"You have suspects?" Knox's tone dripped with sarcasm. "Why didn't you say so? Tell me, Sherlock, how you came to this conclusion. Was it elementary?"
The hurt look on her face was almost his undoing. Twenty minutes ago he'd adored this woman but at the moment he didn't like her very much. But that didn't mean he was happy about being a jerk. But he wasn't feeling all that regretful at the moment either. She'd brought this on herself. Did she think it was going to be all rainbows and kittens?
"You don't think that your brother lying about seeing Lori is suspicious behavior?"
Scraping his fingers through his hair, he tried to get his temper under control. Being pissed off wasn't helping the situation.
"I haven't talked to my brother about this but perhaps he had already left the coffee shop by the time your sister arrived," Knox explained as patiently as he could muster. "Maybe she got there earlier and left. Maybe he didn't see her. Or perhaps, and this is the big one, the eyewitnesses mistook another woman for your sister. Eyewitness accounts are notoriously faulty and shouldn't be relied on. What I'm trying to say here is that neither you nor I truly know what happened that day. We can't draw any conclusions."
"That's why I need your help."
Her voice was so low he almost didn't hear her reply. A heaviness took up residence in his chest. This whole situation was a cluster fuck.
"This wasn't the way, Jenna."
This time she turned back around so he could see her face, now streaked with tears, her mascara running down her pale cheeks. She looked lost, sad, and alone and for a moment he wanted to reach out to her, pull her into his arms and tell her that everything was going to be okay. He'd make sure that it was.
Then he remembered that she'd lied to him.
"I think I'm going to go home," he said taking a step back from her. There was still a part of him that had feelings for her but he was determined to stomp that feeling into the dust. "I wish things could have been different."
She visibly shook but she didn't argue or beg, simply brushing past him to the door. She opened it and stepped back.
"I think you're right. It is time for you to go. I'm sorry that I ever thought that you might help me. I'm sorry that I intruded on your life. It won't happen again, I can promise you that."
Shit.
He didn't want it to end this way, hating each other.
"I'm sorry–"
"You said that." She nodded toward the door. "I'm sorry too. This was all a big mistake. You'll never hear from me again."
There was really nothing left to say so he kept his mouth shut, grabbing his jacket and slipping it on as he headed out the door. He was halfway to his car when he heard it.
"Take care, Knox."
He turned on his heel but the door was already closed. Clearly, he was imagining things. She was inside and there was no way he could have heard anything she said with a door between them.
It was over. Jenna was the past. It was just all so much a mess.
He'd never see her again. That was good. He didn't need crazy in his life.
There were plenty of fish in the sea.
4
"I told you that it was a waste of time. There was no way he was going to help you."
After a good cry, Jenna had poured herself a glass of wine, settled on the sofa, and called her sister Michelle. She was emotionally battered, her usual enthusiasm gone. She'd convinced herself that Knox would help, that he would see how desperate she was.
She'd been wrong.
She wasn't angry with him. And he certainly had the right to be mad at her. She had lied to him. She couldn't sugarcoat her own actions here. She'd been in the wrong, although she'd hoped he see that it was for a good cause. He hadn't, of course, and he hated her now. She sort of hated herself too. She'd let Lori down. She'd failed.
"I thought he might see how much we needed his help," Jenna replied softly, taking a small sip of the wine. She wasn't a big drinker but she'd felt the need of it tonight. It was probably a lousy idea. Drinking alone wasn't a healthy habit. "I thought... Shit, I don't know what I thought."
Somehow in her mind she'd built Knox up to be their knight in shining armor who was going to rush in and help them solve this mystery.
I'm an idiot.
"Sometimes you are so optimistic and naive," Michelle said, her tone gentle. "It's a beautiful quality but it can get your heart stomped on. Did you really like him?"
The million-dollar question.
"Yes," Jenna admitted, although it pained her to do so. "I did really like him. He's a great guy. Even if he won't help us."
"Did he yell? Was he furious?"
Jenna would have preferred it if Knox had yelled. She'd seen the muscle that ticked in his jaw and known that he was angry. Very angry, but he'd kept his tone calm, if not more than a little sarcastic.
"No, he didn't yell. I don't think that's how he gets mad. I think he's the type that goes cold."
"Oh honey, I'm so sorry that it ended up this way. I wish he would have said yes. But..."
"Right, he was never going to do that."
"It's his own brother, Jenna," Michelle reminded her. "He's not going to
