CHAPTER EIGHT

The Centaur’s Den loomed ahead, its rustic facade a familiar sight in the heart of Trentville.

“Let’s hope Robyn can tell us more than the others,” Jake said as they parked and got out of the car.

Jenna nodded in agreement. They’d spent the last hour interviewing three of the people whose names Dr. Reynolds had given them. They’d met with Marcus Flint at Paws and Harmony Rescue, Lila Garner where she worked as a clerk in a greeting card store, and Theo Briggs at the bank where he worked as a teller. None of them had been able to give them hopeful information. Bartender Robyn Holt was the last on their list.

The bar’s wooden sign, featuring a painted centaur hoisting a frothy beer, swayed gently as the door creaked open to admit Jenna and Jake. Inside, the bar was a relic of local history, with antiques adorning the walls and a long, polished counter that had felt the elbows of generations.

Methodically making preparations for the upcoming day, Robyn Holt was slicing lemons behind the bar, her auburn hair pulled back into a practical ponytail. Her eyes, a clear gray, flickered up to meet Jenna’s weary gaze.

“Sheriff Graves, Deputy Hawkins,” Robyn called out, a note of surprise in her voice. “What brings you here before opening?”

“We need to ask you about Amber Stevens,” Jenna said, her tone calm.

Robyn’s hands stilled, the knife she held hovering above the cutting board. “Amber? What happened? Please tell me nothing bad has happened to her,” she pleaded, her voice tight with fear.

Jenna shook her head slightly. “We don’t know where she is right now. We’re hoping you can help us understand what might have happened.”

The three of them moved to sit at one of the tables near the window where the afternoon sun filtered through. The bar was quiet, except for the hum of a refrigerator and the distant sound of traffic from Main Street, giving their conversation an eerie privacy.

“Amber hasn’t been seen since she left Paws and Harmony Rescue last night,” Jenna told Robyn, watching her closely.

“You were one of the last to see her,” Jake added. “We’ve already talked with Marcus, Lila, and Theo. Now we need to hear what you have to say about Amber before she disappeared.”

Robyn nodded slowly, her expression grave as she processed the information. She seemed to collect herself, steeling her nerves for the questions to come. Jenna observed the subtle shift in Robyn’s demeanor, recognizing the signs of someone bracing for impact. Her responses were all too familiar—Jenna had seen them many times in the mirror.

Robyn's gaze was fixed somewhere beyond the empty glasses that lined the bar’s shelves.

“Amber stayed until closing,” she said. “She left at the same time as Marcus, Lila, and Theo. I hung back to lock up.” She paused, her brows knitting together briefly. “Nothing unusual happened. We were all just... doing our jobs.”

Jenna nodded, absorbing Robyn’s account while observing the slight tension in her shoulders—the posture of someone trying to remember, searching for a detail that might have slipped by unnoticed.

“Her spirits,” Jake asked, leaning forward with an elbow propped on the table. “How was Amber that night at work?”

Robyn hesitated, then sighed, a faint shrug lifting her shoulders. “I’m not sure what to say. She was just Amber.”

“Was she?” Jenna asked softly, capturing Robyn’s gaze. There was something else there, a layer beneath the surface that Robyn wasn’t talking about.

The young woman’s expression shifted, a flicker of something like discomfort. “Look, we went to high school together, but... since Amber started college over at Ozark, it’s been different. She wasn’t really here anymore, you know? Her heart’s set on other places …” Her words trailed off.

Jenna exchanged a glance with Jake, acknowledging the pattern they’d begun to see. This narrative was familiar, echoed in the stories told by Marcus, Lila, and Theo. They all felt a distance from Robyn that seemed to have widened since she entered college—a change in her that had made her seem more introspective, even isolated.

“Some experiences change people,” Jenna said, thinking of her own transformations, the paths she had wandered since her sister’s disappearance. “Robyn, do you know if there were any issues between Amber and Jason Reeves?”

