The fact that Beau was speaking in past tense confirmed Theo’s previous assumption. The man had given up hope of finding his wife.
“That’s good,” Theo praised in encouragement. “I’m seeing someone, and I tend to do the same thing. She might not be as forthcoming as I am, but we’re getting there.”
As expected, Beau gave Theo a small smile as if he recalled those special days with his wife.
“Grace and I were the complete opposite in most things. She would tell me everything,” Beau said with a hollow laugh. “Everything. I’d say that my day was fine, and then she would start peppering me with all these questions. What happened when you got to work? Did Bob take your parking spot? Did I say hi to the new guy, because someone needed to make him feel welcome. She’d want to know where I went to lunch, what I ate at lunch, and even what type of snack that I got from the vending machine. Eventually, I just started to tell her every detail while we made dinner, because I used to be afraid that she’d still be talking during a football game.”
Beau’s eyes filled with tears, but he was able to control his emotions by the time that Theo asked his next question.
“You mentioned that someone was on Grace’s bumper the entire time that she was driving home, but did she happen to mention when the car backed off? Did she turn into the neighborhood and notice that the car kept driving past the edition? Did the car follow her to the house?”
For the first time since Theo and Brook had entered the apartment, Beau’s gaze cleared. Really cleared, as if he realized that they weren’t there to simply ask useless questions.
“Grace turned into the neighborhood, and so did the truck.” Beau sat up straighter in his chair. “She even questioned me on who it could have been, but we hadn’t met all the neighbors yet.”
“Did Grace happen to say what the make and model was of the truck?”
“Just that it was a black truck with a crack in the windshield.” Beau leaned forward, setting his elbows on his knees in anticipation. “You guys can find out who might have called for a windshield replacement back then, right? I mean, you have access to those kinds of records on some database somewhere, right?”
“We’d be able to get a list, but that would be quite an extensive search. A lot of windshields get replaced, and it would be hard to narrow it down without a make or model,” Theo advised cautiously, not wanting to give Beau a false sense of optimism. “What then? What else happened that Grace mentioned during your dinner routine?”
“Grace complained the following day that I had left a coffee cup next to my chair in the living room. I only ever drank coffee in the morning, and I never drank it in the living room. Always in the bedroom or bathroom while getting showered and dressed for the day. This happened for three days straight before the car key incident.”
“Was it a particular mug?”
The question had come from Brook, taking both Theo and Beau by surprise.
“What?”
“The mug that your wife kept finding by your chair,” Brook explained as she settled her gaze on Beau. “Was it a specific mug or just random ones?”
“A specific one.” Beau frowned at the direction of the conversation, but he finally answered Brook’s question. “It was brown with different types of leaves painted on it.”
“Did it have a special meaning to either of you?”
“No. Come to think it, I don’t even know where we got it.”
“Do you still have it?”
“I probably do,” Beau said as he glanced toward the numerous boxes in the corner of the room. “Do you want it?”
“Yes, please, though you don’t need to search for it now. You can give us a call when you find it.”
“I can do that,” Beau replied with a nod, his eyes still clear from the previous haze. Brook had given him something to do, and the man had latched onto it like it was a life preserver. “What else can I answer? The key thing was odd, but then we thought that maybe Grace’s mom had moved her keys since she’d been at the house a lot. She’d been helping Grace restore some furniture in the garage.”
“Did you know a man by the name of Jackson Ridgeway?”
Even Theo jolted at the name, because he hadn’t thought that Brook would just spring the question out of nowhere. He’d expected a lead in of some sort, but her way had initiated a reaction that hadn’t been staged.
“Jackie? From high school?” Beau was clearly confused over the change in topic. “Um, yeah, I know him. I heard from some old friends that he died a few years ago, though. Why? What does he have to do with Grace’s disappearance?”
“Nothing that we know of, but his name did come up in association with another victim.” Brook had covered up the reasoning for her question in such a smooth manner that even Theo would have been suckered in by the excuse. She then mentioned the names of both nursing homes. “Do either of them ring a bell?”
“How are things going on in here?” Levi asked before Beau could answer Brook’s question. He stepped into the living room from the kitchen, not stopping until he was close enough to shake hands with the two of them. “Levi Kittle.”
“Theo Neville, and this is Brook Sloane.”
The air instantly became thick with tension.