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.”
“I know. An’ don’t even know what I want anyway. Guess I‘m just confused.”
Lisa said softly, “Maybe Jeff has some qualities you wish Richard had.”
TJ didn’t comment.
“Do you want advice?”
“Sure. You’ll lay it on me anyway.”
Lisa smiled. “Don’t let it go any further for now. He isn’t ready. But he needs your friendship. Talk to him about it. There’s no reason you can’t go on being friends. If there is a chance of something more developing between you, remember it has to happen slowly. For both of you, not just Jeff.”
TJ wrinkled her nose. “Don’t usually put things off; if I want it, I go for it, you know? Don’t like waiting. But, you’re right. We need to talk. Course if he doesn’t feel the same way, I’m gonna feel like an idiot.”
“Do you think he feels the same way about you?”
TJ stood up and emptied her cup in the sink. She grinned. “Yeah.”
Teresa used leftover beef roast to make beef sandwiches and a pot of soup for dinner. After Eric invited them to stay she’d insisted on cooking for them until she decided what to do. She had a brother in Florida and was contemplating moving there.
Lisa, Jeff, TJ, and Eric gathered in Eric’s office later to go over the information they’d gathered so far and placed on the whiteboards.
Each of the fifteen women on their short list had her own column with her photo posted at the top. So far the only things the women had in common were their attractiveness and the 911 calls.
TJ had added, “Possibly seen at the Sombrero Club the night she disappeared” in Jamie’s column. Everyone shared her excitement about the lead, and they discussed how they would proceed with the interviews at the club.
Jeff wanted them to act on it immediately. “Why are we waiting to go over there?”
TJ cut him off. “Called there today, and found out this week lots of the regular help is off because of hunting season and the holiday. Makes no sense to go now. The manager is checking their records so he can let us know just who was working that night.”
Jeff wasn’t giving up easy. “Well, what about Tina’s father? What are we doing about him?”
Lisa pacified him with, “Got Shannon working on that. What we know from Teresa is he stays with friends, so it’s hard to locate him. I did call Maggie today and let her know what’s going on. She told me Teresa has to go to the MPD and get him picked up for taking Tina.”
TJ looked at Jeff. “Think we should talk to any other women from Jamie’s office?”
“It didn’t sound like anyone else saw Jamie. And the Jaster woman seemed kind of flaky. There is one woman I know who Jamie worked with and went to the gym with. I’ll call her and see if she was at the club that night.”
Most of the women on their list were computer literate, and one of the avenues they were working on was to find out if any of them made a habit of meeting men online. Some of them frequented the clubs, some worked out, and some cheated on their husbands. They weren’t finding any commonalities, but had a lot of people to talk to in each woman’s circle of friends.
Jeff left the room and called Amy Hayes, Jamie’s friend from the office. When she answered, he explained how he’d run into Susan Jaster and what Susan had told him about seeing Lisa the night she’d disappeared.
“Sorry, Jeff, I wasn’t there. I usually go with them on Fridays, but I had a date. The day the police were at the office they talked to everyone. When we compared notes later, the girls who were there said they hadn’t seen Jamie and weren’t at all sure about Susan’s powers of observation. They said she’d been drinking a lot. That’s why no one brought it up to the police.”
Maybe the great lead was going to be a total bust after all. Jeff exchanged a little small talk with Amy and answered a few of her questions about Jamie.
Just as they were about to hang up, she said, “Wait. I just remembered something. You know Jamie and I used to do an aerobics class together, but I quit going for a while. She mentioned meeting a new guy at the Y—not that she was interested in him—she just said he was new and really nice, but I don’t think she’d talked to him much, you know? She said he was real good looking, too. At the time I thought she might have made him up to get me to come back.”
When Jeff came back and gave them the news, TJ volunteered to go to the gym to see if she could find someone in Jamie’s aerobic class who might remember the guy and point him out.
Lisa said, “You know, folks, I think we have to make a list of just what kind of things we’re going to research from these women’s lives.” She pulled out an easel with large sheets of post-it paper and began recording.
When they ran out of ideas, they spent some time fine-tuning the list, weeding out any that were unnecessary or repetitive.
TJ complained. “Shit! Gonna have to start from square one with this list!”
Lisa said, “It might seem like a lot, but with this list we’ll have a better handle on what to ask their friends. You just never know what may be a link between them.”
Finding a link, if one even existed, looked like an insurmountable task. The group was discouraged.
Lisa was certain she’d never again have a good night’s sleep. She got out of bed and went downstairs for some of her Forty-winks Tea.
She found Eric sitting at the island eating a sandwich, the day’s paper spread out around him.
“Did you go back to work?”
“Yes. Three new cars came in today, and we’re having some problems with the website. Bad night for sleeping?”
Lisa laughed, looking down at her robe and slippers. “How could you tell? And I think I’ve lost a dog—Phanny hasn’t left Tina’s side since she arrived.”
Lisa put on a kettle for her tea and sat down next to Eric.
“I’m sorry you couldn’t sleep.”
Lisa thought he looked tired. “It’s been difficult with everything that’s been happening.”
“How are things going with Teresa and Tina? Are they comfortable staying here for the time being?”
“Of course. Teresa was thrilled with your offer to stay.”
“Tina’s going to be okay, isn’t she?”
“Yes, she’s doing better by the hour now that she has her mother.”
“Thanks to TJ. Did she ever tell you how she managed that?”
“Yes. She said don’t ask and she won’t tell.”
“That’s what I thought.”
They sat for a few minutes without talking. Then Eric turned to her and said, “I’ve always wanted to ask you something. Haven’t you ever been at all uncertain about Jeff and me?”
“You mean about the possibility one of you killed your wife? After I had a couple sessions with Jeff there was no doubt in my mind he had nothing to do with his wife’s disappearance. And I respected TJ’s opinion of you.” She’d already admitted to herself his being a pain in the butt didn’t make him a murderer. Lisa hadn’t told anyone she had moments of distrust for the man, despite their getting along better.