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"And you?"

"I held on to the belief as well because the alternative didn’t bear thinking about Soon there was nowhere else for us to look, no one for us to see We didn’t have anywhere else to turn, and had no choice but to return to the States Gloria lives on the East Coast and after I returned to Seattle, she continued to pressure the powers that be"

"Did she learn anything?"

"Nothingbut I did" Those early htmare to Jody "As much as I believed in Jeff’s love forif this disappearance was planned I know it sounds ridiculous now, but you have to understand ated If there was another woman in his life, I needed to know about her I had to find out if this was some kind of cruel hoax"

"What did you learn?"

Jody focused her gaze on the caffé latte "Very little The only reround check and I discovered Jeff had been approached by a governency, the CIA, I believe--one of those--while he was in college He turned down the offer My father had a good friend in govern and they reported back that what I’d found out was true Jeff had been recruited, but declined, and that was the end of it"

"How’d youat the tihtmare My parents helped me out as enerosity I couldn’t Jeff had disappeared, but because there wasn’t a body I couldn’t collect his insurance or any of the other benefits that would nored to hold on for nine ood friends Eventually I was forced into filing for a divorce in order to sell soave et a job"

"They never found a body?"

Jody looked out the , the night was inky and thick, and her heart felt more so "Yes, eventually they did, but it took nearly three years"

"My God, what happened?"

A tingling sensation roved up and down her spine even now, after all this time "Ireceived word froht in the cable beneath a bridge They believed it was Jeff They needed me to provide dental X rays and claim the body"

"It ed a nod "It was As best the authorities could figure, Jeff was ed, beaten, and knocked into the river and left for dead The body was so badly deco us much more than that The news came at a bad time Timmy had the chicken pox and I don’t think I could have borne returning to Germany Those weeks in Berlin three years earlier had been the o, but she was always a bit eccentric and after Jeff’s death she became more so"

"How do you mean?"

"She continually insisted Jeff was alive and was furious with me when I divorced him Our relationship was strained afterwards She claimed she’d talked to spirits in a séance, and Jeff had sent a e to her He wanted Gloria to tell me how terribly disappointed he was in me because I’d divorced him I didn’t talk to her much after that"

"She insisted he was alive and that she’d been able to talk to hih time of it"

"She has I don’t know that she’ll ever fully recover" Then again, Jody didn’t know if she would either "My father, bless his heart, volunteered to make the trip The dental X rays matched and that’s the end of it That was nearly five years ago now Jeff’s been gone a total of eight years"

"I’m sorry, Jody, I really am Jeff must have loved you and Tiry with myself that I doubted him even for that little bit"

"Anyone would have" Glen took their ee He slipped into the seat and seerief you experienced, but I was in a relationship that lasted for three years Breaking it off was one of the most emotionally difficult ti if I asked you rong?"

His mouth moved into a half smile "Not at all You were frank with me and deserve the same consideration I loved Maryann and wanted to marry her, but she’s a successful attorney and, well, I’ll si that her career is ot involved in a game of ultimatums I wanted a wife and children Maryann claiested a coether I wasn’t willing to fall into that trap, and that was more or less the end of it"

"You still love her, don’t you?"

Glen lowered his gaze "I think it’s veryher It’s been several e I’ve accepted that and apparently so has she We still bump into each other in court occasionally, and it’s aard, but there’s nothing left for either of us to say"