Creep - Jennifer Hillier [69]
Torrance grimaced. “Thank you, Kim.” He looked around the office before directing his gaze back to Morris. “So you’re saying it’s out of character for her to leave so suddenly, but she did call you to say she was going away for a while.”
“Yes, she did.”
“Have you tried looking for her?”
“She asked me not to.”
Torrance frowned. “You still have that message on tape?”
“I didn’t erase it.”
“Can you drop it by the station tomorrow?”
Morris stifled a sigh. “I can do it tonight.”
“What were the problems between you and your fiancée?” Torrance asked.
“I beg your pardon?”
“The problems between you and Ms. Tao.” Torrance’s voice was patient, as if he were explaining something to a five-year-old child. “Obviously things weren’t going well between you if she decided to blow town a week before your wedding.”
Kellogg looked up, her pencil paused midair.
“It’s Doctor Tao.” Morris felt his jaw tighten, and he forced himself to relax. “We did have an argument, yes.”
“What about?”
“It’s personal. But we were still getting married.”
“Sir.” Torrance’s voice was flat. “Everything’s personal. We can’t help her if you don’t tell us everything you can.”
Morris stared at him. The detective stared back.
“Relationship stuff,” Morris said finally. “Nothing we wouldn’t have gotten past.” He didn’t want this man to know about Sheila’s sex addiction. He couldn’t bring himself to say the words.
Torrance sighed. Kellogg’s pencil scratched into the silence.
“And tell us again when the last time was you saw her?”
“A week ago. Wednesday.”
They were treating him like a goddamned suspect.
“But she was okay when you left her.” Torrance’s voice was breezy, but there was no denying the ice behind it.
“Are you kidding me? Why the hell wouldn’t she be?”
Torrance raised a hand. “Just doing my job, Mr. Gardener.”
Morris seethed in silence.
“So you said you got Ms. Tao’s message—sorry, Dr. Tao’s message—on Sunday while you were waiting for her at the hotel. What time did she leave the message?”
“I told you I don’t remember the exact time she called.” Morris was exasperated. “I can check my call display when I get home. And if you’re gonna ask me every question three different ways, Detective, we’re gonna be here awhile.” Morris glared at them.
“Do you have a cell phone?” Torrance was unfazed.
“Of course.”
“Why wouldn’t she call you on your cell? Didn’t you think it was strange that she called you on your home phone knowing you weren’t going to be there?”
“It was strange, yes. But she might have pressed the wrong button on her phone. Or she didn’t want to actually speak to me. Considering what she told me, I can’t blame her.”
“But when you got the message, you weren’t alarmed. You didn’t go looking for her?”
“Of course I did,” Morris said, the heat building in his neck. “I came here first thing, she wasn’t home. I called, she didn’t answer. What else could I have done?”
“Is it a normal pattern of behavior for her to just take off?”
“No. We’ve been dating for a year and nothing like this has ever happened.”
“You must have been pretty angry with her for dumping you over voice mail a week before your wedding day. Must’ve been pretty embarrassing for you to have to make all those phone calls to your guests.”
“It was the worst day of my life, yes.” Morris hated how defiant he sounded.
“So you still have that message on your answering machine?”
“For God’s sake, Detectives. Yes. I will bring it by tonight.”
“It would be good if you could,” Kellogg piped in sweetly.
Morris felt like ripping her ponytail from her pretty little head.
“All right then, I think we have everything we need for now.” Torrance nodded to his partner, who was still writing in her notebook. “Thanks for calling us, Mr. Gardener. We’ll get her missing person’s report on file.”
“And then what?” Morris was relieved that the questioning was over, but he was still pissed off. “What’s your plan?”
“Our plan?” Torrance was barely able to