Goodbye, Mr. Regret novel Chapter 78

"That's right. I haven't seen her, so I'm not sure what's happened. She spent the afternoon in the study—I didn't see her come out at all." Timothy glanced around the study, his eyes shadowed with concern.

Ines was still here, and as host, he couldn't afford to neglect his guest.

Jessica's situation could wait.

He told Mabel to search the house and then went to invite Ines to dinner.

Ines took the seat opposite him at the table. Timothy's sharp features were set in an unreadable expression as he looked over the dishes. He recognized them instantly—takeout from The Silverthread Eatery.

"Mr. Lawson, is your wife not home?" Ines asked, her tone gentle.

Timothy lifted his gaze. "She's usually here. Perhaps she stepped out for a walk."

He'd had the staff keep an eye on things; she wasn't likely to have left the property. Most likely, she was somewhere in the house and Mabel would find her soon.

"Maybe you should call her? Invite her down to join us?" Ines suggested.

"Of course."

But Jessica had blocked his number—still hadn't unblocked him. That afternoon, he'd resorted to texting her using Secretary Allen's personal phone.

They'd been at odds lately.

Timothy had no desire to let outsiders see evidence of marital discord. He dialed her number anyway, for form's sake.

"Her phone's off. She's rarely out, often forgets to charge it. Why don't we start eating?"

"She's the lady of the house. Wouldn't it be inappropriate not to wait for her?" Ines hesitated, sensing something was off.

"She keeps her own schedule. She'll join us later. If we wait any longer, everything will get cold," Timothy replied.