When there was no quick answer, she scrutinized Robyn’s face for any hint of insight into Amber’s personal life.

Robyn’s eyes darted to a spot on the polished tabletop before meeting Jenna’s gaze again. “I can’t say for sure,” she admitted. “They kept things private, but there were rumors they weren’t together anymore. I never pried.”

“Did you notice anything unusual about Jason lately?” Jake asked.

“Well, I never see much of him. But he’s not the same guy we grew up with,” Robyn confessed, her expression troubled.

Jenna saw the undercurrent of relief beneath Robyn’s concern. “So, Amber going to college... that was a good thing for her?” she probed, watching Robyn closely.

“Definitely,” Robyn affirmed with a firm nod. “Getting away from Trentville meant getting away from Jason too. Everyone knew they were high school sweethearts, but he changed over the years.” She hesitated, her words slowing as she spoke of Jason. “He started drinking, got this temper... We all hoped Amber had moved on for good.”

“Can you tell me anything more about Amber’s disappearance?” Robyn inquired, her voice tinged with hope. “Is there a chance she’s still out there?”

Jenna felt the weight of responsibility settle over her at Robyn’s question. It would be easy to speculate, to offer false comfort, but she owed it to Robyn to be honest, even if it meant revealing nothing at all. “We’re doing everything we can to find her,” Jenna said, careful not to make any promises.

“I hope you do,” Robyn’s gratitude was evident despite the uncertainty clouding her features.

“Let’s head out,” Jenna said to Jake, her mind already racing ahead. They needed to regroup, to sift through their information and find their next lead. As they stood to leave, Jenna exchanged a look with Jake, both feeling the frustration of unanswered questions. They had gathered pieces of Amber’s life, yet the puzzle remained incomplete.

“We appreciate your cooperation,” she told Robyn. “If there’s anything you remember, anything at all that might help us find Amber, please don’t hesitate to reach out.”

Robyn nodded, the lines around her eyes deepening with concern. “I’ll do anything I can to help bring her home safely,” she promised, her hand trembling slightly as she reached for Jenna’s business card.

“Thank you,” Jake added, his gaze sweeping over the rustic interior of the Centaur’s Den one last time before following Jenna toward the door. They stepped outside, greeted by the relentless June sun that seemed indifferent to the somber mood of the day.

As they walked in silence to the car parked under the shade of an old oak, Jenna could feel a familiar frustration gnawing at her. The four interviews they’d done today had yielded little more than echoes of the same narrative—a young woman yearning for change, a volatile relationship possibly left behind, and friends grappling with her transformation.

She glanced at Jake. “Let’s hope Colonel Spelling has found something concrete,” she murmured, disappointment clear in her voice.

Jake nodded, unlocking the car with a beep that cut through the still afternoon air. “We’re doing all we can, Jenna. We’ll find her,” he said.

They settled into the car and pulled away from the curb. They agreed to get lunch next, and headed toward the Sunflower Café. Before they got far, Jenna’s phone rang abruptly, and she groaned when she saw who was calling. When she answered and put the call on speakerphone, Mayor Claire Simmons’s voice was sharp with irritation that bordered on anger.

“Graves and Hawkins, what on earth is going on?”

“Mayor Simmons, we—”

“Get to my office now,” the mayor snapped, brooking no argument. “We have much to discuss.” The line went dead, leaving a heavy silence in its wake.

“She doesn’t sound pleased,” Jenna observed, her understatement expressing her irritation.

“Can’t say I’m surprised,” Jake replied. “But we did our due diligence, left her a message before we started our interviews.”

“Protocol never seems to appease her,” Jenna mused, her thoughts already shifting to the impending confrontation. “And she never seems to understand that she’s not actually in charge of us. I was elected to my job just like she was to hers.”

“But we all need to work together sometimes,” Jake reminded her, “and the mayor can make things harder for us if she wants to.”

Jenna nodded. “So let’s just go get this over with.”

