Logan nodded.

“She was with a couple people I knew. We all got to talking, went out for coffee, and, well, she and I started hanging out.”

“Did she start talking to you first? Or you her?”

The muscles in Alan’s face tensed. “I know what you’re thinking, but she didn’t come after me. I went after her. Hard. She tried to break up several times while we were dating, but finally she gave in.”

Logan knew there were manipulators who could make a person like Alan think they’d done all the work. Was Sara one of these? He had no idea, but knew it was best not to share that thought at the moment.

“I love her,” Alan said. “I love her more than I’ve loved anyone in my life. Well, except maybe for her daughter…our daughter.”

“Tell us about the day she disappeared.”

Alan gazed down at the table, then told them about the afternoon in Tijuana. When he was through, Logan took a moment before he asked the next question.

“Who do you think took the bags out of your car?”

“I’ve thought about that a lot,” Alan said, frowning. “But I have no idea.”

“Could it have been one of her friends?”

“Sara didn’t have a lot of friends. Just a couple of the women here in the neighborhood, and a few people at the office. My accounting agency is small, but we do a good business. Sara worked there part-time, office management stuff.”

“What about the people she was with when you met her that first time?”

“She’d actually only met them at another lecture, and were just sitting together. After we started dating, she didn’t really see them much anymore.”

“But did you check them out?”

“Of course I did,” Alan said angrily. He paused. “Sorry.”

“It’s okay.”

“It’s just…I’ve talked to everyone I’ve ever seen her with. No one knows what happened to her.”