AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Okay, so what did you do when you couldn’t find her? And did you by chance see who she had been talking to—on her phone?” His tone had lightened a little, probably because I was obviously cooperating with him to the best of my ability. Maybe.
“I don’t know who she was talking to,” I admitted with a shrug. “I only know that her phone just kept going off—over and over. She seemed more annoyed by it than anything else. I don’t know if that’s actually helpful though.” I shook my head, some of my messy hair falling from my bun on top of my head. “I, um, I actually went out the back door?—”
“To look for Sarah?”
Putting words in my mouth.
“No, actually,” I corrected him. “I honestly just assumedthat she had gone somewhere else. She’s a grown woman, and I don’t really know her that well.”
“So then why were you out for drinks with her?”
“Uh, because we ran into each other at the grocery store, and she asked me.” I felt confused as I explained—and also...guilty.Why didn’t I look harder for her? I should’ve called her or something... “I hadn’t seen her since high school, to be honest. We were never close. I really don’t know why she wanted to catch up.”
“Yeah, okay, so you accept the random invitation to go out for drinks and she slips off, then what?” Sheriff Myers is a hard man to read, his tone continuing to change sentence by sentence. First, he’s cold, then he’s bright and friendly, and now he’s just monotone.
“I stepped outside the back of the bar, thinking that it would keep me from having to go back through the crowd. I figured I’d just go home from there. I don’t know.” My hands began to sweat as I thought about what was to come, and what I would have to admit.
“And did you see anything suspicious?”
I hesitated, that eerie somber feeling creeping over me. “No, not really.”
“Not really?”
“I saw...” my voice trailed off as I squeezed my eyes shut and took a deep breath.
Why was it so hard to say his name?
“Who did you see, Beth?”
“Garrett.”
Sheriff Myers’ mouth twitched, though his expression remained the same. “Likemyson, Garrett? Or a differentGarrett?”
“Your son,” I said quietly. “I stepped out the back door and the motion lights didn’t come on immediately. I don’t know why… I don’t know what he was doing. He was justthere.”
“Stumbling around drunk, probably,” he grunted in a barely audible voice. “His brother was working there for a while last night. Probably cut him off.” He paused, his expression faltering. “Anyway, tell me what happened next.”
I tugged at the hem of my gray T-shirt. “We had a very short conversation and then I left.”
“What did you talk about with him?” Sheriff Myers asked but then stopped himself, letting out a sharp breath. “Actually, that doesn’t matter. Um,” he popped his lips. “Did you see anyone else on your way out?”
“No, well,” I corrected myself. “There was a group of some people standing right out front, but I didn’t know who they were—and I don’t think they even noticed me leaving. I went straight home after that, spoke to Blaze, and then went to bed.”
And barely slept.
“Okay, and you didn’t see any signs of Sarah once you exited the bar?” His eyes locked with mine, and I could see something there that wasn’t when we had first started our conversation. “Anything that stands out? It might not mean anything to you, but it could mean the break in the case for us.”
I nodded in understanding. “I can’t think of anything.”
Except for the stain Garrett’s shirt.
My mind replayed the massive dark spot on Garrett’s T-shirt and my stomach lurched. It had been too dark to see what color it was...
“Beth?” Sheriff Myers caught my attention. “Didyou see something?”
I chewed the inside of my cheek, the image still at theforefront of my mind. “No. I don’t think so. I was just so tired and ready to get home.”
He nodded slowly, but before he could say anything else, the sound of another vehicle pulling in the drive caught his attention. “What the…”
