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

up. The trilling of the phone line ate at him as he waited for an answer.

“Hello?” Nick said, his voice still scratchy with before-morning-coffee sound.

“Nick. Hi. It’s Jace Montgomery.”

“Jace,” Nick said, then paused. “Did Candy get out again?”

Candy had gotten out of their yard three times in the last few months, always ending up at Nick and Gwen’s, hovering at the open door of their pool house. She was the reason they’d met their neighbors to begin with. Jace had frantically run to each and every house that first time she’d gone missing, pounding on their doors, until Candy’s wiggling butt came to the front with Nick. The faint smell of bacon wafted out of the entryway to the porch, where he saw a very satisfied Candy waiting, belly full of pig fat.

“Nah, nothing like that. How are you doing?” Jace decided to start. He didn’t want to jump right into oh-my-God-Tessa-is-missing. A fact-finding mission seemed like a better idea.

Nick cleared his throat. “Woke up on the right side of the grass, so all is well. Is everything okay?”

“I was wondering if maybe Tessa contacted Gwen last night? For wine? Or anything else?”

There was a pause, then Nick answered. “Last night? Nope. Caleb has the flu. Gwen was taking care of him all night.” He stopped, clearly not welcoming the intrusive early phone call. “Is there something I can help you with, or—?”

Jace sighed. “I don’t know, Nick. Tessa disappeared last night. I got home late, and she was missing.”

“Missing?” Doubt crept into his voice. “Are you sure she didn’t—”

“I had the cops here. The kitchen window was broken. There was blood.”

“Jesus!” There was a muffled sound, as if Nick cradled the phone to his shoulder, and he called for Gwen. When the voices came back into focus, Jace heard Gwen’s voice as Nick told her what happened.

The percolator stopped with a glub, and the scent of Colombian beans filled the space around him. Jace opened the cabinet above the dishwasher and retrieved a mug and poured. He grabbed two small sugar packets that Tessa had swiped from Dunkin’ Donuts and flicked them with his middle finger, then tore the paper and emptied them into his mug. Another text vibrated on his phone, which he ignored at first. “Her purse and phone are here. The cops suspect foul play. Did either of you happen to hear anything? See a parked car that didn’t belong? Anything?”

Jace pressed his home button on his phone, and it was another text from Rosita.

You have to call me before I call the detective back. I don’t want any trouble.

Jace’s face scrunched up. Rosita was pushy, she’d been gunning for his job when he was promoted right after he married Tessa. He tapped back.

Gimme 5

Gwen came onto the line. “Oh my God, is everything okay? What happened to Tessa?”

Gwen and Tessa had struck up an unlikely friendship after the first time the neighbors rescued Candy. Gwen and Nick were about Jace’s age and had a four-year-old son, Caleb. Gwen was obsessed with him, already a helicopter mom. She hovered over him at the playground, fought with strangers online about the necessity of vaccinations, checked all his food and clothing to make sure the materials were natural, and would drop everything just to get him a spoon. Jace wouldn’t be surprised if she was still breastfeeding.

That’s what made the friendship unlikely—Tessa had never shown interest in children. The contrary. She’d cover her ears whenever one cried in their vicinity, and she’d roll her eyes if there were children next to them in a restaurant, even if the kids were well-behaved. Yet she’d spent an awful lot of time down the block with Gwen during the day when she was supposed to be chasing clients.

“I don’t know what to think. When was the last time you saw her?” Jace asked.

There was a pause on the line, and Jace could practically see Nick and Gwen whisper-fighting. The silence was deafening until he heard a wail from Caleb in the background. Find Boo Bear, Mommy! Now!

“I haven’t seen her this week, but I gotta go. Here’s Nick.”

Just like that, she was gone, and Nick was back on the line. “Hey, man, if you need anything, call us, okay?” he said.

“Yeah, thanks. I’m going to stop into the police station before work. See if they’ve figured anything out yet. Let me know if you guys remember anything.”

The line went dead, leaving Rosita’s text staring up at him. He scrolled through his contacts and pressed her name.

It rang once. Twice. He pictured where she was in her condo, just five minutes away. Was she in the master bathroom, diligently applying her false eyelashes that she wore every day? Rolling her bleached-on-the-bottom hair into big curls, like she always wore it? Sitting on the bed, dressed, pressing her heel into one of the stilettos she always paired with her suits? Draping herself with a blazer, over a too-small tank top? Applying a pink metallic gloss on her plump lips? Lips that had—

“Jace!” she screeched into the phone, in a whisper, even though he knew she was alone. Probably. She was probably alone. She’d better be alone. “What the hell is going on? Why would a detective call me?”

“Tessa is missing. She disappeared last night. While we were out.”

“We weren’t out, Jace. It was a group thing.” She said it with obvious contempt.

Originally, it was her idea to take VistaBuild out for drinks to try to win them over. Their corporate headquarters were in the DC area, although their direct contacts, Andy and Kyle, worked at satellite offices, and they’d already been approved for funding by Jace’s bank and two others. Rosita wanted an edge. She’d mentioned to Jace, in a too-close whisper after VistaBuild left, that he should stay for a few more drinks with Trey and Aleesha. But really, with her. It turned into couples’ night.

Only Jace and Rosita weren’t a couple.

“Well, anyway, I told them we were all out with Vista,”