson glanced at each other.

Jackson nodded. Normally, he wouldn’t divulge this kind of information, but under the cirucumstances, he wanted to gauge Ben’s reaction.

“Her roommate, Janice,” Katie said.

“Seriously? They hate each other.” Ben shook his head. “I mean, knock-down-and-drag-out fight kind of hate. Belinda had talked about moving out.” Ben’s bright eyes dulled. “I told her she could move in with me, but that didn’t happen.”

“Janice paints a different picture of her relationship with Belinda,” Jackson said.

“That’s shocking. But I don’t really know Janice well. We never spent much time at Belinda’s place, always crashing at mine.”

“Until a month ago,” Katie added just to scare the crap out of the young man, hoping he’d spill the beans.

If he had beans to spill.

“Will you let me know when you find her?” Ben stood, shoving his hands into his pockets. “I just want to know she’s okay.”

“Sure. But please let us know if you hear from her or think of anything that might help us.” Jackson stood, escorting the young man to the door. “We’ll be in touch.”

“This case is getting interesting,” Katie said.

Jackson had to agree, only he didn’t necessarily like interesting.

“I think it’s time for you to call your new girlfriend and put the pressure on.”

“She’s not my girlfriend, and I already did. She won’t give us much unless we have a subpoena or Belinda is in danger.”

“Try again. Because if we wait for the cops, it’s going to be too late.”

Jackson had to agree.

Shannon’s purse vibrated. She dug into the bag, hoping she found it before the light turned red. Walking across the street while doing anything but putting one foot in front of the other could prove to be a dangerous action.

Jackson’s number flashed across her screen. “Hey. What’s up?” Her heart hammered against her rib cage. Besides wanting to know if he had any news on her daughter, just hearing his voice gave her the kind of decadent pleasure that licking the brownie batter off the spatula had given her as a child.

Sweet.

Devilish.

And wrong.

But oh, so good.

“I got a visit from Ben Nisson this morning.”

“Oh, really?” Well, talking about work squashed her mood right quick, especially when she wasn’t supposed to be talking about Belinda’s private sessions with Jackson.

“So, you know him?”

“No. Never met the fellow,” she said, tapping her foot, waiting for the pedestrian signal. “But I might have heard of him. From, you know, a mutual friend.”

“We going to talk in code now. Cool.” Jackson chuckled. “Did you know Belinda dumped him a couple of weeks ago?”

“That’s a rumor I didn’t hear.” Shannon had spent hours listening to Belinda go on and on about how much she loved Ben but how he didn’t understand her or her issues. Of course, Shannon didn’t think Belinda had been completely upfront with her boyfriend about having been a sex worker, but who could blame her?

“Really?” Jackson asked.

“But I heard that a man had shown her a lot of interest in front of Ben. No idea who. She never mentioned a name or where she knew him from. Only that someone other than Ben had been giving her a lot of attention. I think she wanted to use the new guy to make Ben jealous.”

“Interesting on two accounts.”

“What does that mean?” Shannon looked both ways before stepping into the intersection. Walking and talking wasn’t a talent she’d mastered.

“Ben flat-out said she dumped him for a new guy, and you’re giving me a lot of information regarding a patient that you said you wouldn’t. I thought I would have to sweet talk you to get it.”

“Actually, I gathered that piece of information when I ran into Belinda at the bank while making a deposit. She’d been on a break and asked to chat. That was two days before she missed our lunch, and not during a session.”

“I see,” Jackson said. “I’ve got something else I need