Billie and the Russian Beast - 50 Loving States, South Carolina - Quarantales

But as far as we knew, she’d never actually been to Canada. And she’d never mentioned an aunt. It would be great if we could confirm that she’d made it to her destination okay. But she hadn’t answered any of our emails or texts. And her phone had gone straight to voicemail when we tried to call her.

So not only is Gina not available to talk, I’m worried sick about her.

Okay, I decide, setting the pregnancy test on the counter, no CPA study for me today.

I spend most of the day eating pizza, cookies, and Jeni’s Gooey Butter Cake ice cream and binging Tiger King on Netflix.

I end up falling asleep on the couch, which means I miss the buzzing of my usual radio alarm. So I’m more than a little discombobulated when I wake up to the sound of my Ring device informing me that there’s someone at my front door.

Who could it be? I don’t think I have anything coming from Amazon.

When I check my Ring’s feed from my Amazon Show, all I can see is a badge being held up in front of the camera.

“Ma’am, if you can open the door. I have some questions about the disappearance of Gina Bryant.”

My heart rate spikes. Oh no, Gina had disappeared, just as I suspected, and now the police were here to question me about it. I rush to the door, eager to be of assistance.

But I stop when I get a good look at the man standing on the front step of my condo. I’ve never met him before in real life, but I recognize him immediately from the pictures Gina posted on Instagram since he’s not wearing a mask.

It’s Tommy. Dressed in a short-sleeved black police uniform, he looks way more official and a lot paler than he did in the vacation pictures Gina posted on Instagram last summer. I guess you could call him handsome. He has wavy red hair that sort of puts me in mind of Prince Harry and an affable smile to match. I can see why Gina mistook him for a prince charming when he asked her out after her shift at Magic Peaches. But what’s Gina’s Georgia police sergeant boyfriend doing at my front door?

“Hi, Billie, it’s so nice to finally meet you. Although I wish it had been under better circumstances. Can I come in?”

Chapter Thirteen

Tommy has an accent, but it’s not Southern. I vaguely remember Gina saying something about him having transferred down to Atlanta from somewhere else. She’d thought it was so cute that he was an Irish American cop with a thick Boston accent?

But right now, I don’t find him nearly as charming as Gina did.

“No, you can’t come in,” I answer. “Wait here please, while I go get my mask.”

I leave the door open and turn to the bookcase where I keep all the cloth masks I’ve been using for grocery store runs.

I hear the screen door creak open behind me just as I get the mask on, and when I turn around, there’s Tommy standing inside my townhouse like I invited him in.

“I told you not to come in,” I say, every alarm instinct in my body going off.

“I’ve just got a few questions,” he answers.

His tone is technically reassuring, and the door’s still open, but I don’t like this. I don’t like it at all. “You can ask me anything you want from the other side of my door.”

He continues as if I said nothing at all. “You and Cynda were calling Gina non-stop until all of a sudden you just stopped a few weeks ago. That was only a few days after she disappeared.”

He looks genuinely distressed, but I have to ask, “How do you know we’ve been calling?”

Tommy shakes his head like what I’m talking about is neither here nor there. “She took her car but left her phone behind, which is why I was real scared after she disappeared.”

“Did you file a missing person report?” I ask him.

“Our department is overstretched with all this COVID talk. People are acting crazy. They can’t give a missing person’s case the time it deserves, so I’m handling this one myself. That’s why if you know where she is, you’ve gotta tell me. I’m worried sick about my girl.”

Worried sick…those were the exact words I’d used with Cynda last Saturday during our monthly call. But as worried as I am about my friend, something in my gut is telling me that if Gina didn’t even send him an email like she did Cynda and me, that’s because she doesn’t want Tommy to know where she is.

I think of all the suspicions I’ve had over the years. Cynda had been calling him controlling from the start of his relationship with Gina. And there was something really off about the way he’d made her quit her job. I also didn’t like their couple photos. Instead of awwing over their pics, I often found myself noting how he didn’t put his whole arm around her, but kind of half-hugged her. Gripping her shoulder tight like she was a perp he was afraid would get away.