Elusive (On The Run Book #1) by Sara Rosett Page B

of GRS do you have?”
    “None.”
    He scoffed. “None?”
    “Yes, zero. What does that have to
with anything?”
    He pulled on his cuffs, and Zoe
could see the arrogance rising again. “You expect me to believe that you
haven’t jumped on the GRS bandwagon? Even if he is your ex, surely you got in
on it.” Zoe shook her head, and he said, “The stock has risen from a
dollar-nineteen to twenty-five dollars in the last few months, and you don’t
own
any
?”
    “No. Not one share.” She could see
Sato still didn’t believe her, so she added, “My aunt is a very smart woman.
She’s the only one in my family who’s ever made money—and hung on to it. She
told me to invest in real estate. That’s what I do. Stocks are too volatile.”
    “The housing market hasn’t been
exactly booming lately.”
    “No, but you know what? Even if
prices go down, I still have those offices over there. If I wanted to sell
them, maybe I wouldn’t be able to sell them for what I could have a few years
ago, but they still have value. They’ll never be worth nothing. With stocks,”
she made a movement with her hand like she was throwing something away, “it can
all be gone in a day.”
    “Interesting theory.” Irony laced
his words.
    Zoe frowned. “Why are you asking
about GRS stock?”
    “Routine inquires,” he said. “Did
you help Andrews with his business?
    “No,” she said. “Office work is
not my thing.”
    He tugged at his cuffs again as he
said, “Do you own a gun?”
    “No.”
    “How about your ex-husband?”
    “No.”
    The older man came over. He nodded
to Zoe and leaned down to speak quietly to Sato. Sato stared at him a moment,
then turned back to Zoe. “Where would your ex-husband go if he was in trouble?”
    Zoe laughed. “Nowhere—he doesn’t
get in trouble. He’s a boy scout.”
    “A relative? A friend? A vacation
home?” Sato persisted.
    Zoe’s eyebrows knit together as
she realized he was serious. “What are you saying?”
    He ignored her question. “Where
would he go?”
    “He’d come home. He doesn’t have
anywhere else to go,” she said quietly.
    “Any relatives nearby? A parent,
maybe?”
    “No. His dad died years ago in a
car accident—drunk driver. His mom died the next year. He doesn’t really have
anyone else.”
    “Old college roommate?”
    “No,” Zoe said, shaking her head
and thinking for the first time that it was a little odd how disconnected Jack
had been when she’d met him. “He’s not really a ‘joiner,’ I guess you’d say. He
keeps more to himself.” She supposed she hadn’t noticed because she’d always
had plenty of friends.
    Sato handed her a business card.
“If you hear from him, it is very important—urgent—that you contact us.”
    “What are you saying? The Highway
Patrol thinks he’d dead. How could I hear from him? Do you know something—”
    He stood up quickly, and cut her
off. “Thank you for your time. We’ll be in touch.”
    ––––––––
    Dallas
    Wednesday, 3:05 p.m.
    ––––––––
    ZOE called Helen on her way home
and apologized for skipping out.
    “Oh stop,” Helen said. “Your life
is a tad crazy right now. You’re forgiven.”
    It took almost the whole drive for
Zoe to tell her about Connor and the aftermath with the police. After a beat of
silence, Helen said, “That’s terrible, but you know, I’m not that surprised.
Dang, here comes my supervisor. Got to go. I’ll call you back.”
    Zoe finished the drive
automatically, moving through the familiar routine without thinking about it.
The gnawing unease that had been with her since last night had grown into full-blown
anxiety that made her sick to her stomach. The sight of Jack’s beat-up Honda
sitting at the curb jerked her out of her daze. For half a second, she thought
maybe—
    Then she remembered. The tow truck
guy. She’d given him this address. She parked in the garage then walked back
down the driveway to pluck the envelope from under the