Page 34 of Forged in Secrets

“When it got closer to dinner time we grabbed a few drinks at a place I forget the name of. There were a few frat guys bothering us, so we left. Maybe you should look into them. They were total creeps. A couple of them wouldn’t take no for an answer from either of us.”

Ben shot Grace a glance. It seemed that Tom and his crew had been mostly telling the truth.

Grace nodded to Jade. “So you went to the restaurant after that? The Salty Spoon?”

“Yeah. I think it was around nine.”

“What did you guys talk about? Did Katie seem upset, or worried about anything?”

Ben was impressed with Grace’s interview skills, considering she’d never had any formal training. He would have asked the same questions himself.

He couldn’t help but to think about the way it had felt holding her hand the night before. Even now, in front of what could very well be a suspect, he felt the urge to reach out and touch the soft, tanned skin of her arm.

He leaned down, pretending to toss sand out of his slides as he tried to focus on the task at hand.

Even without Jade present, it would be stupid to go near her again. Last night had been a lapse in judgment on his end, and nothing more.

“She was totally normal, Nancy Drew,” Jade said, rolling her eyes at Grace. She reached over to take a sip of her beer before continuing. “We talked about how excitedshe was to start her new classes in the fall. She switched majors last year, and decided to go into business, just like her dad.”

“Was there anything else?” Grace asked.

“Nope,” Jade said, picking up her phone again and proceeding to scroll through several videos, giving each one less than a second of her interest before she moved on.

“You went back to the Mistflower after that, then?” Grace pressed.

“I told the cops this already,” Jade warned. “Katie said she wasn’t feeling well. I offered to take her back to the hotel, but she insisted she was fine to take a cab and crash on her own.”

“There weren’t any men involved?” Ben asked, shooting Grace an apologetic glance.

“No,” Jade said firmly, staring back down at the screen in her lap. “She wasn’t feeling well, like I told you. I watched her get into a cab outside of The Salty Spoon.”

“What about you? What did you do after that?” Grace asked.

Jade put her phone down again, exasperated.

“Nothing. I just hung out for another half hour or so.”

“Hung out with who?” Ben pressed.

“The whole football team,” Jade snapped, shoving her phone and sunglasses into her beach bag in one fluid motion. “I already told the cops. I was alone. I hung out at the beach, then went back to the hotel. Later, I couldn’t sleep, so I went for another walk. That’s all I know.”

Alarm bells sounded in Ben’s head as Jade got off the lounge chair and shoved her feet into her leopard-print slide sandals.

He didn’t remember Detective Hayles saying anything about Jade leaving her hotel room later that night.

Then again, considering the way the man conducted his investigation, it was possible he just hadn’t written that detail down.

“Thanks for your help, Jade. I know it’s difficult–” Grace started to speak.

“What time did you leave your hotel room for your walk? And when did you get back?” Ben asked quickly, cutting Grace off before she could finish her sentence. He couldn’t afford to let his question go unanswered, and Grace probably hadn’t picked up on the significance of her words.

She gave him a look he couldn’t decode, but he turned to Jade, watching for any telltale signs that the woman was lying. It was difficult to read her when every other word out of her mouth was actively hostile.

“I don’t remember.”

“Give me your best guess.”

“I don’t know. Sometime between midnight and one in the morning, maybe?”

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