He stared at Evelyn again, a sad, desperate look in his eyes. “I should have waited, seen her go inside. But I assumed she’d be safe there.”
“So you didn’t actually see her go inside?”
“No. But didn’t her friends? I thought the cheerleaders saw her go in. And besides, where else would she go? The whole reason I dropped her off was for her cheerleading practice.”
“And she didn’t tell you anything about meeting someone later?”
He shook his head. “No. She was going to grab a ride home from practice with Marissa.”
“Marissa Anderson,” Sophia interjected. “Haley’s best friend. They were on the cheerleading squad together.”
“And she never spoke of anyone she was afraid of? No one who was hassling her?”
“Other than her dad?” Jordan shook his head.
“How were things going in your relationship?” If they’d only been dating for six months, as Sophia had said, that meant they’d met while Jordan was at Neville U and Haley was still in high school. It wasn’t a huge age difference, but the experience difference between a high school junior still living at home with her mom and a college student, living in a frat house, could be huge.
“Fine.” Jordan shrugged. “Good.”
“No arguments? Neither of you were seeing anyone else?”
“We weren’t exclusive, I guess. I mean, we hadn’t really talked about it. But no, neither of us was seeing other people.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah.”
“No jealous exes, then?”
Jordan gave a short laugh. “Haley didn’t have any exes. And no, not on my end.”
“So no one you can think of who might want to hurt her?”
“No! Everyone loved Haley. She was sweet, innocent. No one would want to hurt her.” He sounded offended by the idea. “I heard about that note her mom talked about on the news—some kind of stalker—but I can’t believe she wouldn’t have told me.” He visibly puffed up. “I would have protected her.”
“She never mentioned thinking that someone might be following her around?”
“No.”
Evelyn nodded, not surprised. She stood, and Sophia slowly did the same.
Jordan stayed in his seat, staring up at them. “That’s it? Why haven’t you found her? It’s been a month, and you’re back here questioning me about the same old things?”
“Sometimes people remember new details if they go through it again,” Evelyn said calmly. Most of the time, she consulted from a case file and not directly on a scene, but when she did talk to families and friends, she was used to the frustration and anger and fear. And Jordan’s seemed genuine.
“We’ll be in touch,” Sophia said.
As they headed for the door, the high-pitched whine of a young woman reached them. “Seriously? You went out and got yourself a coffee and didn’t bother to get me one?”
Evelyn glanced back and saw a blond college student in tight yoga pants and a T-shirt that swallowed her, ultrared lips pursed in a pout as she stared down at Jordan. Her hair was a mess, and she’d clearly just climbed out of bed, thrown on some clothes, swiped on some lipstick and went looking for Jordan.
He darted a look over his shoulder and flushed when he caught Evelyn’s eye.
Instead of lingering, Evelyn walked out the door.
“So much for the worried boyfriend act,” Sophia muttered.
Evelyn frowned, pausing to glance backward. Jordan’s reaction when he’d first spotted Sophia hadn’t seemed faked. Sure, he might have had nothing to do with Haley’s disappearance, and still be sleeping with someone else, but he’d said he wasn’t seeing anyone besides Haley. Was he just too embarrassed to tell them he’d already moved on? Or was it all a lie?
As the girl stomped out of the frat house, looking annoyed, Sophia stopped her. “How long have you been dating Jordan Biltmore?”
“Dating?” the girl scoffed. She flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Met him at the frat party last night. I should have gone home with one of the other guys hitting on me. Asshole didn’t even share his coffee.” With that, she headed past them, toward the center of campus.
Sophia stared after her a minute, then stomped toward the car, looking pissed off on Haley’s behalf. “I’ll tell you one thing. I don’t care whether he’s found himself a new girlfriend, or he’s just sleeping around. It’s been a month since Haley disappeared. That’s pretty damn fast to move on in any way, if he really cared about her. Jordan Biltmore just hit the top of my suspect list.”
“I don’t know how he did it, but it’s got to be him, right?” Sophia demanded as they sat in her sedan in the parking lot of the frat house. The sun beat down on them, making the car feel like a sauna despite the mid-forty-degree temperatures.
Sophia made no move to turn on the car, just shifted to face Evelyn, her face wrinkled with distaste. “I mean, his girlfriend disappears off the face of the earth, and he’s out boinking sorority girls? Isn’t that classic behavior for someone who killed their partner? I’ve seen that in the news a ton. Shit, I can name a whole bunch off the top of my head. It’s practically a bad joke.”
“Maybe,” Evelyn said, unbuttoning her suit jacket, glad she’d left her winter coat in the stuffy police station. “But we usually see that with married couples, one spouse killing another to be with a mistress. This is a little different. Jordan could have just as easily broken up with her—it’s not as if they’ve got marital property or kids together. If he’s involved, I doubt it’s his way of breaking up with her. I’ve seen stranger things, but behaviorally, that’d be pretty odd. Still, we have to take into account that he’s nineteen and he could just be immature.”
“Immaturity is the least of his personality flaws.”
Evelyn nodded thoughtfully. “But he has Haley up on a bit of a pedestal. He views himself as her protector, and I think he’s getting an ego boost from the fact that a girl like her would date him.”
“She’s a high school student,” Sophia countered. “Is that really brag-worthy to a college guy?”
“He referred to her as ‘sweet and innocent.’ Things he obviously thinks he isn’t. She’s the ideal he thinks he wants, but he’s still chasing after other women when she’s not around.”
Sophia snorted angrily. “Or he’s just a jerk. You see what I mean about the smug bullshit, right? Seriously, this kid thinks he owns the world. And maybe Haley, too.”
“He’s
