Cold Case Manhunt. Jennifer Morey

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       Chapter 1

      The soothing pendant lighting and upscale atmosphere of Pinocchio’s in Chesterville, West Virginia, didn’t cast its usual charm without Payton Everett. Sitting on a leather bistro chair with two of her other friends, Jaslene Chabot would never again joke about their Sex and the City bond. They were one woman short.

      Tatum Garvey stirred her speared olives in her martini glass. “I think it’s time to let her go,” Catherine Starr said.

      “I can’t let her go.” Jaslene missed Payton terribly and she couldn’t live with the torture of not knowing what had happened to her friend, a reporter for a local newspaper with ambitions, fiery red hair and green eyes. She loved reporting on community issues, ranging from Good Samaritans’ deeds to personal injustices.

      “I can’t, either,” Tatum said. A tall, stunning blonde, she’d started her own interior design business and had been featured in a popular home magazine. She dressed to match the part without trying. She had an eye for style. “But why haven’t the cops found her yet?”

      Payton had been missing for seven months.

      “You two do realize that Payton is dead,” Catherine said. “Right?”

      The wife of a successful insurance broker, she had two kids and was trying for a third. She wasn’t as tall as Tatum, but she had pretty dark hair and sparkling gray eyes. She had a way of stating what she thought without censor. While Jaslene took offense, she couldn’t dispute the possibility. She just didn’t want to face that yet.

      “You don’t know that for certain,” Jaslene said.

      “The detective told you the case had gone cold,” Catherine said.

      He’d called her to tell her, as if doing so would make her back off. “Yes. I’m going to go see him tomorrow.”