She dimpled. Her eyes were happy enough to rest on Jack. “Likewise,” she said. “Have we met before?”
“I’d certainly remember if we had.”
Was it politeness or was he…flirting?
Roxy threaded her hand through Jack’s arm and smiled up at him, turning the dials on her charm and charisma up as high as they would go. She’d done it enough times to me that I knew what it felt like. Straight, gay, or anything else, Roxanne Rochford had a way of making you feel like you were the only person of importance in a fifty-mile radius.
“Well,thisis interesting,” she said as she walked Jack off towards the lounge. “Because I thought I knewallof Miller’s friends.”
I followed behind, trying not to look like a third wheel.
* * *
We settled in a quiet part of the lounge, where Roxy ordered a Cosmo, Jack an OJ, and I asked for a Screwdriver. I was going to needsomethingto get me through this talk.
Roxy was doing her level best to keep Jack’s attention all for herself, but once I got over my irritation, I could see that he was deflecting every little advance she made. It felt like the wrong play with someone like Roxy. Shelikedto be flattered, flirted with. But I couldn’t help feeling glad that Jack just wouldn’t play Roxy’s games with her.
Once our drinks arrived, I leaned in to get the ball rolling. “Like I said, Rox, I’m trying to find Annie.”
She took a long sip of her cocktail. “What do you mean?” she said after swallowing. “Findher?
“When did you see her last, Ms. Rochford?” Jack asked.
The eyelashes fluttered toward him. “Why all the questions?”
I nudged Jack’s knee under the table as a sign to let me have a try. “Annie hasn’t been on her socials at all the last few days.”
Roxy gave a shrug that let the satin lounging robe slip off one alabaster shoulder. “Not all of us spend our whole lives online, Miller,” she said reprovingly.
I managed to avoid rolling my eyes. The truth was, Roxy probably surpassed my sister at making her life accessible to the public via social media. “When did you see her last?”
She turned to smile and wave at someone as they walked by.
“Ms. Rochford?” Jack prompted. “When was the last time you saw Ms. Beaumont?”
“Omigod, you’re acting soserious,” she said between clenched, smiling teeth. “Look, if you really have to know, we had adisagreementrecently.”
“About?” Jack pushed.
Roxy gave him a mutinous stare. All flirting ended. “Who are you, exactly?” she demanded. “A reporter?”
“I hired him,” I broke in, “because I think Annie’s in trouble. I hired JJ to help me find her and help her out if sheisin trouble.”
Roxy chose a contemptuous giggle for her response. “Missing? Because she hasn’t plastered her ass all over the internet in the last five minutes?”
“Rox,” I said in a low, urgent voice. “I’mserious.And Iknowyou’re worried too—I know you went to the salon, asking if they’d seen her.”
That one hit home. Roxy shifted uneasily in her seat and looked around the room. “You two don’t eventalkanymore,” she said. “Why do you care where she is?”
Roxy was the only person who knew the truth about Annie and me. She and Annie were such close friends that ourfalling outmust have been too obvious to hide. “Because I can’t get hold of her, and no one seems to know where she is.” I slid my hand across the table in a mute invitation. “Please.”
There had been a time when Roxy and I had been close. When she was over at the Malibu house all the time, we’d bonded over Annie’s terrible dress sense. We used to lie on my sister’s bed and shout down her outfit choices as she tried them on for us, laughing so hard we cried sometimes.
I’m sure Annie played up to it. She was a born comedian in many ways.
Roxy stared at my hand there on the table for a few more seconds, and then grabbed at it. “Listen, Miller,” she said, her voice hushed. “You need to drop this.”
“What do you mean?”
