Half truth

Chapter Forty-Four

Logan

My knee bounced incessantly as I waited for the police officer to finish up his notes. She glanced up from her computer, looking at me over her reading glasses.

“This is what I have so far. You spoke to her on the phone at five o’clock on Sunday. You don’t know where she was headed. You told her you’d call that night, and when you called she never answered, so you tried again, but you figured she was sleeping so you left her alone,” she said, reciting what I’d just told her. “You got home Monday, this morning, at eight o’clock, went straight to her apartment, and she wasn’t home. You called and she didn’t answer, you went to her classes but she wasn’t there, so you went to the coffee shop she frequents and asked her friend Hailey Valentine if she’d seen her, and she said no. You went to the newspaper and asked Max Stein, and he also said no. Ella Valentine told you she’d emailed with her Sunday morning about a potential story and hadn’t heard back from her.” Officer Wright took off her glasses and set them on her desk. “Did you try calling her parents?”

“Of course I did.” Ella Valentine had the same idea and called Mr. Bastón while I was in her office. “Her dad said she wasn’t home and that he hadn’t seen her since Friday night when she visited her brother.”

“I’m inclined to tell you to wait a few hours,” Officer Wright said. “Maybe she’s going through some things. Did you two fight?”

“Yeah, but we were fine already. We spoke yesterday and everything was back to normal.”

“Sometimes women need a little break, Mr. Fitzgerald.” Officer Wright shot me a kind smile. “I know it’s hard for you to understand that, but it happens.”

“Nobody has seen her.” I leaned forward, gripping the edge of her desk. “Nobody has seen her or heard from her since yesterday afternoon. This isn’t something Amelia does.”

“I’m just—”

“What Logan means is, you don’t want another Lana Ly case on your hands, officer. We’re trying to prevent your department from looking like a total joke, and the only way you can do that is by starting this search right now, as soon as possible. Maybe she’s taking a break, and that’s great, but if that’s the case, don’t you want to be the ones who find her safe?” Nolan asked. He set a hand on my shoulder and squeezed so that I’d stay quiet. I breathed out, letting him have his moment because he really was doing a better job than I could right now.

“I’ll have some of my officers take a look around,” she said.

“Thank you.” I brought my face down to my hands with an exhale.

People like Amelia Bastón didn’t just disappear without a trace and I refused to believe she was doing this to take a break from us. That was bullshit and not the Amelia I knew.