“You’re going to want to make time. Riona Walsh. When did you see her last?”
His brow furrowed. “Uh, a couple months ago maybe? I’d need to check.”
“You dated her.”
He glanced over his shoulder, lowering his voice. “You know I’m not going to admit to that.”
I rolled my eyes. “I’m not here to out you for daring to date a witch, Jerry. She’s missing.”
His eyes widened slightly as he stared at me. “Riona’s… in trouble?”
“Yeah. She could even be dead.”
Sorrow and shock wrestled across his face as he turned his attention to the window, staring blankly out at the sky.
“Riona’s a powerful witch. She can’t be dead.”
“Why don’t you tell me the last time you saw her?”
“Uh, it was at Meredith’s. We were sitting in the corner, having a few drinks, just talking. She said she was tired of us sneaking around. It had been fun at first, exciting, but she wasn’t interested in being anyone’s dirty little secret.” His mouth twisted and I raised one eyebrow.
“And what did you say to that?”
“I said I needed to think. And then ten minutes later, Ben came in. He saw us in the corner.”
I sighed. Meredith’s may be neutral territory, but that didn’t mean people were blind. “What did he say?”
“He came over and asked what I was doing slumming with a witch. Riona didn’t use her magic publicly— she was mostly good at warding. So I figured he must’ve had us followed. You know what Ben’s like.”
“Uh huh. So Ben comes over and talks shit about your girl, in front of her, and what do you do?”
His cheeks flushed. “I told him I was having a business meeting. Riona didn’t say anything. Then Ben said I should be careful, or word about my ‘meetings’ would make its way to Albert.”
Jerry pushed a hand through his hair. “You have to understand, I’m the first mage in my family. My parents are human, and my mom’s sick, dad’s on disability. They rely on my paycheck to pay the bills. Six more months, and I’ll get benefits.”
“So you broke up with Riona.”
“It was mutual, I guess. As soon as Ben walked away, she gave me this look. She didn’t say a word, but it was obvious she thought I was a coward.”
“That was the last time you saw her?”
He shrugged. “I saw her around a few times but she ignored me. A woman like Riona… she’s not going to chase after a guy, you know?”
I did know. And I was pretty sure any lady boner Riona might have had for Jerry likely disappeared the moment she saw him cower to Ben. Nothing killed a relationship like contempt.
“I need your whereabouts on Wednesday.”
He gaped at me. “You think I’m a suspect?”
“No,” I told him honestly. I had a feeling Riona would’ve kicked his ass if he’d even thought about getting physical with her. “But you know this is how it’s done.”
He was silent for a long moment. Then his shoulders slumped. “You need to cross me off the list so you can find out who might’ve hurt her.”
“That’s right.”
“Okay. Wednesday. Let me think.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket and scanned it. “I was here until maybe three. I’d pulled an all-nighter and I was going to go home, but some of the guys convinced me to go shoot a few hoops. Then we grabbed dinner and a few beers.”
“When did you finish the beers?”
