She's Not There - Madison Marla (книги без сокращений .txt) 📗

When the final notes died out, the music continued with one of her favorites, “You Are So Beautiful to Me.” Jeff put his arms around her waist, and they began to dance to the slow, molten sounds of the love song. They weren’t exactly pressed together, but she put her arms around his neck, resting her head on his shoulder, while reminding herself they weren’t on a date. But he felt good.

When the song ended, the band took a break.

Back at the bar, TJ picked up her drink. “You were right—they make a great margarita.”

Jeff frowned. “TJ, I think you put yourself at risk too often.”

TJ had forgotten they were out to celebrate her discovery of Tina’s mother, but hadn’t expected a lecture on her methods. “That’s how I live my life. Used to be a cop, you know. That’s when I really lived on the edge.”

Wisely, Jeff let the subject drop. When the band resumed, a tall, well-dressed black man approached them and asked TJ to dance. She looked at Jeff.

“Go ahead.” He watched her leave, thinking he’d never known anyone remotely like TJ. But he and TJ were just friends, weren’t they? A twinge of disloyalty struck him as he realized it had only been two months since his wife disappeared.

He watched them dance; they looked awesome together. It didn’t take long before the rest of the dancers circled TJ and her partner, watching their performance. Maybe this guy was someone TJ should get to know. Jeff hadn’t liked what he’d heard about Richard, her detective boyfriend.

When the song ended, TJ’s partner grabbed her to dance with him to the next song. Jeff downed his drink, trying not to watch her every move. Overcome with guilt, he ordered another drink.

After TJ finished the second wild dance with the other guy, the lights went down, signaling a slow dance. The song began.

“No one told me about her, the way she lied.”

Jeff nearly dropped his drink. He should have been prepared—they were playing old songs. Before he could react, TJ appeared at his side, asking him to dance. He knew she was probably just worried about him because of the damn song, but he wanted to feel her in his arms again. To hell with the damn song. On the dance floor, when she rested her head on his shoulder and he felt her warm breath on his neck, he knew—she felt the attraction too. The song ended all too quickly—it had lost its hold on him.

When they returned to their seats at the bar, Jeff felt like he needed to say something, but what?

“So,” he asked, “are you having a good time?” Lame. He should have kept his mouth shut.

She smiled at him. As she started to speak, a woman approached them. “Jeff? Jeff Denison?”

“Yes,” he said, not recognizing the woman. About his age, she was short with long, reddish hair.

“I thought it was you. I’m Susan Jaster. You probably don’t remember me, but I met you last year at our Christmas party.” Jeff looked at her blankly.

“You know, Lifetime Insurance, the place where Jamie worked.” Jeff still didn’t remember her, although his memory of the party was not a fond one. He’d never felt like he fit in with Jamie’s friends. “Sure, I remember that party.”

“You know, when I saw you I remembered something from that night.” She moved closer to him. Her breasts, loose under a thin, satiny top, grazed his arm.

“Something about the Christmas party?”

“About the night Jamie went missing.”

She had his attention. Jeff could feel TJ leaning forward, waiting to hear what Susan had to say. He asked, “What do you mean?”

“Well, it was kinda weird. We were all drinking a lot and dancing, and I wasn’t even sure it was her.”

They listened raptly for more. Jeff asked, “Are you saying you saw Jamie that night?”

“Yeah. I think I did. We were sitting at that booth over there.” She pointed to a booth across the room. “It was real crowded that night. I thought I saw her standing at the bar. “

“Here?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s it? You think you saw her?” Jeff wished she’d get to the point if she had one. He didn’t think it likely Jamie had been at the Sombrero Club the night she disappeared.

“I’m pretty sure I saw her. But it was more than that. I met this guy, you know? We decided to go somewhere else for a while. When we left I thought I saw her car in the parking lot. It like—stood out, you know?”

Jeff did know. When Jamie bought the expensive little sports car, he’d said nothing even though he’d disapproved of the purchase.

“Are you sure about any of this?”

“Well . . . pretty much.”

“Did anyone else see her?”

“No, just me.”

Jeff wanted to shake her. “Did you tell this to the police?”

“I wasn’t there the day the cops came around at work. No one believed I saw her that night—we always asked her to come with us and she never did. I had a lot to drink so I figured the cops wouldn’t believe me either.”

It made sense; she didn’t come across as very credible. She’d been looking questioningly at TJ. Jeff finally introduced her as a friend.

TJ helped wrap things up. “We need to get going. Gotta be at work early tomorrow.”

Jeff rose from his seat, tossing bills on the bar.

“Well, I just thought I’d tell you,” Susan hissed, obviously irritated Jeff hadn’t been more interested in what she had to tell him. She stalked back to her table, her short suede skirt barely covering her narrow hips.

When the door closed behind them, TJ stopped, her eyes gleaming. “We got a lead!”

47             

The guest list for Thanksgiving dinner had grown exponentially. Who’d have thought so many people had nowhere to go? Lisa kept busy planning the meal, and Eric hired a second security guard for the weekend. Her schedule minimal due to the holiday, she immersed herself in culinary concerns.

Lisa was alone in the kitchen when TJ came in on Tuesday night.

TJ hadn’t looked her in the eye. She had her back to Lisa as she hung up her coat.

Lisa asked, “Hi, what’s up?”

“Wish I knew.”

“Anything you’d like to talk about?”

TJ sat down at one of the kitchen stools. “Got any coffee?”

“No, how about tea?” TJ made a face but accepted a cup of the green tea Lisa was fond of and stared into it without sipping.

Lisa poured herself a cup and sat next to her. “Did you have a good time last night?”

“Something real interesting happened last night.” TJ told Lisa about the conversation with Susan Jaster. “We’re gonna need to go back there with a picture of Jamie and see if anyone else saw her. Could be a great lead.”

“It could, I suppose. But why the mood? Isn’t that good news?”

TJ sighed heavily. “Might be time for me to come see you for therapy.”

Lisa laughed. “Okay, what’s going on? It has to be serious if you’re thinking about therapy.”

“It’s Jeff.”

“Jeff? What about him?”

“You know.”

“Are we going to play twenty-questions?”

TJ stood, carrying the tea she still wasn’t drinking, and walked over to the window. With her back to Lisa, she said, “I’m startin’ to get feelings for the guy. Well, lust anyway.”

Lisa held back what would have been her first response. “How do you feel about that?”

“I could give you a buncha reasons why it’s bad. Let’s see, he still misses his wife, we’re even more opposite than they were, I ain’t good at relationships, and he’s too goddamn white!”

“White? Conlin’s white. Since when does that matter to you?”

“Not that kind of white. I mean vanilla-white. The guy goes to church every week. He’s an engineer. He likes old movies. And what would he want with someone like me?”

Lisa walked over to TJ and turned her around. “TJ, we can’t help who we’re drawn to. You and Jeff have spent a lot of time with each other and gone through a lot together. Being drawn to one another is understandable. But Jeff is very vulnerable right now. Your friendship has been good for him, but I’d hate to see you get hurt. He still has a lot to work through before he can get involved with someone again. And what’s this ‘someone like me’ comment? I’ve never known you to have an ego problem.”