Her Last Day (Jessie Cole Book 1) by Ragan T.R

Author:Ragan, T.R. [Ragan, T.R.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781542046060
Publisher: Thomas & Mercer
Published: 2017-10-23T16:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-FIVE

Jessie parked in front of Arlo’s house, but before she or Olivia could climb out of the car, she saw the front door open.

“Stay here,” she told Olivia as she reached for the picture, “while I talk to Zee’s dad.”

Arlo stepped out of the house and shut the door behind him. “What are you doing here?” he asked, seemingly put out by her visit.

Ignoring his bluster, she handed him the eight-by-ten photo she’d had blown up and pointed at the man in the reflection of Zee’s sunglasses. “Look at that man,” she said. “He’s holding a Polaroid camera and taking Zee’s picture. Have you ever seen him before?”

He looked at it for a long while, his trembling hands causing the photo to shake. A light sheen of sweat covered his forehead, and for the life of her, she had no idea what was going through his mind. Afraid to ask him if he was okay, since that hadn’t gone well the first time she’d met him, she simply waited for him to talk.

A solid two minutes passed before he looked back at Jessie. His eyes appeared glossy. Was he going to cry? “What is it?” she asked.

He handed her the picture, pushing it into her hands as if he wanted nothing more to do with it. “I’ve never seen him before.”

The shocker was when he turned away and headed back for the front door.

“Arlo,” she said, stopping him in his tracks, “this is our best clue so far. If you want me to find Zee, then you’re going to need to help me.”

He turned to her and said, “What do you want me to do? I’m paying you to do your job, so do it.”

She held her ground. “There has to be someone who might be able to tell me who this man is. You and Zee must have friends or family or someone—anyone at all—who might know who this man is.”

“I filled out your paperwork.”

“And I read every word,” she said.

“Then you know there’s nobody for you to talk to.”

“You don’t have a brother, sister, or parents?”

“I have a brother in Minnesota who I haven’t seen or talked to in twenty years. That’s it.”

“Can you tell me his name?”

He sighed. “Zee has never met him, and I’ve never spoken to her of my brother, but his name is Waylon. There. I hope that helps. I’ve got to go.”

With that said, Arlo walked back into his house and shut the door behind him, leaving Jessie to wonder if all his neighbors were right about the man. And then she thought of Zee and headed back to the car. “Come on,” she said to Olivia when she climbed out. “We’ll leave the car parked here while we go door-to-door.”

“He looked angry. Was he mad at you?”

Jessie lifted her arms in frustration. “I have no idea. But I’ve made the decision not to give up on Zee.”

“Yeah,” Olivia said. “I agree. I just hope she’s okay.”

“Me, too.”

Jessie was worn-out by the time she knocked on the front door of a one-story yellow house with a green roof and white shutters.

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