The drive shifted gears, urgency replacing the calm of lunch plans. They navigated the streets of Trentville to City Hall and the inevitable barrage of questions from a mayor more concerned with optics than outcomes.

The air felt heavier as Jenna and Jake approached the stern facade of the building, an unadorned relic from a bygone era. It was an emblem of small-town bureaucracy, with its brickwork faded from decades of sun and rain. They pushed through the heavy oak doors into the lobby, where the scent of old leather and wood polish lingered, a nostalgic reminder of the town’s slow-paced life.

“Let’s make this quick,” Jenna muttered as they walked down the narrow corridor lined with framed photos of parades and groundbreakings, the memories of Trentville’s modest triumphs.

Jake nodded, his expression grim.

When they reached the office, they found the door standing open. Mayor Claire Simmons was perched like a hawk behind her desk, her eyes sharp and unforgiving. Her space was meticulously organized, each pen and paperweight strategically placed – a declaration of control. The mayor’s lips were set in a thin line of disapproval as she clasped her hands together on the polished surface.

“I just got word about the APB for two of our citizens,” Mayor Simmons started without preamble. “Why wasn’t I informed directly?”

Jenna took a breath, reminding herself to remain calm. “We left a message for you, Mayor,” she replied evenly. “We believed it was the best way to notify you promptly.”

“Leaving a message?” The mayor’s voice rose in incredulity. “I was sitting in a council meeting. You should have interrupted it!”

Jenna could feel the familiar prickle of frustration at the back of her neck. “Mayor Simmons, we’re doing everything we can to stay focused on finding Amber Stevens and Jason Reeves. I apologize if our method of communication didn’t meet your expectations, but we do have to prioritize our investigation.”

“Prioritizing is one thing, Sheriff Graves,” the mayor countered sharply, “but keeping me out of the loop is another. This town relies on my guidance, and I need to be informed.”

“Understood,” Jenna conceded, though every fiber in her being resisted the bureaucratic obstacle before them. “We’ll keep that in mind moving forward.”

“See that you do,” Mayor Simmons said, her tone softening only marginally. Jenna could sense the underlying need for power and control that drove the mayor’s every action. “Now give me something I can work with when people ask questions, Sheriff Graves. What do we know?”

“Amber Stevens vanished last night after her shift at Paws and Harmony Rescue,” Jenna began, reciting just the facts. “Her father, Otto Stevens, reported her missing this morning. The most likely suspect is her ex-boyfriend, Jason Reeves, who has also disappeared.”

“And what are our next steps?” The mayor’s voice held an edge of impatience.

“Colonel Spelling has currently engaged Highway Patrol resources to conduct a statewide search for Amber and Jason. Deputy Hawkins and I are overseeing the local investigation, pursuing every possible lead.” Jenna kept her report concise, aware of the mayor’s preference for brevity over detail.

Simmons nodded slowly, processing the information.

“Bad business,” Mayor Simmons finally murmured, breaking the silence. “Especially after what we’ve just been through with the recent case.”

“Indeed,” Jenna conceded.

“Please tell me we’re not looking at another serial killer scenario,” the mayor whispered, a rare crack in her polished exterior revealing genuine concern.

“Currently, there’s no evidence suggesting a connection to any serial activity,” Jenna assured her, though she knew better than to make promises. “Our focus remains on finding Amber and Jason as quickly as possible. Which means that we should be on our way now.”

Simmons exhaled a measured breath, nodding in resignation. “Keep me informed, Sheriff. Trentville cannot afford another scandal.”

“Understood, Mayor,” Jenna replied. Then, a sudden vibration in her pocket broke the tension. She retrieved her phone, recognizing the number immediately. “It’s Colonel Spelling,” she said.” With a swift motion, she tapped the speaker button.

“Spelling here. I’ve got some news,” came the colonel’s voice, crackling with urgency over the line.

“Go ahead, Colonel,” Jenna replied. I’m in the mayor’s office and she’s eager for information too.

“We’ve located Jason Reeves,” Spelling declared.