“Abella,” I said from the parlor doorway. “Can we talk?”

The woman jumped to her feet. Holding it together in a house full of strangers couldn’t be easy. With the exception of Camilla, the Sinclairs looked at Abby like she was a pariah. All eyes, Tim’s included, were on her bloodstained hip as she left the room.

Even with unwashed hair and a face puffy from crying, Abella Beaudry was a stunner, all lashes and lips. Whether Jasper saw her as a fling or his future wife, he had good taste.

“How are you doing?” I asked as we sat down in the library. The room was directly across from the parlor. When I’d slid the pocket doors shut behind me they’d made a sound like a dry-lipped kiss.

“I don’t know,” she said. “I just . . . I can’t believe he’s gone.”

Abella had a slight French accent, but her English was flawless. She could easily slip from one culture to the next, Abby to Bella and back again, but I wasn’t as convinced as Flynn that her multiple nicknames were a sign of duplicity.

“Do you have any idea where Jasper could be?” I took out my notepad and inclined my head. Abella looked at me with confusion. “Let me rephrase that,” I said. “Has Jasper ever disappeared before? Does he like to go off and spend time by himself?”

“No. He didn’t just leave.”

“But he was in bed with you last night. And then, this morning, he wasn’t.”

“I know that sounds crazy,” she said. “But it’s what happened, and that’s all I know.”

My gaze traveled back to her bloodstained hip. “Did you hear anyone come into your room?”

I could see her picturing it, someone leaning over her sleeping body. Abella shook her head.

“And you were in the room all night. You didn’t leave? Not even to use the bathroom?”

“No,” she said. “I slept straight through.” Abella must have picked up on my doubt, because she added, “I had a bit too much to drink last night. I was nervous.”

“Meeting the family.”

“Yeah.”

“That must have been stressful.”

She lowered her head and worked her fingers through her tangled hair. It was looking a little greasy, her body’s reaction to the ordeal. “You have no idea,” she said.

“Are you and Jasper serious?”

“We haven’t been dating that long. But yeah, I would call it serious.”

“Jasper’s brother, Flynn? He told me Jasper plans to propose.”

Her brown eyes went wide. “What? He said that?”

“He also said you were recently fired from your job. Is that true?”

Her mind was still on the proposal, so she didn’t answer right away. After a few seconds she blinked and remembered where she was. “I wasn’t fired. They were downsizing, and I was happy to leave. They had me working like fifty hours a week for next to no pay. Some days Jas and I wouldn’t see each other at all, even if I stayed over at his place. I’d get home from an event at two a.m. and leave again at six that morning. It sucked.”